Kill SOPA and PIPA

In response to two bills on the table (Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act), I just emailed this letter to all of my supposed representatives. If these bills become law, our freedoms will be limited and indie artists will have another uneccessary obstacle in our way as the tool we rely on the most becomes restricted. In that light, I encourage everyone to send similar messages to their representatives in the House and Senate.

In the hopes that my supposed representatives in government will actually listen to reason and the voice of their constituents, I strongly discourage the support of SOPA and PIPA. Any bill proposing to restrict people’s internet access and/or content sharing is not only a violation of our freedom and first amendment rights, but also an obstacle to the evolution of our globally-linked culture. The bills are based on obsolete laws that cannot be properly applied to the internet age. I speak, not just as a concerned citizen, but as an owner of intellectual property myself.

I am a small business owner in New York State, working in the arts and entertainment industries. The internet has become my most reliable tool for nearly every aspect of my business. As such, the issues brought up by SOPA and PIPA affect me personally. If people are restricted in their internet access and not allowed to freely share content, then the future of my career and that of other businesses like my own is extremely bleak. In these rough economic times, it’s difficult enough to keep any small business up and running. When we can’t afford other means of marketing and promotion, us in the entertainment industries rely heavily on word-of-mouth exposure and social media sharing to attain new customers and streams of revenue. Don’t let the larger companies convince you otherwise; much like the bills in question, their policies and procedures are based on obsolete ideals from a time long since past.

I could write a book on the subject (one that I would want the world to share over the internet in the knowledge that a certain percentage of those people would indeed buy it), but I know you’re busy, and so I shall sum up my position. If you support SOPA and PIPA, you are encouraging legislation that could potentially make it much more difficult for me and thousands of NY business owners like me to feed ourselves and provide for our families. You will also be displaying a disregard for the freedom of the people you represent and helping to increase social inequality by supporting bills designed to cater to large corporations rather than small businesses. Once again, I urge you to not support these bills or any similar bills in the future. Thank you for your time, and in advance for doing the right thing.

DIY words of wisdom from a vet

Canibus has been in the hip hop game for a long time. The fact that he still presses on, despite his disputes with labels and the industry in general, is a testament to the underground and indie spirit. As an artist that embraces the art over the bullshit, I agree with his recent sentiments:

“In my book, sales have never quantified the talent, skill, or the artistry it takes to move someone through lyrics intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. I say this because I recognize and appreciate all of the people that have reached out to me over the years to express their gratitude for the impact my music has had on them, musically and personally. This satisfies me and makes me proud because these side effects of writing, rhyming, recording and having my music spread so far and wide is no small achievement. It’s because of you that I haven’t quit making music.”

Canibus’ new album Lyrical Law drops in a few days. Support real indie music and pre-order it today, featuring production work from Vherbal (who also provided a couple beats on my latest release, Mostly Recycled).

You Get What You Pay For

As I’ve said in the past, I’ve embraced the idea of giving out a lot of my music for free, because I’d rather do that than have people not listening at all. But let’s be honest here: I’d rather people paid for my music, especially for the albums that I personally fund to record and distribute. Free downloads may have devalued music for many people, as fans often forget that making music is also a business. I’ve never recouped my costs on an album – it’s only the love of my art that keeps me going. So for me, making music is emotionally satisfying but financially damaging. I’m not complaining – it’s my choice to continue on this path – I’m just stating the facts. An indie artist such as myself wants to make every release better, to progress and become more competitive with the other established acts out there. And fans always want more, the die hards eagerly awaiting the next release. But if everybody expects to get music for free, where exactly is the funding supposed to come from for all of this?

This article on EveningTimes isn’t exactly clear on who said the following quote; I believe it’s Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand. But this is sadly the truth right now for all musicians trying to get their music out to the world, indie or signed: “Most people don’t want to pay for their music, therefore don’t pay for new music to be made, which is fair enough. But they can’t expect to hear anything other than tunes recorded on a laptop in a bedroom.”

Why Indie Artists Fail in the Music Business

In the equation Success = making enough money through music to pay the bills, there are many reasons why indies often fall short. Top 3 reasons: lack of business knowledge, lack of perspective and their music sucks. Take a moment and read my full article on Helium.

A Good Example for Indie Lasers

I don’t normally show love for any major label artists for two reasons: 1. their music usually sucks, and 2. I’d rather support smaller artists that actually need the exposure and don’t have backing from a label. But Lupe Fiasco is a rare exception to both of these principles. Lupe is on Atlantic Records, but he works with them on his own terms, and his fans have his back. He enjoys mainstream success but still speaks from an indie artist’s point of view, even through much of his music. And even while admittedly going for a more commercial sound, he makes deep songs that speak to the listener on multiple levels. The dude is just awesome, a rare breed indeed, and I encourage everyone to go out and buy his new album Lasers. Read this exclusive interview with Music Connection for more insight on Lasers and Lupe’s take on the music business. Recommended for fans, but even more so for indie artists trying to get somehwere with their music without being enslaved to a major label.

