Indies As Clueless as Majors by George Ziemann -- February 20, 2010 Just participated in the first round of an invitation-only chat group concerning the music industry. Despite being focused on the independent sector, Round One was a whine-fest that seriously pissed me off. Out of about 40-50 responses in the discussion only 2 or 3 other people seemed to view their audience as something other than thieves. I responded a few times, but the stupid kept rolling in. I had hoped that this group might be more forward looking, being independent in nature. Maybe looking to take advantage of the opening provided by the hateful attitude of the major labels. But that's not the case at all. The indies in this group are just as hateful, just as unable to see past their own greed and misplaced vision of entitlement. If they're not making as much money as they think they should, it's your fault, not theirs, because you're all thieving fucking bastards. They want to tell you, they want to sue you, they want you off the Internet. They want everything and expect you to pay to even listen to their music, much less own a copy. Each and every artist I see take this attitude will never make it to my iPod. I don't want to hear their music at all. I've got plenty. No room for assholes. Forgetting about radio, which had been free since 1923, there was the predictable blame placed on Napster for devaluing music. The truth is that the singles market was almost dead, being intentionally killed by the labels. Napster offered what the RIAA considered to be valueless. In response, the RIAA decided that singles once again had value. Napster saved the single by restoring their value after the majors tried to write them off. Last year, iTunes sold a billion singles. And the labels were crying about the price. Worst of all, none of these people seemed to be music fans at all. There was no consideration for the young person without money that really loves music. If they ever went through that phase, they have either forgotten it or somehow think it was different. They used idiotic terms like "illegal music" and are unable to comprehend the simple fact that copyright infringement is not theft. This particular group will not be coming up with anything useful in the near future. They think like typical record label people -- no mention of, or apparent concern for, music, just money. They're too busy crying about how life isn't fair. Wah, wah, wah. I hope to one day join a group of people looking for solutions and ways to improve the music business (or gut it and start over) instead of perpetuating the insult on music, musicians and those that used to be called music fans and are now viewed as undesirables. This is fucked up. It's time to find a better way. This isn't going to be it, so it really doesn't matter what it was -- except maybe to those who were there.