The Economics of a Career in the Arts Part Deux

As my er, prolonged, readers know, my blog ebbs and flows. Some of my RIAA rants can go on interminably, sometimes I'll do a longer, more thoughtful piece to send out to other blogs. Other posts have been very short. One was only one word. It was called The Economics of a Career in the Arts and the word long post was, "Poor". It was 1/14/05, in the midst of a number of posts addressing how file sharing and the needs of artists and society operate economically in our culture. After spending a lot of time talking about the various needs and economies, when it came down to that reality, one word said it all.

I was catching up with a friend the other day and told him about a number of creative projects I am working on. After going through a few of them, the response was, so, what are you doing to make money? I don't remember the exact words, or need to. I've certainly heard it before, most frequently from my ex but also from a guy who spent 20k on a home recording studio... and now from an internet pioneer.

I sometimes feel I'm not getting through here. Before, we really were at the mercy of the distribution channels which were well controlled. Now that the internet is here, people can hook up. People can go out there into the common marketplace and be found and be heard and have the possibility of building a business, a life, a livelihood out of whatever it is they have to offer.

Lots of folks have said they like my art. Make me an offer. Some like my songs... so pay me to download it just cause you know it took me some time, or use it in your movie and promote me. I mean we're not there yet but, basically, especially around here, it's all about intellectual property now. It's simply so new that we don't have a real economic system to reflect that. Think of it as the eBay of IP. Imagine an eBay where it's not old crap for sale, but new ideas.

People can build up little businesses not by selling all their discarded stuff but by selling creative, beautiful expressive stuff. Instead of our most creative youth being pushed into advertising or god help us, law (like me), they can have a means to build their own creative identity and output. Wouldn't you rather look at my beautiful painting than some stupid soap ad I had to make? I'd rather make the art, you'd rather see it... but still we get shifted/shafted into that corporate morass. Let's stop the madness, or at least have a forum for those who want to give it a go.

So, that is the great cultural hope, at least for me. I have a dream... that some day people will not be judged by the color of their goals but by the content of their minds. That creative people and dull people can join together and expand each other, that those people who dedicate themselves to artistic expression can build a business around it and not have someone say, essentially, so, what are you really doing? What's your real job?

And, what will happen to our wonderful American way of life? More diversity and customization (yes, both) in our artistic and cultural product. A truly free marketplace will raise the level for all entertainment and IP, as it does in any industry. This is no April Fool... this is the reality of our future... it's almost here and it'll be great.

Grokster Looking Good

More Grokster stories:
wet machine

NY Times

News.com

P2Pnet


The link above has the most info I've found yet on the questions posed by the Justices and the scene outside. It stuns me that TV has virtually ignored the story. All I heard was a few favorable sentences on KRON. The most mainstream story I found was in the latest issue of Newsweek, which, like the tech sections of the Washington Post, at least their online version, has favored Grokster. Today's story had some good coverage about the tone of the questions. This audio feed has some additional perspective. As usual, P2Pnet did a good job checking the white male blogosphere for slant and ignorance.

It's sad I have to accumulate coverage from the internet alone to let folks know what's happening in this important case but, what can I say? People just don't seem to understand the larger issues here. Looks like we'll need to get the religious right to get Tom Delay and the rest of Congress to fight over resuscitation of the brain dead record industry and our persistent vegetative state of innovation, artistic freedom and fair use in order to apply some pressure here. We need someone to stand up for the American public the way they have for this one poor woman and say hey, we also have some minimal consciousness that needs, and in this case, actually can sustain, improvement. Speaking of which, check out Mark Cuban's post... highly interesting perspective of a born again content owner turned Taranto funder. Here's his interview with Gelf.

I'm heartened to see the sides being defined as entertainment vs. tech, which is a huge improvement over artists vs. thieves. EFF, in it's wisdom, didn't grandstand and instead lined up behind Taranto and IEEE. The people at EFF are the unsung heroes of our day... true pioneers of the frontier.

