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.

Modern Tin Pan Alley: Chord Progressions, Melodies, Sampling, and the Music Industry

To the public the Grammy’s is an award show where musical proficiency and creativity is awarded. To artists in the music in the music industry there exists an undercurrent where other musicians are getting recognition by ripping-off other artists music and lyrics. In the latest Grammy Awards Coldplay won the coveted Song of the Year award for their song “Viva la Vida.” Great controversy exists about this award because this song undoubtedly resembles a song recorded about five years ago by guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani titled “If I Could Fly.” Coldplay's song is musically very similar if not exactly what Satriani composed the only difference is that Coldplay had a lyricist singing the melody he arranged on the guitar. Despite Satriani filing a claim of copyright infringement before the Grammy Awards, Coldplay still won the song of the year. Interestingly, Satriani was rooting for the song to win because it would mean his song won an award and he would receive more money upon his successful lawsuit against them (click on the picture of Joe Satriani on the left to hear clips from both songs). This practice of re-appropriation dates back to a time period called Tin Pan Alley, which went from about 1885 to 1930. Also, classical era composers appropriated chord progressions and melodies from other composers. During the Tin Pan Alley era of music publication “song composers were hired under contract giving the publisher exclusive rights to popular composer's works. The market was surveyed to determine what style of song was selling best and then the composers were directed to compose in that style. Once written, a song was actually tested with both performers and listeners to determine which would be published and which would go to the trash bin.” It is widely understood that during this time composers would attempt to replicate already popular songs with either similar chord progressions or similar melodies accompanied by different chords. The goal during the Tin Pan Alley days of songwriting was purely to make a profit from a composition. Why is this important? It is important because it resembles the climate of the music industry today as evidenced by mega pop groups like Coldplay as well as other genres of music such as rap and hip-hop. Since the emergence of hip-hop, a practice similar to the replication during tin-pan alley, has been used to write songs. This practice is called sampling. The problem with what Coldplay did, and artists who use sampling, is that they do not give any credit to the people they sample, and in Coldplay's case, blatantly copy.

Arists have been using the same chord progressions since the rock genre began. The difference between using the same chords and the sampling that is used in hip-hop music is that the rap/hip-hop artists take already recorded material and put it into their songs, otherwise known as sampling. In “modern-day sampling" it is necessary to use the actual sound recorded by the original artist. Musicians in a sense sample when they use the same chord progressions in a song, but this type of sampling is different because they actually take their instruments into the studio and use them during the recording process. "For example, versions of the folk song ‘In The Pines,’ alternatively known as ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night,’ have been recorded in 160 different variations by such varied artists" like jazz saxophonist, Bill Monroe, and Seatle grunge-rockers, Nirvana. Even though rock groups and artists copy chord progressions like Tom Petty did in his song “Last Dance With Mary Jane,” which resembles Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s song “Almost Cut My Hair,” but at least the way these two songs sound is entirely distinct. The practice of sampling gives the original composer little or no credit while the artist who used the previously recorded material makes all the money for doing a relatively low amount of work when it is taken into consideration that the musician who recorded the track had to become proficient on their instrument, as well as spend long hours in the studio getting each part perfect for the recording. Rap and hip-hop artists are literally taking melodies, chords, and even lyrics from previously recorded songs dating back to the Tin Pan Alley time period, allowing them to eliminate the use of musicians in a studio due to the fact the music they are using is taken from a song already recorded and released. While economical, because these artists can spend less time and money on musicians to record their albums, there is controversy associated with artists who use samples without crediting where the sample came from and the dispute as to who really should make the money comes into play.

