Steve Lawson and Seth Horan (a couple of incredible bassists, by the way) brought this Lawson’s response tackled the issue already, and I’m okay with the “don’t like it, don’t put it up there” attitude. Such a decision ultimately rests with the artist and his/her feelings about their music and how it’s distributed. Perfectly logical. I can even follow the logic behind Tech Crunch author Michael Arrington’s premise that musicians shouldn’t get paid for the Bebo deal, since that wasn’t part of the original deal. It doesn’t deal with the value of the music in helping to drive the site, but strictly speaking, those were the terms they agreed to.
Entirely erroneous, however, is this statement:
Recorded music is nothing but marketing material to drive awareness of an artist.
And how, exactly, does the nebulous concept of “awareness” help the artist survive? Note here that he doesn’t make a distinction between sample tracks or entire albums, advanced promos or wonderfully crafted, multi-album projects. In this statement, the entire history (and future) of recorded music is reduced to the importance of Sunday grocery store fliers.
The success of online releases and “pay what you want” pricing is enough to demonstrate that even though, as Arrington states, “recorded music can be reproduced at a zero marginal cost” (although you still have to spend money on equipment and network bills, but that’s another story), there is still value attributed to these recordings by both the artist and the fans. The methods of presentation and distribution may have changed, but it’s still art (or a commodity, if you want to look at it that way), and it’s still valuable.
There’s also the fact that recorded music, even in this day and age of highly technical stage set-ups, is capable of producing sounds and effects that can’t be made live. It’s a different art form, and it has value of its own. It’s not a loss-leader for the live performance - it stands on its own and should be respected as such. People may have gone to see Pink Floyd when they got the chance, but they sure as hell didn’t throw away their copies of “The Wall” once they were done.
Furthermore, why should an artist be forced to offer personal looks into their life and special promo offers if they have no desire to do so just because somebody declares that their recorded output has no value and that “awareness” is the new commodity? Jandek may be an extreme example, but there’s a huge divide between personal and musical lives there. The mystery has even enhanced the fan base.
Arrington’s statement removes control of the artist’s work from the artist and puts it up for grabs. He may not have agreed with Bragg’s sentiment regarding Bebo, but his reaction is a dangerous move towards devaluing musicians as a whole.
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