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Today, over lunch I went to hear Ian Mackaye speak and give a Q & A session at one of the Claremont Colleges. Ian was formerly the frontman for the hardcore punk band Minor Threat and later in Fugazi, amongst several other musical projects. Having grown up on punk music, and seen him perform several times, I was fascinated to go attend this Q & A and hear what he had to say. Ian has lived in DC all of his life and runs an independent record label called Discord Records which has been going for 28 years now. It was very interesting to hear his approach to life which is basically to shun everything that involves supporting someone elses corporate interest. Instead, he espouses an overall DIY (do-it-yourself) approach to life. His credo is to never play a show that is not all ages, always make shows reasonable (all shows I have attended have been 5-10 bucks), and live as simply as possible. He doesn't believe in the political system even though his dad was once a political aid to the President and he believes strongly in local community and helping others. His bands have often kicked people out of their shows for violence and even refunded their money. He states that it is not worth it to create music that becomes a soundtrack for someone else's violence. One of his most interesting statements of the day came when someone in the audience asked about File Sharing and what he thought of music downloading. He stated that he believed that it actually benefitted the music and musician. He then told a story about how when he was recently asked to perform in Chile with a band he is in called "The Evens" that the crowd suddently began singing along. Since he runs the record label, he knew that they didn't have the CD and wondered how they all knew the songs. He then realized they had downloaded the music and asked the crowd if they all knew the songs because they had downloaded them. After an awkward silence, he thanked the crowd and stated that they were now giving back by bringing him here for this show. Mackaye believes that file sharing is in fact helpful to artists who truly want to get thier music out and in the end it will benefit them rather than hurt them. If people like the music, they will buy it and give back in the end. I was fascinated with this view, and although it may not hold up well with the major labels or in court, I tend to agree with his view, and tend to believe that most people who truly enjoy the music want to give back to the artists. If we take a higher view of the music and don' t just consume but enjoy it as art, then we will want to appreciate the artists. What do you think?
Phil |
Comments
Ian's file-sharing philosophy sets up the age-old conflict between commericialization and art. His philosophy works for him because he's committed to living simply. Without that part of the equation, most artists cannot afford to "give away" their best effort.
The commercial writing I've done, for example, helps fund the writing I love. I don't think like a marketer, but I understand it. The beauty of indie art is that for once, the traditional gate-keepers aren't standing at the only entrance, kicking you out for not having enough commercial pull. I have a friend and painter who is content to have her works hanging for free in a public space--even if she never earns a dime. For her, there is beauty in knowing that someone will gaze at them and perhaps find some joy there, rather than knowing they are sitting in her garage waiting for a "legitimate" buyer. But guess what--she is paying a price for her idealism; it's the bargain she's made with herself, just like Ian.
I am writing a novel (I know--me and a million other people). I am trying to write a very good one. That is enough for me. But I'm not so idealistic that I believe money corrupts us all. I feel privileged to pay someone a fair price for their sweat and creativity, and I hope when the time comes, others will do the same for me. If we pay our pastors, our teachers, and our plumbers a fair wage, we should do the same for our artists. But I have to earn it. That way, I can't blame the gatekeeper that did me a favor by letting me in.
This is a good conversation. Let's all keep talking about this.
As someone who worked in the music industry for ten years I can tell you that it does not even out. Yes, more people do hear your music, which is great, but that does not translate into an income. If you were to take the number of dollars that would've been generated by people buying the music instead of downloading and compare that to what people actually spend on things other than the records; live shows, merch, etc, it simply doesn't even out. People take but they don't give back. And really, why should they? You can't hold them to some moral high ground?
Downloading is great for young bands but ultimately painful for the industry as a whole (obviously) and for artists trying to make a living doing it. If we consider music (and movies) art but say it's ok to take and use them freely, why don't we take fine art or photography or other forms of physical art? It's possible to steal music and movies, so people do.
In no way am I saying the music industry didn't have this coming and that they haven't completely blown it in terms of reacting and fixing the situation. On a side note, if America responds to this financial crisis the way that the major labels have responded to the crisis created by downloading (change nothing, don't think outside the box, defend the old guard at all costs) then we are in some serious trouble.
The bottom line is, bands have to now find ways to generate income aside from selling traditional cds or even downloads. Radiohead's experiment was a great look at what could be done.
All that said, I'm really jealous you got to hear him speak. Which bands have you seen him perform with?
Caroline
Part of Ian's stance revolves around what you said in the second paragraph, he started out originally not to make money, but to make art. He was happy to have it be heard. This in turn informs his view on file sharing. If one goes into the music industry hoping to earn their sole income off of the music, in his view they go in intending to "sell their soul" to the industry and not solely to make art. He is punk rock to the bone, and in fact hasn't listened to music produced on major labels in 25 years.
I agree, let's keep this discussion going. I certainly don't have a complete solution for this, but I do have a feeling that file sharing isn't going away, even if it illegal. I do think that there are ways to build fan loyalty to music that make people want to support the arts financially, rather than simply take music for consumption without paying for it.
Phil