I'm also surprised the labels haven't used the case to try and whip up some support and sway public opinion. They seem to greatly prefer playing the villian than the victim to the general public, which confuses me. Isn't art supposed to be about joy, not fear? But hey, no one ever said they were smart. Jeez, can't they even get Don Henley to write lyrics like:

Welcome to the Hotel Noninforma
Such a lovely place
When I'm paid for grace
Livin it up for all eternity
And my grandkids too
Can't you see I don't even need to say
Please

I mean, don't hide. It was bland, overproduced music like yours which sold more records than anyone. This guy has the top selling album of all time and transitioned us all from music with a message to music that mesmerized. I hope your karma goes as Beatle-stealer MJ's has... you know who he blames for his demise don't you? Sony, who wants the catalog.

Downloading Down?

As Verrilli and Clement get up there today to argue Ken Starr's brief and execute turncoat Theodore Olson's strategy at SC against Taranto, let's take a look at what they're arguing about because one thing is clear. No matter what the high court decides in June... things are far from over. The labels can kick and scream all they want, they'll never stop P2P. But, they can significantly chill innovation and the tech engine that is our country and, that's pretty fuckin scary.

Also scary is the fact that none of the national morning shows had a word about the case, even though it's being argued today. KRON had a few sentences, which were at least favorable. But it really does concern me that this issue is so far under the radar for the public and, therefore, Congress. Hillary Clinton, who cosponsored Induce has apparently been successfully reeducated by college crowds and IPac, but, I'm continually confused and concerned about the lack of publicity for the side of this issue which represents a huge public interest.

According to Washington Post the Pew American Life Study says people are switching from downloading free music to paying for it. Not me, I switched to Apple, so I don't have to deal with the reverse infiltration from the free sites like you MSDrones. That's the only thing I can think of to sway people, unless you think millions suddenly got religion... or just love that DRM. Jon at P2Pnet sees it differently. I've looked at their studies, you can interpret for yourself.

Lots of people don't want to admit downloading on questionnaires, but Big Champagne looks at P2P traffic and consistently estimates a billion files a month. The lawsuits scared people for a while, but, the odds speak for themselves. A billion files a month, a few thousand lawsuits... that's only gonna scare people so long.

It is possible that overall free downloading may be leveling off. It's been around a few years now and so catch up has been played. When I first clued in I had to build up my library. I looked at everything I'd previously had on vinyl (it took me 3 years to find Robert Gordon's cover of Red Hot!) and CD, went through my rock encyclopedias, aging memory, you name it. It was an exhaustive and lengthy process. At one point my hard drive crashed and I had to start all over again.

Anyway, now, it's done. It's built. Yeah, I have to keep it up, keep it current, but that's just maintenance. My theory of the world is that I'm not alone in the world, if this is my experience, it's probably the experience of my Boomer buds and many more. So, it does make sense that downloading could level off... mine sure has... because I've already got the stuff. Yes, new folks are always coming into the broadband world, but maybe not as fast as that first rush.

Like I told you, it's about catalog and hits... at least for now. Now that I do have the library and ease of use, I am getting increasingly interested in lesser known stuff, which is where the paid sites do better... to an extent. Growing just as fast are the sites listed on the right, where artists are posting very decent music for free. So, I can see some transition... but not at these price points. They keep touting these 300M iTunes files as the next Messiah but... come on. I simply don't believe there's any great exodus from free to paid downloading.

Just wait till BitTorent gets the bugs out. Once those big budget films start torrenting out there to people's computerized home entertainment centers the shit is going to hit the fan big time. That's why they're taking such a stand now. The music's out, maybe they can accept that, but big film... now we're talking about another $30B domestic plus much more worldwide. We have to encourage these massive creative enterprises and we've got to pay for them somehow. The prices can come down somewhat but you're still talking at least $45M to make a nice film with your big stars and good effects, even when everyone's getting "fairly" paid (i.e.. actors not getting $20M for 10 days work).

