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The Kinks in the armor
Doc, The recent Courtney Love and Dixie Chicks lawsuits and Michael Jackson's bad times (and the related disclosure of the state of the Beatle's catalog) are signs that the artists are starting to 'get a clue' - both directions. Besides the special waiver on musician's contracts (that allows them to be tied up and endentured slaves) the music business has been participating in outright criminal behavior and conspiracy and stealing for years - and getting away with it. What more obvious monopolistic behavior can there be - then to conspire on pricing, continue to (secretly) support payola to radio stations and now - attempt to control not only the music content, but also the distribtion channels - via so called digital downloading? But it does still come down to the artist. For every Mariah Carey or Michael Jackson who spectacularly crash and burn (and then gracefully exit stage-left with a 8 figure buyout) - there's Don Henley, Courtney and a host of others - who are willing to fight a good fight. Independent DJ's and club culture and have given birth to an entirely new musical form - in techno, house and electronica - which apparently is more or less out of the control range of the major labels. The recent success of the 'My Brother's Keeper' soundtrack - proves that most of the labels aren't really in touch with what the buying public wants. I think that we all wish that some band would totally create a hit and make it, entirely via the internet - but that hasn't happened yet. There's a band out of Detroit (their name escapes me now) who are refusing to play along with the PR machine and SMM mentaliy an dthe U.K. market is just eating that up. It's the 'anti-:15 minutes of fame' approach - sort of like what the Sex Pistols and Malcolm McClaren did! Paul McCartney has been trying to buy back the Beatles catalog - for years - and maybe he'll have a chance - now that Jacko is broke. That would be so perfect. They lost their rights over owing tax dollars, but he's a billionaire now - just on his good looks, on-going career (Oh and maybe being a knight of the realm helps:-) So buying Michael Jackson out of hock and getting back his songs, would just be so appropriate. I harken back to Metallica - who where put up to be the 'first' band to protest Napster. I wonder how much they were paid off by the RIAA for that? The lines will be increasingly drawn between 'those suckers who are puppets and pawns of the power brokers' and artists, who are true free souls in Paris, Tokyo or even Baghdad. Hopefully trying to be 'free' in Hollywood or New York will one day be rewarded with a hip, new fad - someday soon. Instead of branding independent artists, film makers and musicians as drug addicts and 'hard to control, tempermental spolied kids', maybe one day being independent will mean what Charlie Chaplin or Ingrid Bergman used to stand for :-) Anyway - I dig what you're saying - and the power base in Hollywood beter grok the fact that on-line multimedia technology is the beginning of the end - of their mafia like control over all things entertaining. But it kind of makes sense though. Hollywood is the U.S.'s greatest export - more influential than all our guns, wheat, burgers and futures derivatives - combined. It's the global culture that the U.S. wants to stay in charge of - and that control will more and more become reliant upon an on-line world - which is completely out of their control. So keep up the good work - we need you!
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