article proposal

Article proposal (solicited) from some fight-the-power music web site. They never responded.

I’d like to submit an article that explores this basic premise: that the best, most ethical and legal way to attack the flawed music distribution model of the major music labels is to confront them with real, viable competition that demonstrates the value of respecting and serving artists and consumers by example.

My problem with much of the dialog around the issue of file sharing and the music industry is that it perpetuates the myth that the music industry controls the majority of available music and that the main problems with them have to do with how poorly they compensate artists for their creative work and how they restrict distribution of and overcharge for the copyrighted materials they own.

I would like to see the main dialog address several equally relevant facts. First, that there is a crucial failure of the major labels to foster diversity. The whole production, promotion and distribution model of the major labels dictates that less and less music is actually available through the conventional channels of distribution. What this ignores is that the amount of recorded music that is available in the absolute sense (i.e., that there is a digital master or at least a C.D. out there somewhere) is actually increasing, and that the artists who created it own a significant amount of this music.

Second, that the restrictive royalties requirements that have been legally defined for internet broadcasting of music have created a potential opportunity for a collaboration between independent artists and labels who own their own music and the army of hobbyists and nascent businesses who were essentially shut down by the restrictive costs of licensing the catalogs of the conventional industry. Any individual or entity that owns the copyright to a piece of music has the right to negotiate a less restrictive licensing agreement with individual broadcasters. What is lacking is a strategy and system to negotiate these agreements on a significant scale.

Third, that the major labels, in their relentless pursuit of absolute control of the inherently uncontrollable medium of digital information, are making it possible for independent artists to create a value added C.D. product with very little additional investment. For example, as digital rights management technology becomes more and more the norm for recorded music, a simple unencumbered CD becomes a de facto value added product, simply because it is easier to use and encourages diverse use at the consumer’s discretion. In addition, there is the opportunity to add a variety of digital meta-information (lyrics, technical information, superior connectivity to web-based resources, influences, biographical information, etc.) that could create new revenues and promotional opportunities for independent artists and labels.

Combined, these factors point to the possibility of creating truly superior alternative production, promotion and distribution chains that work by eliminating major label content entirely. The music is out there. The artists are out there to make more. The technology is already here. What is needed now is organization, organization, organization.

this is what is up with this.