Robert Rodriguez, who has his own studio, including the airplane hangers of the old Austin airport, runs his pics very efficiently. He's the envy of Lucas, Coppolla, PDI & Jobs the other Hollywood outsiders, because of that real estate coup. By keeping his pictures under $45M he gets the independence from ex-Miramax heads Bob & Harvey Weinstein that he needs, he does his own directing, editing, composing, writing and effects. His latest, Sin City, has half a dozen big stars. But, it's almost impossible to bring in a good looking film under that price and us paying an extra few bucks to our ISPs may not cover that. So, we'll see. It's a lot easier to make good music on the cheap than a good film.

So, P2P for music, the song is over, except for some niche stuff that may get left over for the labels. As to film, I hope MPAA steps up to the plate and gets in bed with BitTorrent because that is a whole different animal and those big popular films are gonna take it up the yinyang. With current P2P, the more popular a file is, the longer it takes to get it. With BitTorrent, the more popular a film is, the faster the download will be. This will do a lot to discourage the leading edge of our film industry. Companies like ILM, Zoetrope & Pixar require huge investment upfront and lots of time and talent.

So, as the second act opens here... we got troubles in River City. But, River City got its music man and so did we. They ended up taking control of their music and so will we.

Rebirth

Easter Sunday, Christianity's holiest day. The celebration of Jesus' resurrection. According to a recent Newsweek poll, 78% of all Americans believe Jesus was resurrected. I guess it depends how you ask the question, I would have answered yes too, even though I don't believe his physical body got up and started living again.

Fundamentalists take things pretty literally, need to see Jesus as the one and only person ever able to do this, so they can tell all the other religious people in the world that their saviour is superior. For me, and an increasing number of people, the stories of Jesus' superpowers are explained by the way the writers of the Bible commonly phrased things in those days. Also, the Bible was in the exclusive control of church hierarchy for many years and was changed, for political reasons, many times.

People of true power and influence do grow larger in death. In the few hundred years after Jesus' death Christians grew from a few hundred to over 350 million, over half the Roman Empire, largely because they outlawed abortion and the infanticide of girls, and also threw out many of the stringent rules of Judaism. Anyway, I don't want to spend too much time discussing the historical Jesus here, even though it's a fascinating contrast to the fundamentalist view. Anyone who bases their religious position on the supposed superpowers of their teacher is missing the true teachings.

To me, Easter is about spring and rebirth. As the land becomes alive again, so do we. I look around and see new life springing up all around me. I also see Terry Schaivo's parents unwilling to accept the loss of their daughter, unwilling to have faith in the fact that her spirit will always be with them and they need to release her from the limbo she has existed in for 15 years so that she can truly be with them. I see a dying recording industry unwilling to accept change, desperately trying to put fingers in the dyke, having to be dragged, kicking and screaming into the inevitable future.

On the other hand, we have the Pope demonstrating his acceptance of change. His body is failing, he is old and facing pain. Although he refuses to relinquish power, he does not try to excessively hide his failing health either.

In some ways, this particular Easter represents my personal resurrection. I met my ex March 11, 1985 and Easter always represented the first holiday we celebrated together. Today, on what would have been our 20th Easter, we have virtually no connection other than our children, but I have myself back again.

I am now the real me again, fully myself, happy, creative, open, free. I look back at the person I had become, so compromised, the denial. I wasn't even able to see what an angry, closed off, dull, unhappy person I was at the time. But, now I can compare it to this sense of peace and contentment that characterizes my life and I do feel born again. I look around and I do see people still stuck in the same fear I was in, and I feel sad for them. I could easily still be there myself, frustrated, struggling, fighting. It's been a long year, and, not an easy one. Rebirth isn't about floating up to heaven. It takes courage to break from what is familiar and comfortable, it's a painful process. It takes facing one's life and one's own shortcomings. But, it's worth it. When you come out the other side, and you always do, it's so worth it!