When Pigs Fly: The Death of OiNK, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide by Rob Sheridan pinpoints many of the similar opinions I have about current music. It’s difficult to support an industry where no-talent businessmen reap the rewards while those expending the effort that means something get cast aside. For years it was an exercise of learning the golden rule: he who owns the gold makes the rules. With the current technology, we now have the power to bypass the middlemen and enjoy music as it should be. This means turning off your radio. It’s nice to see artists like Saul Williams, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Radiohead allowing fans to directly support their work.
While perusing my bank statements a couple days ago, I discovered the last time I purchased music was June 5, 2006. It was Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations, in which the Canadian release, of course, didn’t include the b-side bonus “Glorious” found on the Japanese and iTunes releases. I had actually downloaded the release months before the purchase, as I had done with Absolution, which was out in Europe almost six months before North America. The instant retrieval of information is oh-so naughty in a world where regional markets must be established to maximize profits (see: video games and Steam Territory Deactivations). When I Mother Earth’s 2003 final release, The Quicksilver Meat Dream, rapidly faded away due the glut of “Three Days Default Theory of a Nickelcreed”-itus permeating Canadian airwaves, I stopped feeling any sympathy for record labels. For now, my money is better spent paying off student loans and watching the music industry curl into submission.
I do what I must because I can.
