Post by Carina on Sept 15, 2009 8:04:45 GMT
Patrick was inspired by lily allen and posted a blog about the music industry on myspace:
Hello tribe-- I woke this morning to see Lilly Allens blog about the music industry and file sharing...
Well, I try to maintain some kind of private life, but certain issues, when the message isn't coming across through all available media, have to be spoken about.
I think to myself that my money shouldn't really be any bodies business but I look at what I knew about the industry before napster- came along and it was a very respectable encouraging place where people on independent labels could live a good life and create great art and music and use the profit they made to invest in other talent or other future creative projects... some musicians were lucky to get a mortgage or if you were lucky and had been through the britpop days, you could buy a house. major labels and indie labels sat side by side quite comfortably.
When my first album came out.. there was a whisper or jokes, but alot of speculation about what might happen in the future, what with file sharing and this new thing called myspace... I fast forward to 2009 and the only income any artist will see now is by doing live performances, I have friends who have been to number one for weeks on end and seen no profit due to marketing. Most major labels are in more debt than you can ever imagine. And its not very funny as all these people who work there (and there are many, many, many) are people with jobs who went to school like you and I did and wanted to work and earn a living. I still don't understand how spotify is meant to make up for this, I don't know anyone who has actually bought an account. When theres no money coming in.. then no body gets paid... then no one can pay their bills and then you are homeless.... its very hard for everyone right now in the current economic climate and I have total sympathy with all of you, but im making a plea on behalf of all the fantastic musicians and people within this fabulous industry which was built at the end of the day, not to make money off you but to inspire you... what is life without music??
I don't have a liberace helicopters and limousine lifestyle. I'm currently deciding wether i spend the last of my earnings this year from touring on recording the string and choir section of my new album or on the rent until december, just an example of how alot of other musicians have it. I dreamt as a teenager I would be able to buy a house one day, somewhere peaceful so that i could focus on writing and composing and perhaps set up a gorgeous studio with all the instruments I have collected to record and produce other bands. in the early 2000's it seemed likely but file sharing means that most musicians will probably just make ends meet their whole life now and most musicians dreams will have to be put aside for need for part time work and doing the odd gig and free download only single made on garageband.
As musicians, to make big and small music, we all have other musicians to pay and crew to pay and managers and on top of that lawyers and accountants.... if you don't pay for music, how can the musicians of tomorrow and of today survive and learn our craft. In my 7 years in this biz I have seen countless record companies fold and recording studios close and sold for real estate to make a luxury apartment complex. For instance, the townhouse, a legendary studio in shepherds bush where I mastered wind in the wires and the magic position had to close down because record companies cant afford to put bands into studios and get them playing with beautiful acoustics and great sound engineers and vintage gorgeous mixing desks and grand pianos. When I was last at Abbey road studios, I was told by a mastering engineer that it was close to being turned into a museum because there is no REVENUE in the music industry because in the last 5 years people have stopped buying music. Please.... Even if you just go out and buy your favorite Joni Mitchell album on Cd or Buy a Bob Dylan Vinyl from HMV or FOPP something. Think of the music industry like a food chain.... it goes right from from madonna, elvis to beyonce right down to the boy behind the counter at hmv via billions of peoples wages.....
I would also like to tip my hat to music retail too... I am so sad there are no more record shops in London. my church used to be a place called tower records, picadilly circus, and every sunday I would go to pray at the alter of the listening post. There are no part time saturday jobs "at the record store" for anyone now.. the U.K is a sad place in 2009 I think. Sorry to sound depressing, but i think it really is time we as musicians spoke out more about these issues, I have been really inspired by Lilly writing the below piece on her blog. I can only do my best in saying I am on the same ship as you all and the ship is sinking, sinking.... But what is life without hope!! Lets start a new future... think about where all the lovely music comes from... Do what you can to protect the music you love, invest in physical purchases, think about the machinery that goes on behind making your favourite band so fabulous and inspiring.... and how they should be able to make a living as well as you too... There really is a need to call an end to the bling bling flash in the pan soulless simon cowell world of money rubbish. I beg of channel 4 or BBC one to bring back a TV show that shines a light on new talent. Lily.. take it away,,,,,
xx patrick wolf
Lily allens blog.........