Click the pic to preview/purchase the album

Tips for Getting a Record Deal

Are you a complete tool, driven by the dollar, devoid of your own personality, easily influenced by others, comfortable in slavery and willing to sell your soul to a corporation? Do you enjoy pretending to perform music that has been stripped of all its humanity and creative expression for the financial benefit of fat cats with even less talent than you? Then you just might have what it takes to get a major label record deal. For those of you still clinging onto some amount of dignity and sense of artistic value, here are a few tips to get you closer to the holy grail of shallowness.

1. Stop putting your heart into your music. Your introspective lyrics and meaningful songs are very appreciated by the college kids at the coffee house. But they aren’t the ones funding your album and your tour with an advance that you have to pay back before you receive any royalties. How are you ever going to be a sell out if you don’t have a heavily marketed and pre-packaged product to sell? Real art does not make for good ringtones. Stop being creative and original; embrace the fine art of being catchy and cliché.

2. Stop making music entirely. There is actually no need for you to work on music at all – the label will provide you with producers and songwriters, to decide for you what you will sound like. If you are really lucky, they’ll even perform all of the songs for you on your album. Instead of wasting time making music, concentrate instead on the things that will truly catch the attention of the labels: your image and apparent marketability. Remember, label execs are businessmen, not artists. What do they know about music anyway?

3. Start selling yourself on the corner. Practice makes perfect.

The music industry is currently more competitive than ever before. With single downloads often selling better than full albums, now more than ever labels are looking for short term hits that will generate lots of revenue before quickly burning out. It takes a special kind of person to be gimmicky, materialistic and small-minded enough to have the “it” factor that the Big Four are looking for. It is only through the persistence and dedication to your dreams of being a puppet and a piggy bank that you can get closer to achieving that goal you so deserve: a record deal!

* This is an article I wrote for Helium, published here. Sorry if you suck at sensing satire.

The Current State of the Music Industry

This was a comment I left on an article by Will Bryant on Knocks from the Underground. The article talks about the pros and cons of music piracy/file sharing. You can read the original article HERE. I’ll also add that I’m not saying the independent artist’s path is easy. I know from experience that it can be very rough road.  I just don’t like the industry blaming everyone but themselves for their own failures. Anyway, here’s my three cents on the topic.

As a recording artist myself, I fully recognize the awkward state that the music industry is in today. In the age of MP3s and downloading, artists and labels simply have to adapt or suffer the consequences. Piracy only hurts major labels and their artists, those stuck in the old ways. For indies, file sharing offers the potential of acquiring more fans and in turn more sales. Also note the rhetoric – industry desk-huggers who see songs as potential money makers for the corporation call it piracy, while fans and sites that spread the music for the love of the art call it file sharing. It all depends on perspective and, for artists, how you want to use the situation to further your career.

BTW, “losing money” is misleading corporate language that the industry likes to use. You don’t take money away from labels and artists by downloading music for free, you just don’t give them any. If a major label has invested in an artist/album, it’s generally a whole package including concerts, merchandise, etc. If, in the long run, total revenue doesn’t match projected profit, obviously you need to change your business model. Don’t try to blame the fans, your customers, for your incompetence – you’re the business people. Once again, perspective and adaptation.

Through downloading and social networking, artists today have a more direct connection with fans and more personal resources to spread their music globally. By cutting out middle men, artists stand to make a bigger profit per unit. This means that more artists can enjoy success independently on a moderate amount of sales, enough to pay the bills and continue their careers without compromising their art. And this, I believe, is what the unchanging music industry fears the most: that soon, they may not be needed at all.

Giving Your Music Away For Free

It’s a debate a lot of artists have with themselves and sometimes among each other.  After all the time, effort, and money spent in making your album, why would you give it away for free?  Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of being in the music “business” if you’re not making a profit?  The opinions vary, and the answer probably depends on your goals as an artist.

As an independent artist with over 20 self-produced, self-released albums under my belt, I’ve ended up giving a lot of music out for free.  I don’t always want to, but it always seems to happen.  But even when I am not making any immediate money, I am gaining exposure; with the internet, it is global.  And something more important: I make connections with other people.  Giving out your music shows a generosity that enhances the relationship between you and the receiver.  I don’t just have fans, I have people who are down for the cause and quick to help me spread the word when I have a new release out.  I don’t just collaborate with other artists, I make meaningful music with like-minded friends.  If I was never willing to give my music out, I don’t think I would have these kinds of connections.

