Tuesday 2 June 2009

The future of music will be shared: An essay on the hope for a shift in power...

"The goal is not only better living conditions, a radical change of structures, a social revolution; it is much more: the continuous creation, never ending, of a new way to be a man [or woman], a permanent cultural revolution" -Gustavo GutiƩrrez

This essay was written to fulfill requirements for a paper Lake took at school. It suggests that the internet creates the possibility for a shift in power relations away from the corporate record companies and back toward the musicians and the audience. We acknowledge this as a process and not an end.

We are currently experimenting wih websites that share a similar ethos, allowing artists to share their music and providing an opportunity for payment. Basically we are trying to avoid sites that are owned by major corporations who have profit as their only goal, that is: Lastfm.com, myspace.com, itunes.com, napster.com, amazon.com.

Websites that currently seem interesting, both from an audience and artist perspective, are: bandcamp.com and thesixtyone.com which even allows creative commons licensing for posted tracks...
Let us know any others...

Here's the essay, it may not be flawless, but hopefully it provokes thought...

The future of music will be shared

1 comment:

Angus Prain said...

Have you seen this site:

http://ccmixter.org/

Pretty sweet since you can dissect the songs too.

Lepton