"I havent written on here for a while but I've taken the time to write this as I think music piracy is having a dangerous effect on British music, but some really rich and successful artists like Nick Mason from Pink Floyd and Ed O'Brien from Radiohead don't seem to think so. Last week in an article in the Times these guys from huge bands said file sharing music is fine. It probably is fine for them. They do sell-out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections in the world. For new talent though, file sharing is a disaster as it's making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge. Heres a link to the article entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6828262.ece
Mason, O'Brien and the Featured Artists Coalition say that file sharing's "like a sampler, like taping your mate's music", but mix tapes and recording from the radio are actually very different to the file sharing that happens today. Mix tapes were rubbish quality - you bought the real music, because you liked the track and wanted to hear it without the DJ cutting off the end of each song. In digital land pirated tracks are as good quality as bought tracks, so there's not a need to buy for better quality. The Featured Artist Coalition also says file sharing's fine because it "means a new generation of fans for us". This is great if you're a big artist at the back end of your career with loads of albums to flog to a new audience, but emerging artists don't have this luxury. Basically the FAC is saying 'we're alright, we've made it, so file sharing's fine', which is just so unfair to new acts trying to make it in the industry.
You don't start out in music with the Ferraris. Instead you get a huge debt from your record company, which you spend years working your arse off to repay. When you manage to get a contract, all those pretty videos and posters advertising your album have to be paid for and as the artist, you have to pay for them. I've only just finished paying off all the money I owe my record company. I'm lucky that I've been successful and managed to pay it back, but not everyone's so lucky. You might not care about this, but the more difficult it is for new artists to make it, the less new artists you'll see and the more British music will be nothing but puppets paid for by Simon Cowell.
And it's not like there aren't alternatives to illegal downloads anyway. Sites like Spotify give us access to new music and different music without having to rip someone off - you can listen to tracks and see if you like them before you buy them. Then obviously there's MySpace, that streams music and helps acts like me get enough fans to convince record companies to sign us up.
If this sounds like I'm siding with the record bosses, I'm not. They've been naive and complacent about new technology - and they've spent all the money they've earned on their own fat salaries not industry development. But as they start to lose big from piracy, they're not slashing their salaries - they're pulling what they invest in A&R. Lack of funds results in A&R people not being able to take risks and only signing acts they think will work, which again makes British music Cowell puppets.
Is this the way we want British music to go? Now, obviously I'm going to benefit from fighting piracy, but I think without fighting it, British music is going to suffer.
I don't think what's out there is perfect. It's stupid that kids can't buy anything on the internet without credit, forcing them to steal Mum's credit card or download illegally. It's this kind of thing that the record company bosses, artists, broadband providers and government should be sitting down and discussing. I'm off to South America on tour today, but i'm going to be writing British artists, saying just this.
File sharing's not okay for British music. We need to find new ways to help consumers access and buy music legally, but saying file sharing's fine is not helping anyone - and definitely not helping British music. I want to get people working together to use new digital opportunities to encourage new artists." Lilly Allen
Well, I try to maintain some kind of private life, but certain issues, when the message isn't coming across through all available media, have to be spoken about.
I think to myself that my money shouldn't really be any bodies business but I look at what I knew about the industry before napster- came along and it was a very respectable encouraging place where people on independent labels could live a good life and create great art and music and use the profit they made to invest in other talent or other future creative projects... some musicians were lucky to get a mortgage or if you were lucky and had been through the britpop days, you could buy a house. major labels and indie labels sat side by side quite comfortably.
When my first album came out.. there was a whisper or jokes, but alot of speculation about what might happen in the future, what with file sharing and this new thing called myspace... I fast forward to 2009 and the only income any artist will see now is by doing live performances, I have friends who have been to number one for weeks on end and seen no profit due to marketing. Most major labels are in more debt than you can ever imagine. And its not very funny as all these people who work there (and there are many, many, many) are people with jobs who went to school like you and I did and wanted to work and earn a living. I still don't understand how spotify is meant to make up for this, I don't know anyone who has actually bought an account. When theres no money coming in.. then no body gets paid... then no one can pay their bills and then you are homeless.... its very hard for everyone right now in the current economic climate and I have total sympathy with all of you, but im making a plea on behalf of all the fantastic musicians and people within this fabulous industry which was built at the end of the day, not to make money off you but to inspire you... what is life without music??
I don't have a liberace helicopters and limousine lifestyle. I'm currently deciding wether i spend the last of my earnings this year from touring on recording the string and choir section of my new album or on the rent until december, just an example of how alot of other musicians have it. I dreamt as a teenager I would be able to buy a house one day, somewhere peaceful so that i could focus on writing and composing and perhaps set up a gorgeous studio with all the instruments I have collected to record and produce other bands. in the early 2000's it seemed likely but file sharing means that most musicians will probably just make ends meet their whole life now and most musicians dreams will have to be put aside for need for part time work and doing the odd gig and free download only single made on garageband.
