Support
Looper's Delight
|
Support |
|
|
I liked reading this! On 12/18/09, Stephen Goodman <spgoodman@earthlight.net> wrote: > Hi Andy, > >> 1. Firstly, when did you discover the Internet? > > In the mid-1980s while using a connection to it, known at the time as > Telenet (a GTE project). I've been involved with PCs since 1980 so >dealing > with communications was a default situation; I worked through the old > CompuServe system, and when the Internet became available to the general > public I was implementing it at businesses in the LA area, but had >already > been accessing newsgroups via text-based bulletin boards. > >> 2. If so, how has the Internet been of a benefit to you as an artist, >> or other artists you know? > > In addition to more available, cheaper technology, the Internet made it > possible for artists to self-publish, without having to grovel to some > cigar-chomper at a music company just for the privilege. > >> 3. Can you think of any negative effects internet technologies have >> had on artists (for example, say, people getting annoyed by the >> e-flying that swamped message boards on MySpace or perhaps very >> expensive and very annoying advertising campaigns by the majors)? > > People definitely count it as a necessity like telephone coverage these > days... and potentially take it for granted as a result, considering also > the usual effects of saturation on a market. > >> 4. Do you think the way artists use the internet has changed in the >> last 10 years, and do you think this will change in the next 10, if >> so, how? > > I think artists have assumed more control over their use of the Internet, > but there are two sides of Internet use on the part of artists: first >there > are those who self-publish on their own web sites in combination with >those > run by 3rd party companies (myspace etc); and there are those who just >use > the 3rd party sites. I don't include established artists in that >division, > but the same paradigm tends to apply: established artists who do their >own > thing (example: Todd Rundgren has been in advance of most musicians in >this > regard for some time, so he's an oddity statistically. David Bowie of >course > does not manage his own Myspace page - but Steve Hunter, Lou Reed's/Alice > Cooper's guitarist, certainly does manage it himself) but I suspect most > Myspace/Facebook/etc pages for established artists are run either by >fans or > by subalterns assigned to the role. > > I believe that in the next 10 years the graduation away from established > music companies will continue, and some brave souls out there will break > away from said companies, to form their own concern. They'll have > experience in music publishing with all the inherent issues like >royalties > and writing credits etc, and will hopefully know how to apply these > practices in an honest manner, to provide not just publishing services >but > also distribution and marketing efforts. This will be a new business >model > with less middlemen and therefore more revenue for the creators than the > purveyors. (After all the Big Four/Five are only really very good at the > distribution and marketing aspects, and certainly not A&R anymore, the > absence of new talent being the glaring evidence. Once they figure out >this > factor and have positioned themselves for the non-publishing elements >such > as these, the rest of the world will have outstripped them altogether.) > > In 1996 I put my first web page up, throwing my own music onto the web >for > listening (RealAudio). That same year I collaborated with a programmer > friend to create a self-executing encapsulated sound file dubbed The >Loop of > the Week, which still runs under Windows 7 and reportedly PC-capable >Macs. > After people had heard my music I was asked to put it on a tape to send > people, and after this I thought of the notion of selling it online, but > decided to wait for recordable CDs to come along for less than £300, >which > they did in 1998-9. I became more engaged in the technical end, while > concentrating on public performance instead of web promos. In the >meantime > mp3.com had come and gone, due to bad management and having a goal to >sell > out to a music corporation ultimately; I was an MIS Director by this >time at > a music company, and those people's assessments of online music or > file-sharing was restricted to being able to pronounce the word >"Napster", > when they were asking me to install it on their work PCs. No kidding! >P2P > was never seen as anything but a resource the music corporations wished >they > had full control over, as opposed to the role of a passive user - and it >was > only through subjugation via lawsuit, followed by outright purchase, that > Napster became 'controlled'. By then it was too late, and us cats were >out > of their bag altogether. > > Independent musicians are now producing full video streaming shows, the >only > thing presently lacking being full-surround and cheap video mixing > real-time. Cave people in the music corporations haven't caught up to >that > one either! [snicker] > > As you can tell I have a lot of opinions from having worked in IT for >over > 25 years while maintaining an interest in creating new music, and having >a > 4-year business degree (Bus. Administration, with contract law), and >will go > on as long as you like. > > Thanks for asking! > > Stephen Goodman > http://www.earthlight.tv > http://www.ustream.tv/StephenGoodman > http://www.vimeo.com/spgoodman > http://www.myspace.com/spgoodman > > >> I really hope you can help me out, and if you do, you'll be cited in >> my report:) So far I've managed to get a handful responses - of which >> most are from UK artists, although I have managed to get a couple of >> willing New York antifolkers involved, as well as my boss at the >> venue. >> >> Thanks for reading, look forward to hearing back from you. >> >> Andy > >