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Live, from half way between Dahmer's house and Peltier's first police beating it's ATI. Activism Trumps Idiocy. <><><><><\><|></><><><><> <> <> <> AA TTTTTT IIIIII <> <> A A TT II <> <> AAAA TT II <> <> A A TT II <> <> A A TT IIIIII <> <> <> <><><><><3><3><1><><><><> 0210281776 hrs Hello, I'm Prime Anarchist and here's some numbers and stuff. http://137.229.36.56 http://www.osmth.org http://adam4shadow.com http://www.tompaine.com http://mojomusicstudio.com http://www.jumptheshark.com http://www.mp3.com/martharedbone http://www.flagstaffactivist.org http://sanderhicks.com/helms.html http://www.justenough.net/home.php http://www.chrisandjackie.com/23.htm http://www.nodo50.org/cartelera_libertaria http://home.earthlink.net/~dare2b/bush.htm http://www.frucht.org/poems/knucklehead.html http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/ATI/midweeks http://home.earthlink.net/~emulsional/raw.htm http://www.hereinreality.com/familyvalues.html http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/ATI/MISSION.TXT http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=35913 http://www.onmilwaukee.com/music/articles/redbone.html http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,55838,00.html http://www.flagstaffactivist.org/campaigns/walfacts.html http://www.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/movies/jul02/59337.asp http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7672/index.html http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=103582 = C = = O = = L = = U = mUsik iNduStrY - oXyMoRoN? = M = = N = "This album cost me twenty bucks. It costs fifteen on the Internet. Or it can be downloaded for free. And it's been better therapy than any medical authority has ever offered me for many times that price." That's publisher Al Giordano awarding Eminem "Journalist of the Year." [ http://www.narconews.com/eminem1.html ] Giordano made a solid point I'd like to develop here. Can I? The music industry is out of control. Yes, I said that. I'd sooner toss it out on its ear than waste such energy trying to save it. I feel there's no hope industries that give about a buck to inventors, four to slave-masters, seven to the self and then charge what can only be called 2000% markup. Yes, of course these numbers are rough, but I hit it on the head, don't I? Face it. You've asked yourself for years -- "Just who IS the 'music industry' and who do they think they are?" I'm telling you, I JUST DON'T THINK IT'S REFORMABLE AND HERE'S WHY. How many bands never cut a "record" for each that do? I'm not sure, but it feels like 1/100 odds to me. And how many published musicians still survive on part time junk jobs? Again, I don't know but tons of anecdotal stories imply they're the hefty majority. I tried looking up industry statistics (why the word "industry" anyhow? This is no machine screw being invented, rather stories, myths, ideas. "Industry" implies actual factories - there are, but more on that later.) and I only found out each hit song comes next to $6.3 million in losses on other records tanking. They claim fewer than 5% of signed artists ever get a hit. I would question whether 95% had chances, or got dropped right away for no "return on investment." Places like Billboard were no help and for all I know NYTimes was, but I'm not paying their online archival fee to find out. But again, anecdotal evidence tells me many artists got tossed like the weekly trash. Last year someone ripped a Rage Against The Machine CD which meant mp3's were freely downloaded. Instead of suing, RATM put the same tunes on their own web-space asking politely that people just consider getting it from their site. And tell friends. What did their slave-master, er, uh, I mean record label do? What "everyone does," of course. They sued. If I read the legalese right, RATM lost the battle and was forced to remove their own mp3's, agreeing to cease all self-promotion. When Seagrams bought the rights to Aimee Mann's music and dropped many artists at the same time, she was among the cuts. I'll spare you the long complicated story how she got the rights to distribute her own music, but essentially, she put her current record on her own page selling about 30,000 copies in a year. When VH1 asked if she'd ever return to major labels she chuckled saying it's not possible for them to give her the markup she gets. By their current structure they'd put themselves right out of business trying to match the profit she commands. (pronounced "deserves.") Spitfire Tour brought Jello Biafra to Green Bay last campaign season where he called the industry an "electronic plantation." He said typical contracts give a million cash, but it's really just "front money" because Record Plant and Hit Factory each bill you half a million even if they don't record you or mix you down. Most labels give a year to sell a million records or you're cut right away. In some cases it's even worse. Many artists say they've now got one quarter (three months!) to sell 250,000 copies or they need a good line assuring they'll have better luck in the next couple quarters. Or an attorney, right? What's next, selling your own product door to door for them? Actually, I asked Biafra after the show why he wasn't selling any of his own stuff or even tabling literature; and he admitted he just