I Have Seen The Future of Music..........and its Wilco!
For the past few years, I've raged against the music industry's decision to deal with the issue of downloading and file sharing music by suing the fans themselves, and justifying this decision by calling those of us , "thieves". I have always believed, and myriads of surveys prove, that the most downloaded songs, become the most purchased CDs.
I have also felt, that the music biz elites behind this stupidity of lawsuits, would have been better off, finding an innovative way to use this technology and to work with their fans in a way that would benefit everyone, rather than alienate and anger the very people you want BUYING your product. I knew that wasn't likely, and that in the end, some band would find a way to find harmony with the technology and the fans that use it.
Wilco is that band!
Wilco dumped Reprise, their record labal, after Reprise decided their 4th album was shit, and released the tracks on the internet. Reprise was wrong, the album was downloaded and fileswapped by fans who know great music when they hear it,and the internet buzz was so hott that a sold out 30 city tour followed. This resulted in th rights being bought back by another WB labal, at 3x the original price! ROFLMAO!
Quoting, Jeff Tweedy, Wilco's softspoken leader, " Music is different, from other intellectual property. The artist controls just part of the music making process, the audience adds the rest.Fans imagination makes it real. Their participation makes it live. We are the troubadours, the audience is the collaborator. We should be encouraging their collaboration, not treating them like thieves". Jeff Tweedy cannot understand why fans need to be punished!!
A- fucking- Men! SOMEONE finally got what Ive been saying, and put it work! And boy did it work!!! In an article in Feb's Wired magazine, Lawrence Lessig writes about Wilco, and how they have continuet use the Net to find peace and harmony with fans: They performed the first ever live MPEG4 Webcast, a docu abou the band was funded and screened via the net, bonus songs, live recordings tied to CDs, and streaming their latest CD, A Ghost is Born, 3 months prior to its commercial release. When songs from the CD appeared on fileshare networks, it was the fans that raised more than $11,000 and donated it to the bands favorite charity.
Now that's music to my ears!
I have also felt, that the music biz elites behind this stupidity of lawsuits, would have been better off, finding an innovative way to use this technology and to work with their fans in a way that would benefit everyone, rather than alienate and anger the very people you want BUYING your product. I knew that wasn't likely, and that in the end, some band would find a way to find harmony with the technology and the fans that use it.
Wilco is that band!
Wilco dumped Reprise, their record labal, after Reprise decided their 4th album was shit, and released the tracks on the internet. Reprise was wrong, the album was downloaded and fileswapped by fans who know great music when they hear it,and the internet buzz was so hott that a sold out 30 city tour followed. This resulted in th rights being bought back by another WB labal, at 3x the original price! ROFLMAO!
Quoting, Jeff Tweedy, Wilco's softspoken leader, " Music is different, from other intellectual property. The artist controls just part of the music making process, the audience adds the rest.Fans imagination makes it real. Their participation makes it live. We are the troubadours, the audience is the collaborator. We should be encouraging their collaboration, not treating them like thieves". Jeff Tweedy cannot understand why fans need to be punished!!
A- fucking- Men! SOMEONE finally got what Ive been saying, and put it work! And boy did it work!!! In an article in Feb's Wired magazine, Lawrence Lessig writes about Wilco, and how they have continuet use the Net to find peace and harmony with fans: They performed the first ever live MPEG4 Webcast, a docu abou the band was funded and screened via the net, bonus songs, live recordings tied to CDs, and streaming their latest CD, A Ghost is Born, 3 months prior to its commercial release. When songs from the CD appeared on fileshare networks, it was the fans that raised more than $11,000 and donated it to the bands favorite charity.
Now that's music to my ears!
posted by DangerGirl @ 2/26/2005 08:49:00 PM
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