Everything You Need To Know About SOPA & The New Copyfight - hypebot

The web has created the first world wide community, and that has changed consciousness all over the planet. It's given musicians unprecedented opportunities, given us all access to unlimited amounts of data, art, music and awareness of what's going on around the world. It's positives are more than we can even comprehend yet. To take away our ability to share online because some corporations may lose relatively small amounts of revenue would be a tragedy. If ever there were a time to write your congress person, this is it. Don't let greed restrict growth. Please.


Everything You Need To Know About SOPA & The New Copyfight - hypebot

To Free or Not to Free?

The following article from the We Create Music Blog at ASCAP really gets at the heart of our current music industry dilemma. If you're an unknown artist with music to share, I'd strongly advise you to make your music available free to as many people as you can find a way to get it to. You share, they share, music spreads. Everyone benefits. The more people that have the opportunity to experience your music, the more people you will find that resonate with it. You have opportunities today that no one imagined 20 years ago. Fewer artists will become outrageously wealthy, but so many more artists will be heard and that means a vastly expanded supply of different music for all of us to listen to. And not only do we all get to hear so much more music, without being limited by what a powerful few think will or won't make them money, but think of the snowballing effect on future musicians who've grown up listening to so many more and different musical influences. How could future music not be more interesting?

But there is a danger in developing a culture where music is expected to always be free and musicians expected to continue to create without receiving resources in exchange for their time and effort. Creating great music is a lot of work, even if it comes easily to you. We risk a society where instead of having more and more music available, only the independently wealthy or the few with wealthy patrons can afford to devote the time and resources to create great art. Ultimately we would lose a large percentage of that new potential music because so many simply couldn't afford to continue to create it.

We all benefit by connecting musicians and fans directly, making creativity universally affordable for those with the drive to do it, connecting artists from all over the planet, and being exposed to the widest variety of different music. But everything in life comes at a price. We should be grateful to have more and pay less for it, but a cultural expectation that music should always be free would be a losing proposition for all.

So what is the answer to this dilemma? How do we find a balance so we can most enjoy the fabulous opportunities of this brave new world?

To Free or Not to Free?

WARNING: Every Musician's Digital Performance Royalties Are At Risk - hypebot

Are we paying attentio? It's becoming harder and harder for musicians to make a reasonable profit from their art, even though the upside is that more artists have the opportunity to share their music with a larger public. We don't need changes that give more power to record labels and less to musicians It's already been way out of balance for years.

WARNING: Every Musician's Digital Performance Royalties Are At Risk - hypebot