Webcasting:Doing it Legally.
November 7, 2000 5:28 AM Subscribe
Webcasting:Doing it Legally. Or, just use live365.com and get saddled with whatever policies they decide to throw at you.
Does this also explain why it's so impossible to get bands who haven't signed with a label any air time on radio stations? Most corporations that own stations don't want to deal directly with every artist. They want to deal with labels, or skip labels and just deal with the acronyms. But then when you do that, you can't exactly pick and choose what you want to play.
The acronyms legally have the music industry by the balls. Artists can't walk away from that because working with the industry is the only way to make any real money. You can just remain local, and live from gig to gig, but after talking with many local artists here in Dallas, the allure of signing on to any acronym is just too tempting. At least then you have a chance to break out of your little pond, provided you play their game their way and kiss their ass as often as possible. Even then, the odds of any one artist or band being successful on more than a local level is not much better than winning the lottery. Twice.
Then after you've signed your soul over to the acronyms, if you want to do something innovative or different, you hit brick walls at every turn. It's why Prince dropped his name. He learned that he didn't own himself. He signed himself away when he was trying to make it big, and after he made it big he realized he had painted himself into a corner. He got his name back when the contract ran out, after endless legal troubles. The acronyms and record companies didn't hang him. They just gave him the rope. He hung himself.
This whole thing makes me sick.
posted by ZachsMind at 10:16 AM on November 7, 2000
The acronyms legally have the music industry by the balls. Artists can't walk away from that because working with the industry is the only way to make any real money. You can just remain local, and live from gig to gig, but after talking with many local artists here in Dallas, the allure of signing on to any acronym is just too tempting. At least then you have a chance to break out of your little pond, provided you play their game their way and kiss their ass as often as possible. Even then, the odds of any one artist or band being successful on more than a local level is not much better than winning the lottery. Twice.
Then after you've signed your soul over to the acronyms, if you want to do something innovative or different, you hit brick walls at every turn. It's why Prince dropped his name. He learned that he didn't own himself. He signed himself away when he was trying to make it big, and after he made it big he realized he had painted himself into a corner. He got his name back when the contract ran out, after endless legal troubles. The acronyms and record companies didn't hang him. They just gave him the rope. He hung himself.
This whole thing makes me sick.
posted by ZachsMind at 10:16 AM on November 7, 2000
Well... this goes back to the "passing laws to protect people from themselves by making it impossible, and therefore unprofitable, for big corporations to try and buy certain rights from them" thing we just did.
Worth noting, though, that there are some musicians making a *living* off of MP3.com. I heard about one classical musician that was making something like $20K (a year, a month? A living, in any event...)
posted by baylink at 1:58 PM on November 7, 2000
Worth noting, though, that there are some musicians making a *living* off of MP3.com. I heard about one classical musician that was making something like $20K (a year, a month? A living, in any event...)
posted by baylink at 1:58 PM on November 7, 2000
Skip the annoying intro crap on Live365.com here.
The entire music business makes me sick. I'd like to pitch my entire CD collection and listen to nothing but live music, just because I hate the entire ridiculous tower of exploitative garbage. Unfortunately I don't have the integrity necessary to actually deprive myself to that extent.
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 4:00 PM on November 7, 2000
The entire music business makes me sick. I'd like to pitch my entire CD collection and listen to nothing but live music, just because I hate the entire ridiculous tower of exploitative garbage. Unfortunately I don't have the integrity necessary to actually deprive myself to that extent.
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 4:00 PM on November 7, 2000
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
"Some of your friends are already this fucked." I loved that.
posted by baylink at 8:05 AM on November 7, 2000