No longer as truthful as should be deserved, some names, places and events deliberately vague to protect identities that aren't mine

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Oops I did it again...

So sure enough, mere days after my last post, the universe decides to prove just how right it always is about everything, and just how much simpler everything would work out if I'd just stop fighting against it so much.

I might have stumbled upon another job.  Can't say more at the moment, and it'll probably come to nothing, just a posited idea at the moment, there is research to be done, people to talk to, things to arrange etc.  But sure enough, I say, okay universe, once again I sumbit myself to your whims, and 2 jobs jump up at me.


In completely different news, I have started paying for Spotify finally.  A lot of people seem to be mocking me for this, and I really don't understand why.  Firstly, this allows me to take my music abroad.  I'm currently on the £9.99 plan, which means i can sync it offline too, so by paying for something I use for hours a day, I can also eliminate the need to determine which music I want to take to the US with me, and can instead take all of it, and change it on the fly whilst I'm abroad for what I want to listen to when I don't have a net connection.  After I get back, and am just using it at home again, I will probably switch down to the £4.99 plan, which effectively just removed the ads.  I don't really begrudge this money.  I'm very willing to pay for entire albums when I listen to them, and I like having a physical copy, in the same way some people collect vinyl.  I currently need to buy The Baseballs new album.  Buying singles however, for the random bits of music I listen to, or songs that get stuck in my head, or club mixes for houseparties, can be cumbersome and expensive.  Even buying the mp3 download, the amount of random singles I listen to on spotify that I have no desire to own the full album for, probably amounts to beyond £1000 worth of 79p singles.  I pay a whole £4.99 a month, the cost of a drink in London, and I get all the music I want, more or less.  J-music they're not so hot on with their catalogue, but I can cope with that.  Especially now spotify includes your local files, so I can listen to all my music, plus all the music of the internet.  Win as far as I'm concerned.  Paying for music isn't bad, just paying stupidly large amounts is.  But the artists still deserve some recompense for their work that I enjoy.

It's for this reason that most small or indie bands, I will gladly throw money at, as I know that's what keeps them afloat and touring.  The band I'm trying to get touring with, they offered me a load of free merch, but I paid for it, cause I'd rather give them £50 and make sure they keep on the road, partly so I hopefully have a job, and partly so they continue to make music.

Also, on the subject of indie artists, please see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10220002.stm.  The BBC are a bit late on picking up on this, but it highlights the problem many independant artists suffer.  Touring, producing and distributing records, paying your rent in the process, is not a well paid business as an independant artist.  Most of them constantly just break even.  CD printing, posters, tshirts, etc, it all costs a fortune, not to mention venue fees, and as the article points out, ticketing partners take a large majority of the ticket costs, but there's little other way to reliably sell your tickets.  A lot of indie artists are trying different things, putting records online for pay what you like costs, though that's risky - so far only 6 people have payed 1c above the asking price for Amanda Palmer's latest record.  Amanda Palmer herself makes use of her zealous fanbase to provide accomodation and food to reduce touring costs in return for getting to have your idol stay in your house for the night.  Bitter Ruin are taking up this tactic, and have produced amazing hand drawn lyric books for their records to sell - it's something different, it takes a long time, but its appreciated by the fans, and paid for; good paper, hand written, signed on the back, hand bound, calligraphy on the front and wax stamped.  Again, the BBC article points out independant artists are going down routes such as selling off backstage passes or unique merchandise for their tours.  Websites are cropping up that allow artists to sell their music for a basic price, that then gives the fans the download in whatever format and bitrate they might like, not just a 192kbps mp3, and of course, DRM free, which might perpetuate the problem of piracy, but most fans who are willing to go down this route aren't likely to be mass pirates in my opinion.

Post ranting about biphobia to come at some point

No comments:

Post a Comment