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Wilco on P2P, Digital Music and the Internet
Saint Aardvark writes "As if Wilco wasn't the coolest band in existence anyway, Wired has an interview with them about their relationship with P2P, the Internet, and their fans. For example, they were contacted by fans who'd downloaded A Ghost Is Born before it was released. Lead singer Jeff Tweedy explains, 'They wanted to send money to express solidarity with the fact that we'd embraced the downloading community. We couldn't take the money ourselves, so they asked if we could pick a charity instead -- we pointed them to Doctors Without Borders, and they ended up receiving about $15,000.' Many other choice quotes make this a fascinating read."
...in Vancouver on the 9th? God almighty, they were great. I'd never realized it before, but Jeff Tweedy has a wicked sense of humour. If they're nearby, treat yourself and go -- it'll be a long, long time before you see another live act this great.
Carousel is a lie!
Selling entertainment is like selling perishable fruit, you need to do it while it's still fresh and desirable.
For example, I quite like Scissor Sisters' "Take Your Mama", so I paid for the CD and listened to it. But I must admit you can only listen to one song for so many times until you're sick of it. So now the enjoyment from this song is long gone, but I have already paid $20 for this now-known-as piece of plastic and song that I no longer enjoy.
I believe any potential "lost sales" are from people who, on one hand, don't want to pay for the music, but on the other, want to enjoy that particular music.
Will this be considered "Lost Sales" if someone told you:
"Nah, this shitty movie is only worth watching it once, why would I pay for the DVD/Movie?".
This person could pay for the DVD/Movie and watch it once, or download it from the Internet and watch it once. Either way this person got one unit of enjoyment out of this, but it's not quite the same to capitalist.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
don't we all have to make money somewhere to live and could we "fault" those wanting to? if you can make a living via hobbies, more power to them... but is it wrong to make a living?
"yankee hotel foxtrot" is a sound bit sampled from one of the recordings on the conet project. they sampled it in their song "poor places" and recently just settled a law suit for it.
Thing is, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is such an amazing album, that even if the album hadn't been released online, I still think it would have been succesful. (I'm for it though!) Great music spreads by word of mouth and CD-R and P2P, regardless of who made it. My buddy made me a copy of YHF and that's how I got into that band.
By the way there's a great documentary of the band making the CD, its called I am Trying To Break Your Heart. I highly recommend it. Shows the whole process of being dumped by your label then getting picked up by another label, both of whom were owned by the same umbrella company. Strange stuff, today's music business.
Wilco's ethics are very punk rock, even if their music belongs on its own planet. If you haven't heard YHF, do yourself a favor and pick it up.
Those last three words blew me away. Although I'm not a huge Wilco fan, I definitely appreciate where they're coming from. To me at least, they embody what a True Musician consists of. Somebody who plays music for the sake of making music. Somebody who if they make enough money playing at clubs and hawking CDs to make a living, then GREAT! But if not, they'll still be playing on the weekends and at nights when they're done with their 9-to-5.
Now contrast that with Britney Spears or Ashley Simpson. Think they'd be singing in their garage if their "music" career never took off? Fuck no. Since they only care about entertaining and not making music, they'd probably be just another coked-out stripper on the LA Strip, telling you how they're going to make it big and be somebody between lapdances and serving you a $10 cocktail.
Regardless, it's glad to know there's still a few bands out there who are in it for the love.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for SEGA. ..."
When I read this article (on Fark, yesterday), I immediately went to Wilco's site and ordered a copy of their CD "A Ghost is Born," and if they swing through Seattle I will take in their show. Band promotion through free downloads instead of record contracts is the future of music, and is the key to getting the record industry off our backs before they buy enough legislation to keep us from accessing our hard drives without their permission.
Fame and fortune have been the carrot on the stick which the record industry has been able to dangle in front of musicians for the past century. When a few bands demonstrate that it's possible to succeed without signing over their lives to a big label, others will follow. Reaching #8 on Billboard is one of the first cracks in this wall. Help it spread!
Eventually all our media with be categorized by user for download, and you can see/hear/learn things that interest you.
Its a global library and it will happen.
God spoke to me:
www.geocities.com/James_Sager_PA
God spoke to me.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!