M
But how will you earn the money to buy the food/pay the taxes. Without owning what you create how can you make even a penny from it? How would you charge a high price for live perfomances without the label promotion in the first place? The starving musician thing is all very romantic but it starts to hurt the old noggin after a while.
From MY Congressman
January 20, 2012
Because of your strong concerns with online piracy bills currently under consideration in Congress like H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), I thought you might be interested to learn of recent events in this regard.
On January 17th, after thoroughly reviewing the draft version of SOPA, you will be pleased to know that I formally expressed my opposition to this legislation with my colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee, which has since suspended deliberations on this controversial measure. As you are fully aware, H.R. 3261, a bill that I never sponsored in the first place, was introduced earlier this Congress in an attempt to prevent online threats to economic creativity and theft of intellectual property.
While it is important that we protect copyrighted material, like you, I feel we can address this issue without restricting the Internet. Our democracy is founded on certain unalienable rights including the freedom of speech and expression. Unfortunately, the current version of SOPA would violate this basic right and is nothing more than modern day censorship. The Internet belongs to the people and instead we must support policies in Congress that promote a free and boundless world wide web.
As always, I greatly appreciate knowing of your support for my efforts on this important matter of mutual concern. With best wishes and personal regards, I am
can't tell if you are joking? i've been making money through music since I was 16 lol.
you don't only have to play your own music to make money do you. infact most people don't.
why not treat other things you could do which relate to music (sessions, producing, live sound, arranging, covers, management, branding) as your work? that way you can still release your music on your own terms. of course it depends how much hard work you're willing to put in. you only get back what you put in.
oh and why do you need a record company to do promotion lol?
if i add enough people on facebook I could probably arrange a gig in kiev (ukraine) and have 100 people turn up. that would still be enough money to cover the cost of fuel (if i was driving from bucharest for example).
you realise most of the "big" record companies now have under 200 staff. that is the big independents.
but you're right, it's just all a very romantic dream.
Yes, the fact is that the vast majority of pro musicians earn most if not all of their money from incomes other than royalties; even in today's climate, you're still one of the talented few if you see anything worthwhile on a PRS cheque.
If nothing else than on a point of principle, the concept of copyright shouldn't be allowed to die. Where's the incentive to maintain quality? It pisses me off badly to think that individuals feel they have a right to upload enormous amounts of other people's hard work and investment. I've got no problem seeing those people sent to prison. That said, badly drafted legislation such as this could never be a good thing.
I'd also wish you would stop being so tragically naive and go get a day job. Then you can release music on your terms, without having to worry about "illegal downloads".
Anyway that's just my idea for the future. I didn't really feel like destroying your post because quite frankly it's something i've read a million times before (and i've debated this argument with much more industry savvy people than you seem to be). Whether you like my opinion is irrelevant, it will be sitting here forever.
I'm not being hostile Jones. Really I'm not.
The last time I left Drummerworld for months it was because of stuff regarding downloading/the music industry. Don't infer my posts as being hostile, that's just you projecting feelings onto words that aren't there! See now I could infer from your words that you were getting defensive because I was talking with confidence. But of course that isn't the case at all.
let me type my mantra; do not debate illegal downloading on random forums. waste of time.