July 25th, 2007

Lots of people have RIAA-lawsuit-related opinions. Generally, the ones I've seen are from the civil liberties crowd waxing long and loud about the short-sightedness and greed of those looking to capture rights to musical performances. They talk about the logical miasma the RIAA has walked into, while ignoring the fact that there are laws, fair or not. And I've also seen some opinions from artists themselves expounding (at length, sometimes) how downloading for free the music that they worked hours on and shed blood, sweat, and tears over, is theft, pure and simple.

And, guess what? Both sides have a point! That's why I just opened myself up, with that last statement, to abuse from both sides. Middle of the road gets beat upon by both sides. I know that, I just can't help myself. (My right-wing friends think I'm left wing, and my left-wing friends think I am right wing. Ugh.)

OK sure fine.

But I have no qualms at all about publicizing my own original songs: Obscurity pays nothing. Popularity, even if it is bought at the expense of some original content, can later be traded in for cash and prizes. But ya gotta somehow get bums into chairs first.

Now, I have some songs available for download here online. Some are pretty good, the majority show at least some promise. One or two would probably be left off any album I ever made. But, as amateur work from a man who grew up with some very talented musicians in the house, you would think that if only I had "the rock-star look and the rock-star lifestyle" I would've had a chance. But, alas, I like my computer-geek lifestyle too much to ever give it up to try it now. Besides, there is no glamour in it. Just insanity and ultimately personality devastation. And, at 40, I'm much too old to start.

So if you want any of it, click that link and take whatever you want. For free, even. Lots of people do, and I don't mind at all.

Here is something I think (you can correct me if I've got it wrong): Do you ever watch a preview of a movie in a theatre or on your DVD, and notice that they have made an 8-minute precis of the whole thing ... that you know not just the premise but the plot points as well? You basically know the whole damned movie from the preview, and now you "don't need to see it" thanks to the fact it was all given away before it was released?

You may have noticed that people shell out $12.00 each to go see that movie anyway. They see the preview, think "that looks good" and then they go to the movie when it's released.

And here's the kicker: They are not disappointed. They are thrilled to have watched it "a second time". So releasing content for free that you later sell is not exactly a new concept. I'm not saying that people downloading MP3s onto their computers will translate into greater CD or MP3 sales, but I am saying that movie previews haven't been proven to reduce sales of movie tickets ... and that's pretty much the same crowd that listens to pop music, isn't it? So it's not as simple as the RIAA and some musicians themselves think.

My sister Jennifer, a popular recording and performing artist herself, may feel differently; now she'll probably write something nasty into my Facebook page :-)

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