Uncategorized

Recently Glenn Peoples tweeted a really interesting article in the New York Times which is an excerpt from a book called “Ripped” by Greg Kot.

The article emphasizes the drastic change in business practices in the music industry in the late 90’s and focuses on a new business model of streamlined consolidation and capturing more market share. He paints a picture of an industry so intent on making a quick buck on a single that artists are left to flounder undeveloped – never finding their true sound, or voice.

While I definitely agree that the music industry’s focus has almost nothing to do with developing artists and making artists money (and some may speculate that it never did in the first place), I think Mr. Kot potentially overlooks another element of business completely ignored by the music industry – selling music.

Sure it seems utterly fundamental: use a collection of music to generate income by selling music at a fair price, use the music to drive people to concerts, and use the concerts to sell merchandise while using artist popularity to get the music licensed in media. But let’s take a look at what the gurus in the music industry did instead.

First, they continued to collect songs and sign artists throwing cash advances at them. So far, so…average. There’s nothing new about this, but it is one way to add to your catalog. Second, price CDs (as Mr. Kot mentions) into the stratosphere so no one buys them. Third, drive up ticket prices to concerts and merchandise at those concerts, eliminating any interest by anyone but the ‘true fans.’ And third, completely ignore the burgeoning internet.

Oops. The last time I checked CEOs were supposed to be good at business, yet we found the record labels almost ignoring the internet, and then with the advent of Napster, turning against it entirely! How utterly insane.

Now we get to the good part. The music industry at that time (and still today) is over run by lawyers (I’m sorry did I say CEO’s earlier? Probably should’ve said JD’s). Because the industry is run by lawyers instead of businessmen (and heaven forbid someone who can play an instrument), the focus becomes less on how to make money with music, but instead how to make money with lawsuits.

Then Steve Jobs creates iTunes.

Now the funny part about iTunes is that the labels signed on…which is kind of silly. You’d think the labels might’ve looked at Napster and said “hey, why don’t we create something like Napster where people could download our music with permission but pay for it!” But they sued Napster instead rather than seeking them out for ideas about how to use the service to benefit everyone (because I would argue that the chances that artists saw very much money from any label-led lawsuits are very, very slim). And Steve Jobs, instead, said “gee, that Napster is a pretty great idea, why not monetize it legally?”

So while Steve Jobs has started to cash in on intellectual property (which is kind of the point of the entirety of the music industry), the labels start to tank. Why? Because their business model completely and utterly shifted. They weren’t focused on selling music, they were focused on lawsuits. They are STILL focused on lawsuits. They completely have no idea how to exploit the benefits of today’s technologies…they only know how to sue people.

Let’s put it in a real world scenario. Imagine you have a friend who writes and performs songs. And that friend manages to make a YouTube video that generates a lot of hoopla and they get a modest 5,000 hits. Not so bad, right? Now imagine if your friend said “gee that’s a lot of people listening to my music…I’d better pull it down since they’re not paying me for it.” How much money has your friend generated from their popularity? Oops.

Suppose that friend instead said “cool, I should upload two more songs and put my Twitter address and MySpace page on there which mention where and when I play live.” How much greater is their potential to make money now?

So while the labels could and should definitely start focusing more on artist development, or heck, even signing artists that ALREADY developed (don’t get me started), they also need to turn around and exploit those artists properly – something they continue to fail to do year after year all the while wondering what on EARTH they’re going to do about this pesky internet and hungrily looking for the next big lawsuit.

I’m at a breaking point, in a good way. Shoving back for once. Realizing potential for once. I’ve stared so long over the cliff that the chasm is starting to seem too deep to do any damage, or a mirage meant to trick my brain and keep me from jumping. I’m getting a feeling like taking this plunge will be more like falling up. Falling up at a rate faster than I can imagine, whisking me towards an infinite liberation painted by starry skies. Not that I don’t have to prepare for clouds, rain, and even thunder but those things are on their way down. And I’m falling up past them and through them.

There’s a fire. It started a long time ago in the recesses of my mind, a spark I thought I could ignore. But it’s been spreading. It’s made me jittery and afraid as I stand next to this chasm-mirage because there is no where to go. It’s been getting more and more virulent. Spreading rapidly, lighting everything ablaze. It’s everywhere now and all it wants is to throw me over that ledge, and up into the chasm. It shouts at me:

“What are you doing?”