As musicians, to make big and small music, we all have other musicians to pay and crew to pay and managers and on top of that lawyers and accountants.... if you don't pay for music, how can the musicians of tomorrow and of today survive and learn our craft. In my 7 years in this biz I have seen countless record companies fold and recording studios close and sold for real estate to make a luxury apartment complex. For instance, the townhouse, a legendary studio in shepherds bush where I mastered wind in the wires and the magic position had to close down because record companies cant afford to put bands into studios and get them playing with beautiful acoustics and great sound engineers and vintage gorgeous mixing desks and grand pianos. When I was last at Abbey road studios, I was told by a mastering engineer that it was close to being turned into a museum because there is no REVENUE in the music industry because in the last 5 years people have stopped buying music. Please.... Even if you just go out and buy your favorite Joni Mitchell album on Cd or Buy a Bob Dylan Vinyl from HMV or FOPP something. Think of the music industry like a food chain.... it goes right from from madonna, elvis to beyonce right down to the boy behind the counter at hmv via billions of peoples wages.....
I would also like to tip my hat to music retail too... I am so sad there are no more record shops in London. my church used to be a place called tower records, picadilly circus, and every sunday I would go to pray at the alter of the listening post. There are no part time saturday jobs "at the record store" for anyone now.. the U.K is a sad place in 2009 I think. Sorry to sound depressing, but i think it really is time we as musicians spoke out more about these issues, I have been really inspired by Lilly writing the below piece on her blog. I can only do my best in saying I am on the same ship as you all and the ship is sinking, sinking.... But what is life without hope!! Lets start a new future... think about where all the lovely music comes from... Do what you can to protect the music you love, invest in physical purchases, think about the machinery that goes on behind making your favourite band so fabulous and inspiring.... and how they should be able to make a living as well as you too... There really is a need to call an end to the bling bling flash in the pan soulless simon cowell world of money rubbish. I beg of channel 4 or BBC one to bring back a TV show that shines a light on new talent. Lily.. take it away,,,,,
xx patrick wolf
Lily allens blog.........
"I havent written on here for a while but I've taken the time to write this as I think music piracy is having a dangerous effect on British music, but some really rich and successful artists like Nick Mason from Pink Floyd and Ed O'Brien from Radiohead don't seem to think so. Last week in an article in the Times these guys from huge bands said file sharing music is fine. It probably is fine for them. They do sell-out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections in the world. For new talent though, file sharing is a disaster as it's making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge. Heres a link to the article entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6828262.ece
Mason, O'Brien and the Featured Artists Coalition say that file sharing's "like a sampler, like taping your mate's music", but mix tapes and recording from the radio are actually very different to the file sharing that happens today. Mix tapes were rubbish quality - you bought the real music, because you liked the track and wanted to hear it without the DJ cutting off the end of each song. In digital land pirated tracks are as good quality as bought tracks, so there's not a need to buy for better quality. The Featured Artist Coalition also says file sharing's fine because it "means a new generation of fans for us". This is great if you're a big artist at the back end of your career with loads of albums to flog to a new audience, but emerging artists don't have this luxury. Basically the FAC is saying 'we're alright, we've made it, so file sharing's fine', which is just so unfair to new acts trying to make it in the industry.
You don't start out in music with the Ferraris. Instead you get a huge debt from your record company, which you spend years working your arse off to repay. When you manage to get a contract, all those pretty videos and posters advertising your album have to be paid for and as the artist, you have to pay for them. I've only just finished paying off all the money I owe my record company. I'm lucky that I've been successful and managed to pay it back, but not everyone's so lucky. You might not care about this, but the more difficult it is for new artists to make it, the less new artists you'll see and the more British music will be nothing but puppets paid for by Simon Cowell.
And it's not like there aren't alternatives to illegal downloads anyway. Sites like Spotify give us access to new music and different music without having to rip someone off - you can listen to tracks and see if you like them before you buy them. Then obviously there's MySpace, that streams music and helps acts like me get enough fans to convince record companies to sign us up.
If this sounds like I'm siding with the record bosses, I'm not. They've been naive and complacent about new technology - and they've spent all the money they've earned on their own fat salaries not industry development. But as they start to lose big from piracy, they're not slashing their salaries - they're pulling what they invest in A&R. Lack of funds results in A&R people not being able to take risks and only signing acts they think will work, which again makes British music Cowell puppets.
Is this the way we want British music to go? Now, obviously I'm going to benefit from fighting piracy, but I think without fighting it, British music is going to suffer.
I don't think what's out there is perfect. It's stupid that kids can't buy anything on the internet without credit, forcing them to steal Mum's credit card or download illegally. It's this kind of thing that the record company bosses, artists, broadband providers and government should be sitting down and discussing. I'm off to South America on tour today, but i'm going to be writing British artists, saying just this.
File sharing's not okay for British music. We need to find new ways to help consumers access and buy music legally, but saying file sharing's fine is not helping anyone - and definitely not helping British music. I want to get people working together to use new digital opportunities to encourage new artists." Lilly Allen