forgot to even think about it this tour. But he also pointed out you'll see Michael Franti's newest album absent from vending tables. Only place you're allowed to get it is stores. Biafra said that if Franti's label is typical he gets a free box of CD's and then must buy others "at cost," and is forbidden from selling current CDs until at least a full year out. The fifth annual Native American Music Awards ceremony came to Milwaukee this year during Indian Summer. Now if you know anything about the NAMMYS you know there's almost nothing grandiose about it. A commercial endeavor sure; but it usually breaks about even or loses a small manageable amount of money each year. It's grown organically and holds to its original path year after year. NAMMYS-5 was a production and performance success, but failed other ways, serving as a learning experience I guess. What transpired was what I'll call a "feeding trough of misunderstanding." I won't detail much because I don't want anyone feeling libelled, but let me say each step of the way people outside the NAMMYS jacked the prices up, or did their own personal bait-and-switch tactics trying to get a little extra for themselves. Taking a cold hard look I suddenly felt like we were building a nuke submarine or a stealth bomber, rather than showcasing music, know what I mean? Maybe kickbacks and cost overrides are the norm for Grammys and Music Video awards, but the NAMMYS are trying to do something different here. Top priority in the NAMMYS each year is first and foremost the human beings honoring each other for their incredible creative work. Do you see these same values at Radio City Music Hall or the Staples Center? I won't even answer that. Every winter I watch Superbowl and Grammys. Why? To see talent. But seldom do I see any in the actual show. Ads showcase the year's best creativity, but not the Grammys or the Superbowl. So I watch the ads. The show's more like sub-theme for me now. I have a friend at my volunteer tech job [ http://www.indymedia.org ] who I won't name because his father's brother resigned last year as CEO of a major label when his board members were out of their minds -- guess what they're entering this Christmas season with? Yes, a new boyband and one more preteen girl they can train to sing, dance and fashion a tiny bit of clothing. And you heard right: they planned this Christmas season last year. Another feeding trough, but I digress. He found them a great songwriter, and a couple bands who write AND perform well; but his own board of directors rejected them, voted him down. I'll bet he feels forsaken by not just his company, the whole business. Has the industry (dare I call it a machine) lost touch with humanity? Speaking of machines, Digital Audio Tape recorders go for almost $800. Do you know how much they were in '89? Same price. Ever wonder why? Other electronics drop naturally working their way into almost every audiophile's home, but not so with DAT. The industry felt threatened maybe? Well, it's about to get worse for them. While DAT relied on proprietary machines that can be locked up Sony-style; new technologies don't. MP3s, "oggs" and gnutella might do the "industry" worse than what DAT did in the 80s. What's different here is once you have a recording, there's almost no signal loss passing it to others. Just get it somehow; then send it some other how. Free and easy. Industry soon loses its stranglehold on human consumption of music. Music transfers between any two networked computers. And I'm learning that ogg vorbis is even more devastating since it overcame the remaining little tricks that industry can still do to make an MP3 somewhat proprietary. Just how did "ogg" do this? Stayed "open source" and "freeware" from beginning to end. As Aimee Mann proves, you no longer need a record label to get your music to lots of people. But some lawyers and accountants are starting to sound desperate, aren't they? Record companies are "like cartels, like countries, for God's sake," says Tom Waits, "It's a nightmare to be trapped in one. I'm on a good label now that's not part of the plantation system. (Epitaph) But all the old records I did for Island have been swallowed up and spit out in whatever form they choose. These corporations don't have feelings and they don't see themselves as the stewards of the work." "In the past 20 years," says Dixie Chicks manager Simon Renshaw, "an industry that was led by visionaries and music lovers has become dominated by accountants, financial analysts and people who can't think ahead more than 90 days." So download Eminem's songs, or buy them, but listen and live with them. Have an opinion. Share if you can. He crosses boundries between singer, songwriter, poet, rapper and journalist; but I've yet to see him enter the realm of corporate thuggery. Which is more than I can say for some "artists" out there; not to mention names of course. So, what have I written here that you don't already know, or at least feel in your heart? Not much. Should I really suggest tossing the industry out on its ear without offering something constructive about what could come along and take its place? Sure. Download all my music for free at: http://www.mp3.com/marcocapelli or if you don't want those pesky pop-ups and nasty banner ads they run you through, just go to: http://www.frucht.org/anicmusic.html