How the People Took Music Back from the Record Companies

This is primarily a review of a very good book: "Ripped" by Greg Kot.  So, he and his crew did all the research, and I deserve no credit.  I just want to pass on the story, because it's an awesome story.

I come from a very strange musical background.  My first album was a very respectable one: The Beatles' Greatest Hits.  My Dad picked it out for me, as he was passionate about the Rolling Stones and The Beatles in his day, as just about everyone else was.  If he was passionate about music, it would have upset him deeply when I had no interest in the album.  But my Dad is very easy going, and he didn't mind, so long as I wasn't listening to anything controversial.  So he was happy to get me the album I really wanted, which was Alvin and the Chipmunks.  I listened to that tape so much that it wore out.

When I was a bit older, and ready to listen to "adult music", I stepped into a dark and dangerous path: contemporary adult pop music.  My first CD was Whitney Houston's "I'm Your Baby Tonight".  I played the hell out of it.  I also got into Michael Bolton, owning three of his albums.  My first concert was Paula Abdul with Color Me Badd opening.  I was also crazy about cheezy rap music.  While I should have been listening to Public Enemy and Dr. Dre, I was listening to MC Hammer (later just Hammer) and Young MC.  This all worked out well in my house, because my parents didn't mind me getting passionate about music, so long as that music sent decent messages.  Then I met my friend Justin.

Justin was a troublemaker.  He periodically got kicked out of school and talked to me about things like having sex.  He also introduced me to controversial music.  He gave me the Red Hot Chili Peppers' masterpiece, "Blood Sugar Sex Magic", one of the greatest albums of the 90s, in my opinion.  I remember sneaking it in my house and hiding under my covers when my parents thought I was asleep, listening to the album with headphones.  This was my introduction to rock and roll and all of its subversive spirit.  It was my gateway drug, and it later led to Nine Inch Nails, Sublime and Tool.  It led all the way to my songwriting and my first band, Fuzzy Raisin, whose first and second album did not follow the lead of Michael Bolton and Surface, but rather of Pearl Jam and U2, exploring my frustrations with God, my doubt, my anger about kids getting lost to drug abuse, conservative politics, and greed.  It was written, recorded, and performed at a tumultuous time when I was in and out of college, depressed, and craving something larger than what I was living.  It was heard by about 50 people, but that was ok.  It was authentic.

While Fuzzy Raisin was playing, a revolution was occurring in music.  Songs were becoming available for free on Napster, and kids were downloading those songs and passing them on to friends.  Music executives were getting pissed, and some bands too.  Metallica was taking Napster to court, and getting mad at their fans for downloading something they hadn't paid for.  So was Dr. Dre.  Meanwhile, fans weren't respecting their point of view.  They were tired of spending up to $20 for their CDs, and they were also tired of being force-fed what the record companies were dictating - not just in CD prices, but in the bands and the songs they were releasing.  Fans, at the risk of being sued themselves, kept downloading and passing free music along to their friends.

We all know what happened: the record companies lost.  They were never able to control peer to peer music file sharing.  Metallica looked like a bunch of asses, and Napster went out of business just as hundreds of other 'Napsters' were up and running.  In other words, Napster never went away.  While record executives wined and moaned and tried to reign in the system, their sales plummeted.  The point of Kot's book is: your business model must adapt to the times, otherwise you lose.

This was the dawn of the indie label!  To fill the void left by the pathetic big label companies, indie labels stepped in and used peer-to-peer file sharing to their advantage.  In the 90s, these indie labels couldn't survive.  They didn't have the money to get a song on the radio.  The radio was so screwed up, and so monopolized by Clear Channel, that exorbitant amounts of money was dropped to get a song on the radio.  A great example of this is the band, The Hives.  Their album "Veni Vidi Vicious" was an instant classic, but it couldn't get airplay when it was released on the indie label, Burning Heart, and it sold only moderate copies.  Two years later, it was licensed by Reprise Records and the song "Hate to Say I Told You So" made it to the top 10 of the modern-rock singles charts.  Why now?  Reprise funneled at least $100,000 into it, an amount the old label couldn't even dream of.  The album sold like crazy soon after.   The point is that listeners are given the songs with the most monetary backing, not necessarily the best songs.  And as Clinton signed into law the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which allowed Clear Channel to take over the radio airwaves and play its 'safe' playlists across the country, indie radio stations got squeezed out and with them, any chance of hearing new, controversial, stimulating music.  Subsequently, listeners tuned out and started searching the internet.