Besides, there are still ways to make money, even if you give out your entire album for free.  Read this from the Nine Inch Nails forum, advice for indie artists from Trent Reznor himself.  His words on how to give your music more value while giving it away for less are inspiring.  We at Sykophunk Productions are turning a few of his ideas into a new business model experiment for our next release, A Collage of Clairaudience: Part One from Dostah Shialilee.  We’ll keep you posted on how it worked out for us.

The Catch-22 of Album Promotion

The road to releasing my new, independently released album was long and hard. Writing the music and words for 15 songs, practicing and perfecting them, spending 2 months and all of my savings at the studio, updating my website and social networking profiles, making a promo video, designing the cover artwork & layout, doing test runs and eventually getting the first batch of CDs printed up. Now that the album’s finally been released, the most difficult work continues: promoting and selling it.

The making of this album has rendered me completely broke. And I don’t say that lightly, how some people claim to have no money when they have a credit card and a shitty paycheck. I mean it literally – empty wallet, nothing in the bank, no day job, zero dinero. However, all of these promotion/music marketing/artist development/whatever-else-they-call-themselves companies (who approach me in packs, like hungry wolves fighting over the same piece of meat) don’t seem to understand what that means. They continuously offer their services, even after I’ve explained my situation, assuring me that they can give my career as an artist the boost it needs if I just sign up for one of their packages, which costs hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars.

This is the catch-22 situation that truly independent artists often face. Without the proper marketing and promotion, my album barely sells. But I can’t afford any “professional” assistance without a steady income. Sounds like a dead end. After all of my hard work, is this where my album dies, before it was even given a chance to live? I plan on continuing to bust my ass and do everything in my power to assure that my album gets out to the people who would love it. Without financial backing to put such plans in action, however, the future of my album remains quite uncertain.

I apologize to any artists reading this that thought I might offer an answer at the end of this rant. I do have an unrealistic yet very logical solution, but it is for the promotion companies. If you’re so confident in your abilities, and you see potential in my music (as you said the first three times you contacted me), why don’t you work for a percentage of the sales, like a manager would? It seems to me that if you were more flexible and expanded your list of possible clients, you’d stand to make a lot more money in the long run. Just a thought.

The Long Road Upward

Being an independent musician and songwriter, I am influenced by the world around me. We’re in a recession and times are rough. The economy is hurting and people are suffering. Jobs are disappearing and consumers are generally buying less of everything. Despite these grim facts, I have realized that it is the perfect time to be an independent musician breaking into the music industry.

Let’s define independent in terms of being an artist. Obviously, it means not reliant upon others – self-sufficient. This does not mean that independent musicians do everything on their own, even if they refer to themselves as a DIY act. It means that they are the masters of their own destinies. They retain creative control of their art, they make their own decisions, and they mostly use their own money to fund a career in music.

Now let’s define the music industry by contrasting it with the record industry. Many people believe these two entities to be synonymous with one another, but they are not. The record industry can be thought of as the general retail market of CDs. The music industry is the market of selling songs. People in both industries hope to be profitable (kind of the point of trying to sell anything), but the motivation and means of doing business makes all the difference.

The record industry is closely monitored by the major labels and other large corporations that created it decades ago. Their primary goal is to sell as many units as possible, to maximize profits for the companies and the people on top of the corporate ladder. The main motivation to achieve this goal is greed. This should not come as a shock to anyone. The history of shady managers, label CEOs, and various desk huggers getting rich off of the hard work of music artists is well known and the facts have been documented. The idea that there is but one way to release an album, one road to fame based on an unchangeable model of business: that is the myth.

Behold, the music industry. The song market is controlled by the artists who make the songs, as well as truly independent labels (a.k.a. artists with legal business certificates). The internet and other advances in technology have made this market more accessible to both artists and their fans, creating a more direct connection between the two. In this industry, the road to profit is driven by passion rather than greed. The goal is not to sell more albums but to sell more music.

What’s the difference? Isn’t an album just a collection of music, and if you sell more units then, by default, you get your music out to more people? Well, yes and no, but the difference in perception is really profound and is shaping the future of both industries. Record sales and corporate sponsorship are down. Cheap technology and social networking are up. Not only has it become easier over the recent years for an artist to take control of every aspect of their careers, from recording to selling their own music, but it is also becoming nearly necessary. The big guys just can’t afford to take any chances these days.

So, enjoy the recession. Consider it a window of opportunity. Let Wall Street shake, let the head honchos shiver. Let them all scurry around and figure out how they’re going to fix the mess that their own greed helped to create. Us independent musicians, the artists in control of their own destinies – we’ll continue to hustle and struggle, as we always have, to make ends meet and somehow get our music out to the masses. The music industry will remain on the long road upward, while the record industry tries to avoid the quick road downward.