The hip-hop group Run DMC had a hit where they copied the song title and main riff from Aerosmith’s song “Walk This Way.” Surprisingly, Aerosmith took this as a compliment and the groups combined to make a version of “Walk This Way” together. Also, Grand Master Flash recorded a song titled “The Adventures of Grand Master Flash on the Wheels of Steel” (click on the picture of Grandmaster Flash on the right to hear this song) where he shows his audience how well he can sample. In this one song he samples multiple artists including Chic, Queen, Sugarhill Gang, Spoonie Gee meets the Sequence, Blondie, and even himself. While it is interesting to listen to, Grandmaster Flash hardly attempted to give his own spin to the songs he sampled, unlike Tom Petty and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, who may not have even realized their two songs were the same, except where two chords would have to be switched with each other to make them identical chord progressions. This is not to say that there is no creativity involved in rap and hip-hop songs. By definition "Sampling is a music-making technique that incorporates a portion of a previously existing sound recording - sometimes in an altered form - into a new work." The description of what sampling is explains that it is a creative act to sample. Rap/hip-hop came into being because of the message delivered by the lyricist in order to unite and inspire communities where poverty and crime ran rampant. Messages delivered by lyricists or MC’s were originally messages talking about common issues in their living environment. It is important to note that some very prolific artists despise the practice of sampling such as Paul McCartney and Prince who describe sampling as "simple piracy;" however, some artists, namely Clyde Subblefeld, "the most sampled musician, was happy when hip-hop revived his own forgotten music." This is important to consider. Sampling could be a way to rekindle the fire of the music industry if artists who sampled material merely had to state where they got the components that make up each of their songs. There is creativity involved in the lyrics and effectively sampling music. Creating a song from an already recorded song or songs is no doubt a form of art. There just needs to be some modifications letting listeners know what artists have been sampled in a song and compensating the original artists for their material. 

In order to foster creativity changes need to be made to prevent issues like the Coldplay and Joe Satriani lawsuit, as well as crediting artists sampled in rap/hip-hop songs. If rap and hip hop artists had to reveal to listeners who they sampled in their songs, even though it is only a few seconds used in the sample it could contribute to helping the music industry’s revival. That way listeners could see who was sampled, even when the original artist sampled is not getting paid due to the length of time the artist re-appropriating the music is using, listeners would be able to buy the original songs used by artists who sample today. Using the aforementioned method for sampling would mean more money to the record labels, which could then sign more artists and take more risks with who they sign. This way, artists who are not within the usual restrictions of popular music because they push the envelope more could have a greater chance at success in today’s music market. While re-appropriation of chord progressions has occured since music existed, it is important to remember where the music came from. And, now with sampling added to the way songs are created, it is especially important for people to know the roots of what they are listening to.

Welcome to Life's Soundtrack: First Post

Welcome to my music blog. Being that I am a new member of the blogosphere this is my first blog post ever, and I am not sure exactly what direction what the main focus of my blog will be. I am a musician so I am making my blog about issues and news in the music world. In order to gather information about important music news and issues I have gathered a list of some of the best websites I could find on the Internet. These websites can be found in the linkroll on the right side of the web page. In order to find these websites I used search engines such as Google as well as Meta-Engines like Dog Pile. The sites I have selected can be categorized into different criteria. Some are strictly interested with news in the music world like Billboard, others are organizations concerned with issues in music such as freedom of expression and censorship like the website Freemuse. There are also commercial websites like MTV, and finally others are music blogs such as the one I found from the "Guardian," a newspaper from the United Kingdom. I chose these sites based on the Webby Awards and the IMSA criteria. In order for Webby Awards standards to be met the websites that I chose had a sort of rubric I used when it came to their content, which is the information provided by the site whether it be text, sound, or video; structure and navigation, meaning that these websites are organized and information is accessible in a consistent intuitive way; virtual design, which is the aesthetic appearance of the website and how appropriate it is in regards to its content; and lastly experience and authority in their field. The blogs I chose easily met the IMSA criteria which means the author is citing and reading good material, and also has influence and is established in a community. Also, the content must be covered with depth and authority. Another important factor the IMSA criteria points out that the writing in is rhetorically correct for the content they are covering and the audience they are writing to. In addition according to the IMSA a good blog blog allows for comments and others’ points of view, and the bloggers are undoubtedly experts in their field. For example, many of the blogs I read are from the widely recognized and distributed music magazine “Rollingstone.” These blogs allow for readers comments and their point of view to be available to all readers. I hope my blog can be a valuable resource for my readers, and I also hope that my experience as a musician will be useful in making my blog distinct from other music blogs on the Internet.