And with that, the second rising of the indie label!  There are a number of notable artists that likely would not have been heard by the mass public if not for peer-to-peer file sharing.  These include Death Cab For Cutie, Bright Eyes, OK Go, Arcade Fire, and Wilco - all of which are on my iTunes playlists.  These bands are talked about in Kot's book, but I think the same is true of brilliant artists Mumford and Sons, The Low Anthem, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, The Avett Brothers, Bon Iver, Langhorn Slim, Dan Bern, and Dr. Dog.  This is just to name a few.  These artists do not fit on the radio because their music takes time and attention.  Their music is more akin to the artwork displayed in the local coffee shop rather than the framed art you can buy at Bed Bath and Beyond.  The way you learn about them is through your friends, your contacts, music blogs, and at concerts.  Once you discover them and fall in love with them, you become a devoted fan.  And while you may not have paid for their first album, you pay to see them live and you pay for their second album.  And you rest assured that, because they are working through an indie label or on their own, your money is going to them.  While the big record industry are losing this battle, the artists are winning.  These small time acts are gaining a huge fan base and a huge email database which supports their touring with very little overhead cost, and it's enabling them to make a living off their craft.

Non-indie bands who have benefitted from the old system and have since broken ties with their labels, such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, are making more money on their albums than they ever did with their labels, even as they are offered for free from their websites.  And in this new world, these formerly signed bands are coming out with #1 albums that have had literally no airplay.  Consider Radiohead's In Rainbows.  Who's heard a track from that album on the radio?  Has anyone heard "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"?  I haven't.    Still, it outSOLD their last release, "Hail to the Thief", even as it was offered as a FREE download from their website.  The point: this is an exciting time for music as there's less catering to radio playability, a ton of interest, and a lot of fan support - people are willing to pay money to keep artists going, you just have to give the fans the respect they deserve and give them a price where they don't feel like they're getting screwed.  Radiohead offered just that price: pay what you think it's worth.

For a deeper look at this fascinating story, check out Kot's book.  I couldn't put it down, and if you're a music lover and an avid reader, I doubt you'll be able to either.  As for my personal music projects, things haven't changed all that much from the Fuzzy Raisin days.  My style has changed.  My content has also changed (Anita has helped me branch out from such personal and introspective topics to more theatrical and story-telling themes).  Like Fuzzy Raisin, we still have a very limited fan base, consisting primarily of wonderful, supportive, loving friends and family.  One difference that excites me today is the possibility of reducing costs substantially and the possibility of reaching a wider audience.  For our 9-song debut, "Wander-Lost", we didn't have to manufacture CDs, which saved us a bundle.  We also have our music available for streaming and free download online.  While that has not led to fame, it has led to some random occurrences, including airplay on an indie Colorado radio station, and an iTunes sale in Sweden of all places.   It's also led to more people hearing the album than was possible when I was selling discs out of a car with Fuzzy Raisin to the 1-2 people that attended our latest Tuesday night show.

But one thing has remained true of the music industry - you won't be heard unless you play.  Having no tour and just playing in the San Jose area, we can't expect the kind of success bands like The Devil Makes Three have enjoyed.  Since moving to Portland, we've yet to hit the scene, aside from a random open mic.  We're hoping to get performing in the coming months, with plans of hitting open mics regularly over the coming days and hopefully recruiting a drummer and bass player soon.  The Mighty Have Fallen is an artistic project, not a business.  So while we haven't come close to making money on "Wander-Lost", there is no regret in recording it and there's nothing stopping us from recording the next one.  We've actually already begun work on it.  It will be called "Duets" and will consist of 3-6 songs.

Thanks to Ariana for sending me Kot's book, and thanks to all The Mighty Have Fallen's listeners for supporting local art.