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The Golden Age of Infinite Music
Over at the BBC, music journalist John Harris speculates on what may become of the music business now that we have entered the golden age of infinite music. "I've just poured the music-related contents of my brain into a book, and I would imagine that 30-ish years worth of knowledge about everyone from Funkadelic to The Smiths has probably cost me a five-figure sum, a stupid amount spent on music publications, and endless embarrassed moments spent trying to have a conversation with those arrogant blokes who tend to work in record shops. Last weekend, by contrast, I had a long chat about music with the 16-year-old son of a friend, and my mind boggled. At virtually no cost, in precious little time and with zero embarrassment, he had become an expert on all kinds of artists, from English singer-songwriters like Nick Drake and John Martyn to such American indie-rock titans as Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. Though only a sixth-former, he seemingly knew as much about most of these people as any music writer. Like any rock-oriented youth, his appetite for music is endless, and so is the opportunity..."
Now, there's no where on earth most of us could afford to pay for all the content we consume.
Could you repeat that, I'm afraid I couldn't hear you over your self-entitled whining.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Infinite music? Great! Who's paying?
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
This argument is about whether piracy is 'right' or 'wrong' is obsolete in my mind. The problem with the recorded entertainment industry is supply & demand. Not only should I *NEVER* have to pay a penny for any music, video, or text I 'consume' but as a person who pays attention to any one particular artist or production company I should be valued & yes - maybe even paid!! Ludicrous, you say? Well consider this: I have so much entertainment distraction opportunities out there now that the law of supply and demand is what makes any of it pretty much value-less Why should I pay for anyone's entertainment or information when I can turn to someone else to get it free - AND OFTEN TIMES LEGALLY! There are plenty of entertainment outlets out there that somehow have managed to create a business model of free for the consumer.
And I really couldn't care less about the 'unknown artist' versus the 'already succeeded artist' or any of that crap - it's not my concern. AGain - there's such an infinite variety of distraction out there that the artists need to start valuing the fact that if I sacrifice my valuable time & energy to pay attention to them & whatever it is that they are on about as opposed to the infinite other options I have.
How many movies are cranked out every single day? How many ditties? How much infotainment? I bet at this point, worldwide, there's more content produced in one day than I can consume in a lifetime. It's like air - you can't charge for it!! Oh and if you can't make a living as an artist with this reality boo hoo for you - get a real job!!
*ANY* attempt at extracting any amount of money from me for being entertained is what's thievery as far as I'm concerned. Screw this piracy argument - it's completely irrelevant when the supply part of 'supply & demand' is pretty much literally INFINITE!