Consumers Vs. The Industry: Internet Downloading and the Guaranteed Hit

In my previous post I discuss how artists are dealing with lawsuits due to the fact they are literally copying other artist’s melodies and chords, which is causing the music released to the mainstream to become “safe” for music industry executives because they know they will make a profit. This week I explored the blogosphere and discovered an article that talks about the other side of the music industry’s fight for life. The first blog I read was an Idolator post titled “Copyfighers: Yep, They’re Still Jerks, For the Most Part” explains how people go out to stores and place stickers on merchandise that say it is available over the Internet for free whether it is music, software, or movies. The next article discusses what this mindset causes the music they love to become the same thing with a twist. While the creators of this post may not have the same type of authority as a website that only discusses music, Albotas.com has a large community that explores their website every day. The post “Proof that Mainstream Music is Bad For You: Every Hit Song Uses the Same Four Chords” is not all that serious, but it does provide some insightful information and sounds for everyone interested in music and the music industry. Just because the post is satirical does not mean it has no value. The video that accompanies the post includes a few guys, one playing the piano and another one or two singing the lyrics to songs dating back to the 1960’s until as recently as 2008 with the same four chords being played the same way the entire time. This is similar to an argument I made in my last post about how record labels do not take risks. Just like during the Tin Pan Alley, the music industry is purely concerned with yielding a profit. Rap and hip-hop artists want to make a “club banger,” while pop/rock artists want to have a hit single. My responses to these posts can be found below underneath the title of the post from the blogosphere.


Copyfighters: Yep, They're Still Jerks, For the Most Part"

Having read your post I firmly agree with you in the fact that The Free Art and Technology Association engages in deplorable conduct in their using “Available Online For Free” stickers on copyrighted merchandise. Placing these stickers is in essence aiding and abetting others to commit theft. This type of theft stretches beyond the music business, expanding to all aspects of the entertainment industry as well as the software empire. Those associated with placing the “Available Online For Free” stickers do not realize that they may actually be destroying the art form they love, whether they place the sticker on a DVD, video game, or a compact disc. Internet downloading may always exist, but if more people are conscious of the effect of these kinds of actions, perhaps some change can be made to allow room for new genres and artists to make it in the ever so hungry, yet dying music industry. It is ethical if an artist or label permits one song to be downloaded for free. This is called promotion. However, without consent from the artist or label, whether it is one song or an entire album, it is pure theft. Because the economy is in a state of flux it is necessary for people to spend their money to serve as a stimulus to the marketplace, not only for just the entertainment/music industry, but also throughout all sectors of society. The music industry is currently in an age of marketing prepackaged and ready to sell bands and artists to the public due to the increased amount of copyrighted and released music being pirated on the Internet. This practice not only interferes with the opportunity for new bands to get signed and promoted by record companies, but also obstructs certainty that a record label will gain financial reward from their investment. Labels are reluctant to sign artists that do not fit the mold of popular musicians because there exists a greater chance their investment will never be profitable. The idea of artists getting “discovered” has virtually disappeared due to the fact current artists on the radio have existed since the pre-MySpace era or they have a ton of fans via MySpace, or finally if they win some reality television show like American Idol. The ultimate effect of the Free Art and Technology Association’s “Available Online for Free Stickers” contributes to artists, software engineers, and even record storeowners becoming unable to make a living.


“Proof that Mainstream Music is Bad For You: Every Hit Song Uses the Same 4 Chords”

As a musician I find it very pleasing that other people have noticed this phenomenon in mainstream music. Is there anything original anymore? The pending lawsuit of Satriani versus Coldplay over Coldplay’s potential copyright infringement of Satriani’s song “If I Could Fly” with their song “Viva la Vida” speaks for this cause. There is little doubt that that this action involves the simple addition to an exact replication of the music composed by Satriani. Coldplay is far more mainstream than Satriani, not to put Satriani’s fan base down. Despite this controversy, Coldplay performed this song in the most recent Grammy’s before millions of viewers who have never heard of Satriani. Despite this known controversy Coldplay won the coveted Song of the Year Award for it. There is no doubt Satriani might have contempt for Coldplay, however, as an artist and composer of the melody he must have been hopeful they would as his fan base would only potentially grow once the truth was revealed. Does the addition of original lyrics make it a new composition? However, your post forgets to mention that there are different melodies/lyrics being sung over the songs you have compiled, which apparently appears to be a key factor when discussing just how original a song is. Since the beginning of music, songwriters have reused and appropriated or misappropriated, the same chord progressions while adding a different melody. Having the chords sound different accompanied with a different melody is essential element for a song to remain within certain copyright boundaries. However, as your video has shown, as long as the chords are played at the same rhythm or timing, any song can be sung to them, the same progression of chords played a different way is a different ball game. Is the fact that mainstream songs use the same four chords bad? It is important however that in a New York Times article by Jeff Leeds that "the big record companies, whose fortunes are still overwhelmingly tied to CD sales, are taking a far more expansive view of how to carve out pieces of the music economy, which by some estimates runs as high as $75 billion, including recording sales, music publishing, concert ticket and merchandise sales and other sources of revenue," which is undoubtedly on of the reasons for this phenomenon. I am not certain that "bad" is the best way to analyze this situation. Countless bands such as Elvis, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones have not only become legends but also voices of social movements in the United States.