Home Taping is Killing Music.

I'm meant to be writing an essay however I am going to put this down as getting my opinions straight for my dissertation. We will ignore that the work I am doing has nothing to do with my dissertation but hey ho, I need a break (or an extension of the long break I have already taken) or I at least need to vent a little bit.

I'm not sure if people have ever noticed this (sarcasm) but I am quite opinionated and one thing that I can debate for hours on is the value of art and piracy. I'm putting it to use at the moment and writing my dissertation on anti piracy campaigns but there is only so much of my own opinion that I can put into it. 

I'm not saying that I am innocent. I've downloaded stuff without paying and occasionally watched a film online, but it has been a while. In January 2010 I declared that it was stopping all together and a year on from that decision I feel stronger about my decision than I ever have. Through not stealing music I feel that I have become more connected to what I listen to, in a way (however small that maybe) I can feel I have contributed to the continuing work of the artist. Whether it is from the type of band where the purchasing of their CD means whether they can have strings on their next album or not, or those people who it is pennies in their bank account surely the sale of a record still shows support. In my view it is impossible to be a true fan of someone's work if you think it is okay to take it without permission.

The only time I have ever felt myself questioning this belief was an article that I read while researching claiming that music only had a value because we had given it one. It was an installed belief that something without a physical form (such as in downloaded music) could have a value, that we should reward artist talent. I thought about it for a while but why shouldn't we reward the work of some, an architect might consider their work as art and while it becomes something physical in their minds it is still just an idea and yet we pay them to design buildings without a word of questioning. No one expects a building to be designed for free. 

My focus may be on music because it always seems to be but it can be extended to films, software and more frequently books. I think as I become more aware of the impact that these downloads have on the industry the more it scares me that people who have a passion for the art that they taking from violate copyright laws without thinking about it. It has almost become a normative behaviour to torrent an album you want or stream a film on megavideo. If you want something that you enjoy would you rather not enjoy it the way it was meant, with cover art, on a high quality screen, without glitches and low quality.

I would love to hear opinions on this, pinky promise not to tell Sony that you stole that Kings of Leon album!

Oh and I keep forgetting to do my summary of last year, promises, promises.  

Cassette Decks and Gramophones,

t xx

Hype.

Over the last few days I have found myself reading what could quite possibly be hundreds of articles stating who is the future of music for 2011 (two thousand and eleven/twenty eleven/ two oh one one/eleven), who the next big thing is and will shape everything we listen to this year. From Jessie J being named the Sound of 2011 by the BBC to The Vaccines gracing the cover of the NME, and to be honest I don't doubt any of them. Time after time the predictions of these people have gone on to become artists who have rapidly risen to fame in the year ahead, however it is impossible to say whether this is purely down to their January hype and clever marketing strategies rather than actual talent and progression of art.

It isn't these predictions that have annoyed me with many of these articles though because with many cases I feel that the prediction is probably right, instead it falls to two different things, the people who comment and interviews.

Let us start with interviews. It's not everyone, just some people but in interviews with these shiny new bands who we are meant to fall in love it seems really popular to bitch about everyone who came before. Obviously not the classics but the bands who were in the same position as themselves the year before, the band who released mainstream records in the previous year. In NME this week (pick on me I was reading nme) Lee Newell of Brother (nme flavour of the month) claims

                        "Honestly, we hate everything. Everything's rubbish" 

but surely a massive part of creating something new is building on the foundations of the art created by others. Nothing is truly original, you can only ever borrow from unusual places. Claiming everything is rubbish is ridiculous, a statement which may have been made in jest but still found weaving through several new artist interviews I have found this week.

Everything is rubbish is also found in the comments on anyone's predictions of who will make it big this year. It is rare that the people commenting agree because usually the person who is chosen is just 'hype' or fleeting or just plain rubbish. Does it matter if an artist is fleeting? The prediction is for artists of 2011 and as far as I can see that doesn't mean "who will be the next Rolling Stones?", some bands who are only around for a year can have one good song that becomes the soundtrack to the summer that year, or the song that is constantly played in video's reminiscing the year. These people are the sound of 2011, if they make it to several albums I am sure that would be nice, it would be even nicer if they were the people who were building blocks for the list of 2012. and by the way, I adore hype.

Predictions and Rubbish,

t xx