How can I send a meaningful message back out to a band to show how much I appreciate what they’ve done? How can both the content providers and myself get a fair deal? There’s so much talk and blame about online piracy where record companies and artists are directly losing revenue while the consumers have clunky access to the content. I’ve been talking a bit about an Annie Lennox record lately, and it serves well to contemplate what I can do to vote with my wallet without feeling like I just paid into a legion of corporate intermediaries that are not the artist. When I bought a copy of “Diva” at Walmart for $5 plus tax I can’t imagine that even 1 cent made it back to England. I honestly would feel the same if I had bought a $5 or even $10 digital download from Amazon or iTunes, or a $15 CD from my local fye or Best Buy retailer. Nevermind if I had bought it used. I assume that the revenue of even a fully priced, legitimate retail record will dry out like the Colorado River trickling into Mexico. Continue reading →

Knee jerk. I get an email from Plan 9 Music every week with the New Releases. I spent some time in Virginia in 2000 and I signed up for their newsletter, lingering like a chronic itch. With my rapid scan across the list certain bands trigger my post-hypnotic suggestion to drop what I’m doing and load up amazon.com and add to my wish list; on bad days I shake off my stupor and wake up at the record store with a bag full of CDs. At some point I no longer have a choice when it comes to buying new records that come out. That doesn’t always work out as far as actually enjoying the music, but sometimes I’ll catch myself in a “Ooh, this is… actually… really Good!” Continue reading →