“What’s taking so long?”

“Just jump!”

And more of the same. It’s talking so loudly now; over the part of me pleading to keep holding on. That if I let go I’ll surely plummet into the depths of the unknown forever scarred, maimed and forgotten.

It shouts that I’m already scarred. That I’ve already been maimed and limping about for years. And to be forgotten surely you have to make yourself known first.

So here I am, caught at the edge of a chasm. And everything is catching on fire.

This morning something occurred to me that sums up my feelings about goals, creativity, and life in general. Initially I was surprised that it took me so long to have this realization, but after closer examination and using the keen perspective of hindsight it appears I haven’t been focused on much of anything until about 9 months ago.

What I’m talking about is pursuit. Naturally we all know the infamous ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ but what occurred to me finally, at the age of 28 (28!) is the pursuit. The pursuit of it.

What an amazing word and an amazing phrase: The pursuit of happiness. Not the hopes of happiness, not the dreams or the goal setting or the ambition of happiness. The pursuit of happiness.

It’s a great phrase because pursuit indicates forward motion. It indicates action. Going after something, working, being active towards achieving something. Then I understood everything I’ve read lately and everything I’ve achieved and not achieved and why it did or didn’t happen. And it all boils down to pursuit.

Pursuit is the reason I hate television. It’s the reason I don’t want to be surrounded by negative people, uncreative people, and people who make excuses, fear failure, or create limits and barriers for themselves and others.

Pursuit does not allow room for any of those things to be substantial. It obliterates them. It is the ultimate problem solver.

In my efforts to be more positive, more helpful, more creative, and in general happier, I’m going to start applying the pursuit rule to my life by simply asking myself:

Am I truly pursuing my happiness right now?

To be quite honest, I’m scared. There are a lot of things that I am not pursuing right now, or that I don’t pursue enough and there are a lot of things I do that distract me from pursuing happiness. This is new for me – for years believing that anyone can achieve anything, yes, but believing and pursuing are two different things. Believing is easy. Pursuing is work.

I’m starting small and I’m starting today. One phone call, ten more minutes of time, a few more steps in the right direction. In a year I hope to be in a full sprint, ahead of the pack and running up front with the winners; those who are happy because they pursue it. I want to leave the dreamers behind once and for all.

A friend of mine sent me an email earlier today linking to this article. I just wanted to post a little something to let you all know how smart I am.

The unemployment rate is currently at 8.1% That’s the U3 index – not the U6. Which basically means that it doesn’t include all the people who were not working for various reasons like maternity leave, having been in prison, having already been unemployed, working part time, etc. The U6 is more like 15%.

In the nation’s history, we have had 10 months with similar statistics in the past 30 years. 4 of them were the past 4 months in a row.

I heard this news today on NPR’s money podcast and having just returned from Italy I can’t help but think ‘so what?’ Not because I’m some cruel person, not because I have my job and don’t care about others, but having just spent the last 8 days marveling at works created by Donatello, Michelangelo, Giotto, and other ninja turtles, I began to wonder: How does this recession affect the arts?

Think about it. Millions of people out of work. Millions of people who might play piano or guitar or song-write in their spare time. Millions who gave up their dream of painting, sculpting, or singing because it couldn’t earn them money.

Now faced with only the prospect of job-hunting and idle hands, how many people will return to the pen and the page after spending a few hours monotonously tweaking resumes and making phone calls to prospective employers?

Could this recession yield a new renaissance in American art? Will the next Beatles form or the next Michelangelo emerge? Will people start drawing ideas from the collective human subconscious now freed from the bonds of constantly seeking money be suddenly flooded with desire and passion for something more creative than a spreadsheet?

Granted not everyone will have the means to buy paints or instruments but my thinking is we’ll see an influx of musicians, artists, writers, and thinkers dedicating a much more significant portion of time to what was once their hobby. It will be interesting to see what impact the recent economic downfall has on our artforms, and I for one and am excited at the possibility of the results.

This is easily the greatest 20 minutes of I spent of my life in the past year, and one of the BEST orations I’ve ever seen. If you do anything creative, watch it.