Hey, thanks for the support and kind words! Shostakovich is one of my favorite composers. His string quartets inspired some of the work on the new album. Speaking of, it is recorded, but we're waiting for technical issues to get resolved before we mix. We're probably looking at a May/June release.
Well, the only radio station that played our music is commercial free, but otherwise your points are valid. And yes, I see room between your tiers 0 and 1. Maybe my hangup about the whole thing was the way the original Qtrax articles were written. It seemed that they perceived music solely as a means to get people to view their online ads. But you're right - most media that would be willing to play/stream our music needs to generate revenue somehow.
Nevertheless, from what I've seen, I still don't like Qtrax. One major problem is that I couldn't find a way to upload my band's music. Another problem is that I don't see any specifics on how much the artists are getting compensated.
On the other hand, I just registered my band on last.fm (actual music is forthcoming). It's a much better model in that the artist has more control over what can be streamed, downloaded, etc. Still no specifics on compensation, but I suppose we'll find out.
Anyway, thanks for the input. If you're interested in my band, check out our Web Site or MySpace Site (which is a little more up to date). Our first CD is still available on CDBaby, but we're working on breaking up the 39 minute opus into more reasonable, downloadable chunks.
I was horrified to read the initial articles about the major labels making deals with Qtrax. Granted, labels see music as nothing more than a way to entice the masses to buy product, but at least one of these products was the music itself. Had they agreed to Qtrax's model, they would have effectively said that the music they provide has no direct value. It's only value would have been as a way to motivate people to view online ads.
As a composer in a progressive rock band who has spent upwards of $30,000 of our own money to produce our latest album, the music of which took five years to write, 1 year to rehearse and 2 years to record (yes, the music is that intricate and difficult), I take offense to this perspective. This album means a great deal to me. As the writer, I feel that it's my greatest artistic achievement. I'd like to believe that it has some intrinsic value - maybe not to everyone, because I'm well aware that progressive rock is a niche market - but hopefully to some.
However, if the major labels allow their music to be downloaded for free, most people will come to expect that all music should be free, so long as they're willing to tolerate advertising. Despite the fact that my band will not be selling out in this fashion, people would still expect free downloads of our music. But how could we afford to do that? We would be stuck. Our only choices would be to allow our music to be used to sell advertising or quit producing music.
Given this scenario on a larger scale, the only new music we'll hear are from those artists who are willing to sell out to this extent. I don't know about you, but I have no interest in listening to such music.
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Hey, thanks for the support and kind words! Shostakovich is one of my favorite composers. His string quartets inspired some of the work on the new album. Speaking of, it is recorded, but we're waiting for technical issues to get resolved before we mix. We're probably looking at a May/June release.
Well, the only radio station that played our music is commercial free, but otherwise your points are valid. And yes, I see room between your tiers 0 and 1. Maybe my hangup about the whole thing was the way the original Qtrax articles were written. It seemed that they perceived music solely as a means to get people to view their online ads. But you're right - most media that would be willing to play/stream our music needs to generate revenue somehow.
Nevertheless, from what I've seen, I still don't like Qtrax. One major problem is that I couldn't find a way to upload my band's music. Another problem is that I don't see any specifics on how much the artists are getting compensated.
On the other hand, I just registered my band on last.fm (actual music is forthcoming). It's a much better model in that the artist has more control over what can be streamed, downloaded, etc. Still no specifics on compensation, but I suppose we'll find out.
Anyway, thanks for the input. If you're interested in my band, check out our Web Site or MySpace Site (which is a little more up to date). Our first CD is still available on CDBaby, but we're working on breaking up the 39 minute opus into more reasonable, downloadable chunks.
I was horrified to read the initial articles about the major labels making deals with Qtrax. Granted, labels see music as nothing more than a way to entice the masses to buy product, but at least one of these products was the music itself. Had they agreed to Qtrax's model, they would have effectively said that the music they provide has no direct value. It's only value would have been as a way to motivate people to view online ads.
As a composer in a progressive rock band who has spent upwards of $30,000 of our own money to produce our latest album, the music of which took five years to write, 1 year to rehearse and 2 years to record (yes, the music is that intricate and difficult), I take offense to this perspective. This album means a great deal to me. As the writer, I feel that it's my greatest artistic achievement. I'd like to believe that it has some intrinsic value - maybe not to everyone, because I'm well aware that progressive rock is a niche market - but hopefully to some.
However, if the major labels allow their music to be downloaded for free, most people will come to expect that all music should be free, so long as they're willing to tolerate advertising. Despite the fact that my band will not be selling out in this fashion, people would still expect free downloads of our music. But how could we afford to do that? We would be stuck. Our only choices would be to allow our music to be used to sell advertising or quit producing music.
Given this scenario on a larger scale, the only new music we'll hear are from those artists who are willing to sell out to this extent. I don't know about you, but I have no interest in listening to such music.