Last week I went for an interview to work as an assistant at a local record label, which I think it's best remains nameless. As I haven't heard anything back, I think its safe to assume I didn't get the job. Nevertheless, it was definitely a worthwhile experience, yet nothing like what I had expected.
The guy who interviewed me was in his late fifties, wearing stained tracksuit bottoms and a pink t-shirt, and definitely past his peak. From what I could tell, in his mind, I, as a young person, embodied the digitalisation of music and all its sins and deserved to be punished for them.
He proceeded to inform me that the music industry was in a state of turmoil, that it was impossible for anyone to make any money and that if I had been told otherwise then I had been lied to. I was given a long speech about the immorality of illegal downloads and, once again, how 'no one is making any money'. At first I found myself sympathising, perhaps even beginning to agree, much to my surprise; is was strange to hear an individual argue this point. Pretty much all the previous arguments I'd heard focussed, even if covertly, on the health of The Big Four. However, stubbornly outmoded as he seemed, it soon became clear that he would all too readily embrace this calamity if the cash would just start rolling in. He declared that his company didn't have a website (not true, I had googled it before the interview. Maybe someone set one up secretly for his own good). He slammed 'bedroom producers', insisting their notion that 'anybody can do it' was ruining the music industry, which at this point seemed to have become synonymous with himself.
If the industry does ostracise people like this, I truly believe it's for the better. In my opinion, it has never been in a fairer state. Sure, there are elements of the past which fill me with nostalgia for a time I never knew, like pirate radio and treasure-trove record stores. But what is even more exciting is the need for sanctuaries such as these being abolished. The Internet has the potential to give everyone equal opportunity. It's not quite there yet, but it's placed a lot more power in the hands of artists, where it rightly lies. I can't help but think that the only people who complain about its effects are those who previously capitalised through the exploitation of others and are now finding this tactic much more difficult to employ. What the Internet has really done is eliminated the need for the middle-man, which means, although revenue from record sales may be down as a whole, it is possible for artists to operate without a record label and therefore receive money directly from whatever sales they make rather than a meagre percentage after any number of people who had very little to do with the record have taken their cut.
I do agree with one of the stock arguments against digitalisation,that if someone creates something then it belongs to them and they have the right to decide who can and cannot possess their creation. I am not comfortable with the notion of being expected to pay for something which I cannot physically touch, and, for that matter, which could easily be lost forever due simply to bad luck. If you pay for a download, you have given your money in exchange for a product, but what you have purchased is effectively worthless, as it can be so readily duplicated at literally the touch of a button. There is no way for you to exchange it if you are not satisfied, there is no way to sell it on if you no longer wish to own it. I would so much rather pay for physical copies, but, discordantly, it's really not practical to own a physical copy of every album I want to listen to. It may not be right to enjoy people's work who have not given you the permission to do so, but artists do want us to listen to their work. They tell us so all the time. I think maybe selling songs on an individual basis is perhaps not the way to go any more. Don't ask me what is, I haven't got that far yet. I just know that the current system isn't fair on artists or consumers.
The industry is changing and artists will have to adapt to that. Many already have. There probably will be much less money to be made, but as I said before, as far as I'm concerned this merely purifies the mix, almost a form of natural selection. I'm not trying to say that anyone who makes any money out of music is evil - I just believe that no harm can come from cleaving the monstrous sums. Personally, I spend a lot of money attending gigs and am more than happy to do so, many having been among the best experiences of my life. I also buy the odd vinyl or CD, when a record is particularly great or promising and when I agree with the things the artist and label are trying to do and wish to support them. I think this is true of a lot of people.
It's still my dream to form some kind of career in the music industry, but what exactly I wish that to be I have no idea. My views may be idealised, but sometimes that's what you have to aim for if you want to get anywhere decent at all.
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