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The The

So what will this do to all of my The The albums?

There's also the case of The The and the decision to make MP3s available, 1 track a week, available for download from the official website. Try THE THE VERSUS THE CORPORATE MONSTER for all the details of why he did it, and what he hopes to gain from it. (Hint: The old Napster argument of "let people hear the stuff and they'll buy the CD") Oh, and NakedSelf, the CD in question, is amazingly good, as far as I'm concerned.

Granted it's not lung cancer, but there have been a lot of musicians that have been screwed financially by the labels. Some of them have been unable to afford medical care. Just ask the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Also, many wonderful artists have been rejected by the labels because they didn't sound like whatever the current fad was. Ever notice how whenever a song in a new style becomes popular, a million others pop up? There are numerous examples of this... Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Limp Bizkit, and others that i don't follow or haven't heard of.

For most people, being a musician is not a particularly profitable line of work, but for many it is a passion worth sacrificing "the better life" for.

Granted the RIAA isn't poisoning artists, but it does contribute to their problems in a much more insidious manner. It neglects some artists in favor of the latest artificial crappy creation that can dance and sing songs that appeal to prepubescent teenage girls. Then as soon as those puppets start to wane in popularity they are thrown away as if they never existed. Ever watch "Where Are They Now" on VH1?

The RIAA doesn't directly kill people, but make no mistake. It is evil.

I am not going to make all the same points that he has but if you have a look at thethe.com you can see that at least one band is fighting the corporate monster. Matt Johnson is giving away his music now because he has been screwed by Vivendi / Seagrams / Universal / Interscope / nothing. The second track from the new album is available at the moment with a new track every week.

I've found an interesting point of view in this discussion - from an artist who, although disapproving of the piracy potential of Napster, is using the 'net to distribute his own material (to which he does not have copyright) as a protest against his label which is apparently not promoting his albums, because he's not a multi-million selling Limp Bizkit-a-like. Check out the testimony of Matt Johnson of TheThe at the band's website.

...and as for the bandname used by one Mr Matt Johnson for his albums including "Soul Mining", "Mind Bomb" (1994) and "Infected" (1997)...

It's already unsearchable on a lot of sites. Can you see a little snag?

TomV