Just kidding. If you know anything about 20 Minutes to Park, we aren’t the type to call you out for stealing our music; in fact, we kind of encourage it. I bring this topic up because I was listening to NPR this morning (as an old man might do), and there was a feature on musicians STILL battling over the illegal download issue. I know, music sales are down. They are at their worst point ever since the implementation of SoundScan, which tracks record sales. It’s clear that selling music isn’t what it used to be, at least not the way it’s currently being sold. I’m sorry fellow musicians, but CDs and music downloads just aren’t worth fighting for.
We’ve been giving away a lot of music lately because we want people to have it. Of course we would love for people to buy it, and many people still do, but it’s becoming very evident that music downloads and CDs just aren’t that profitable. The realization that hundreds of people are downloading our music each month for free is far more rewarding than the small amount of money we are missing out on. In time, we believe the people that love our music will keep us afloat by coming to shows, buying merchandise, purchasing music, or helping us in some other way.
I don’t really understand why musicians and songwriters are holding onto an outdated philosophy that will inevitably fail. I suppose it’s a lot like your last days on Earth, grasping for air with the hope that a miracle will happen. Maybe it’s time to get off the ventilator and start looking for a real cure. I’m not a music doctor, so I don’t have this cure, but I know it’s there.
Imagine life without music though. It would be a really quiet world. Your home, your car, your coffee shop, your favorite bar, your favorite restaurant – all silent. Would you pay for music if your world was suddenly silenced? I think most people would in some form or another.
Music definitely has value. As I’ve said before, people just don’t value mp3s and CDs like they used to. So what? It’s the music industry’s problem now. The music industry feeds mostly garbage to a hungry audience, with no nutritional value. When it’s all about quick profit, everyone loses. The musicians are hungry, and the consumers are bloated from overeating fast food artists.
I think it’s time to leave the consumers alone and find a cure. Stop whining. Start curing.
