Because today, artists are reduced to begging. They can sit on the curb with a cup, as much as go to Facebook and Twitter with their pathetic pleas. "Be my Facebook friend...and come to my gig PLEASE." "Hey, Twitter fan, let me bribe you with a free download so you won't stop following me."
Remember when there were record labels and record stores? When self-entitled brats didn't smirk "Copyright is copy wrong?" When obnoxious "sharers" on blogs and forums didn't say "Thank ME for giving you all the albums FREEE?" At one time there were no smug Internet pirates collecting Kim Dotcom money and dismissing their thefts with: "If you LIKE it, buy it."
The "new paradigm" was: "The music should be free. Just buy a t-shirt...or if the artist does a gig, go to the gig...with your camcorder so you can record it and up it to YOUTUBE." That is, if the gig is nearby and you're not busy downloading the newest movie off a torrent. That is, if the item isn't a pdf or kindle or ePub file from a writer who DOESN'T gig and DOESN"T sell t-shirts. Fact is, most every artist is now having a tough time. The newest way to outwit the system? THE WORLD IS SAVED: Heeeere's PLEDGEMUSIC.COM.
You got nothing when you went begging on KICKSTARTER? You aren't seeing a good royalty from SPOTIFY or BANDCAMP? Let's try again. Just invest in paying for vinyl or limited edition CD, with posters and other things, and maybe autograph it or number it...then SELL IT. To somebody. Or other.
It seems PLEDGEMUSIC is aimed at has-beens and those who are on an indie label having been booted a long time ago from a surviving major one.
Right. Press up some MERCH and hope your dwindling fans feel like "supporting" you. Maybe they'll feel good about being no-talent drones when they "feel sorry" for the artist-beggar and buy something. As long as the artist is grateful and gives a personal THANKS in a TWEET.
Remember FASTBALL? Like so many bands, they had a good first or second album, and then a disappointing second or third. Then they disappeared. These guys want another chance. You got the disposable income? Like professional beggars, they'll offer a personalized and sincere THANK YOU.
FASTBALL and WENDY JAMES are competing with better known artists who have run dry.
Take antisemite Peter Gabriel. When was his last good song? His record label accountants began seeing red rain in the ink, and off he went on his "singing the oldies, see if you can recognize the fat fuck" tour. RICK WAKEMAN also has a dwindling fan base and has gone begging. At least, unlike Gabriel, he hasn't overtly demanded the destruction of Israel via sanctions, or falsely declared Israel to not only be apartheid, but the ONLY apartheid country on the planet. But both these guys, and many more, are trying to get people to buy their OLD stuff OVER again. PLEASE.
Hey, if you buy this clutter-crapola, you can go on your YouTube channel, and show everyone how you open the package with your pudgy paws, and then describe the goodies in detail. Then you pat yourself on the back for "supporting" the poor beggar, and really, who has the power now, the beggar or the "fan" with the drone dollars from that dull job?
Sorry, Pete, but I have your vinyl and it ain't scratched. I have your CD's too. And just because you're an ignorant racist swine, I do appreciate back when you were SENSITIVE, and I'll still play your music now and then. Hope you and Rick get those wrinkled egos salved with the grease of beg-induced bucks from the bozos.
Rick? Who wouldn't treasure a boxed set immortalizing his soundtrack to a 1925 silent film better heard via vintage traditional orchestration and available on any budget DVD?
You've noticed that most of this stuff is aimed at older music fans? This is because Millennials now expect everything FREEEEE, and don't like clutter. They don't value music, DVDs or books. It should be streamed. At best, it should be on a thumb drive. Go spend money for concert tickets maybe, or a bottle of smell, if the artist has a perfume deal, but BUY music? Hell no.
So, is PLEDGEMUSIC really "the new paradigm?" Of course not. Just because Dylan can sell a huge box set of old concerts or "official bootlegs," or Roger Waters' Pink Floyd, or the Rolling Stones or Neil Young, or McCartney, let's remember they all got MILLIONS to go play in the desert last month. They are the exceptions. Mostly, 60's and 70's progrockers are OLD, and their fans are worrying about paying medical bills, NOT collecting more shit that their grandchildren will toss in the trash. How much longer does a Rick Wakeman fan HAVE on this Earth? As his friends drop off or go into Alzheimers fog, who will that fan impress with that PHANTOM BOXED SET? How is it worth the asking price?
"Support the artist," comes the feeble voice. "Support the artist," the voice begs. But there's bills to pay. The social security check barely covers food. "Medicare does not cover everything." And so the artist keeps on begging, only to discover that the fans are downloading, enjoying the free streaming and the bootlegging and the piracy, and smirking, "Charity begins at home."
No comments:
Post a Comment