"Stop Sobbing About Free Music Downloads"

[Dave W]

This originally appeared in Counterpunch, now it's been picked up by some music blogs. I'll repost it here since Counterpunch posts some controversial political views.

What do you think of his viewpoint?



Stop Sobbing About Free Music Downloads

By JACK ELY

My name is Jack Ely and I'm the one whose voice is heard daily on The Kingsmen's 1963 recording of Louie Louie, (may it rest in peace) so you know I have some music business experience.

First I'd like to express an opinion that probably will not be very popular but which oozes with truth. In the early '60's when I was recording, records were thought of as a tool to help promote live performances. The live performances were the main revenue stream and the records were just promotional tools to get people to come see the shows. Somewhere this mode of thinking got turned upside down. Consequently in years hence, record companies, producers, et. all, have made recordings, hoping to profit from the sale of those recordings alone, regardless of whether or not the artist could ever pull it off live. This did some things to the music business that weren't very healthy. First it made available to the general public, music of artists who may or may not be good live performers; almost anyone can make a good recording with enough cut-ins and loops. And... it made music by groups of players who never ever intended to perform that music live, and who may or may not have ever been able to get along with each other long enough to really sustain any kind of a road show.

Music is meant to be played for the enjoyment of the audiences. For instance, if I go into the studio with an acoustic guitar and simultaneously play and sing on a recording, people would come to see me perform in that same mode; I.e. playing guitar and singing as a solo act. I don't think they would come to see me expecting a full band. Conversely, if I advertised a 'Night with Louie Louie" people would come expecting to see a rock band that they could dance to, and would be quite disappointed if I showed up with just my acoustic guitar.

The suggestions that recordings are produced today just to sell recorded music is all backwards and the sooner the record companies and producers and artists figure this out the sooner they will all quit sniveling over the fact that the entire world is freely sharing their music digitally and isn't willing to stop; and in fact will do anything to circumvent their efforts to get paid for the recordings alone.

The days of producers and musicians putting bands together just to get a recording deal so they can get paid by the record company for a product that usually never even gets released; those days are over. It's time record companies went back to their roots and became what they started out to be; entities who record working acts in order to

    1) capture the performance for posterity, and

    2) make a promotional tool to get audiences to the next show.

The solution is to give the world all the free music it wants, but to give the recording entity, whether it be a record company or a producer, or whomever, a cut of every live performance. That will do at least two things and maybe more that I haven't even thought about yet. First it will give everyone involved in the recordings a source of revenue (pay day) for all their hard work of producing and promoting the recordings. Second, it will weed out all the so-called "recording artists" who couldn't, in a live venue, perform their way out of a paper bag. In a down economy the public craves live entertainment, so what better time to get back to basics. The timing couldn't be better for a profitable turn around. So now is the time to get it going.

I send you these thoughts in hopes that just maybe a new/old perspective on the subject of recorded music can be presented to the entire recording world and they can all start making a real profit.

Jack Ely, the former lead singer of The Kingsmen, is a veteran horse trainer. He lives in central Oregon.

[Muzikman7]

Too true thanks Dave, intresting article.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

While I think that free downloads are currently a shitty fact of life (with potential to be used FOR the artist), the premise of that article is horribly flawed.  Live performance is simply no longer a feasible means of sustaining acts other than already established mega-stars. Transportation, venue, crew, and equipment costs are simply too high and there is no way to make them drop. Even most major tours rely on corporate sponsorship to break even. Record labels consider tours loss-leader promotions because unless you're Madonna or the Police, there is no money to be made by touring.
  Second, the way an audience now expects to hear music has changed. As anyone who plays live can tell you, public performance is a dying interest.  With modern society focusing on being "wired," the bulk of music sales is rapidly becoming an intangible stream of ones and zeroes carried not a static format requiring a separate playback device, but on any number of music or video players, cellphones, or portable devices. Compare the growth of digital wireless to the decline in live venues; the two ARE related. Couple format woes with a lifestyle that demands "music" be an afterthought or marketing tool sandwiched in stolen moments of 'free' time. Not only are audiences not wanting to view live performances as much in the whole, their lives do not allow them time for it when they DO desire it.
I could go on, but I think it suffices to say that Jack Ely is now a horse trainer and NOT a touring musician and his thinking is based on a decades-lost model of business.

[Dave W]

Thanks for the input. I don't think it was ever the way he says it was for the average pop or rock band. Back in his day -- when I was in high school -- the only acts that actually toured to make money were the well-known country music acts. They still earn a living doing live music but now people come to Branson to see them. But if there were pop bands who recorded to support their live act, they were few and far between.

You're right. No way this could ever work with today's listeners. As T-Bone Burnett said a few years back, we live in an age of music for people who don't like music.