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Re: Fripp news



Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that *Fripp's* 'retirement' was a purely materialistic decision but that this is the nature of the music industry as a whole -- obsessed with legality and ownership and neglectful of creativity.

The 'posh offices', etc. was referring to the turn that the whole industry has taken towards rentierism. I didn't mean to imply that Fripp has any of these things. To me he just seems to be defending his artistic and commercial legacy against this kind of predation.


Philip.

--On 07 September 2012 08:43 -0400 Douglas Baldwin <coyotelk@optonline.net> wrote:

Knowing the Frippster just a teensy tiny bit (via Guitar Craft and a few
other brief exchanges), I feel compelled to comment on the many comments
given about his "retirement." First, note Robert's online diary:
http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm . Robert is a great writer, but he
often uses his own code to express himself. Regular reading of his diary
reveals this code rather clearly, and gives excellent insight to his
day-to-day life: his struggles with the music business, pictures of his
office and fellow workers, his lovely wife Toyah, and perhaps most
relevantly, his thoughts about retirement.
    Philip wrote (and several other posters said or implied):

"I understood that as he is becoming his own management to keep
following  up legal rights to his music of the past. Reminds me of the
tendency among  record labels to stop seeking out new great music in
favor of focusing on  dealing with the legal rights to their back
catalogue."

Economists call this rent, or rentierism.  The extraction of value not
by  producing anything new but by squeezing what has already been
produced.  Actually creating new stuff entails risks and overheads;
extracting rents  just requires a small army of lawyers and some posh
offices.  That's 21st  Century capitalism for you - all gain, no risk!

Philip's comment implies a stinky heartless materialism. Robert doesn't
seem to be very interested in making money through his back catalog per
se. What he wants is proper control of the Crimson/Fripp catalog so it
doesn't get abused by the fat grubs of 21st century music biz. He would
also like to distribute income properly to his fellow musicians, many of
whom do not have the background in real estate that he does, and so do
not have much in the way of a cushioning income to soften the blows of
the business. Robert certainly has no posh offices nor army of lawers;
the DGM offices are on a rural side street adjacent to the village
butcher, and Bobby often bunks down on the floor in a sleeping bag when
work demands it. The staff consists of two or three people.

Almost everyone who commented on the DPRP article was blindsided by
DPRP's stupidly misleading and sensationalistic headline: "Robert Fripp
Quit Music." That's poor English, for starters. What Robert has given up
on is his role as a front-line, headlining, touring-in-poor-conditions
performer and recorder of music that demands tour support. Robert is so
plugged into music that it drips in puddles around his feet. Music flits
around his rounded head like moths 'round a light. Almost every day he
does things with his fingers, heart, and ears (and what's between them)
than most of us could wish for. He's just sick of the crappy business
surrounding the public performance and distribution of music.