Live Prog-rock is Dying

Thanks guys, glad to be here. You'll no doubt eventually get sick of me though...I say what I mean, and usually, mean what I say....so enough of that, on with the show....

I really think that the internet is a double edge sword in that it does provide bands with heaps of outlets for them to flog their music, their image, their voice. And at the same time, it opens doors for them and can lead to huge audiences hearing about them, and hearing what they have to offer. This is a fantastic medium for such things - but the edge of the sword comes about when people download - or put another way - steal.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not about to stand up on my soapbox and point my finger at any of you here - or anyone - I admit it. I download music. And like others have said above, if its good, I will go out and buy a legit copy for my collection. This is a great thing to do - because it shows that it is not good enough to just have a copy of the music on the ipod, but in fact, it is important to have the original disc - to give support to the artists. But more and more this is becomming an exception to the rule. Most people download it, listen to it, throw it on the ipod, and then go and download something else, repeat. I would daresay the closest these songs ever come to be on disc is when they get burned and passed around to friends, and so on and so on.

Some would argue that this in itself is one of the main reasons why the music industry is in strife - and I couldn't argue against it.

The main problem is that as an artist gets known - ie, passed around from friend to friend, the only good thing that can happen from that point is - that hopefully they get good tour support. Album sales have suffered, so radio tours, tv slots don't exist - or are on a shoestring budget, because no money is coming in. It is very rare that record labels are willing to throw millions of dollars at bands anymore for publicity - simply because they know that the returns aren't there.

Back in the 70s, 80s, 90s - and up until the very late 90s, the writing was on the wall - but I don't think anyone could have predicted just how destructive a simple little file extension was going to be to the music industry - .mp3

Now days, of course, the term .mp3 is a household name. Take stock of other file extension names and ask yourself - how many are household names? Sure, techies and the like can rattle off more than we'd like to know - but just how many does grampa jones know of down the street? I would almost guarantee if you said, hey gramps - ever heard of an .mp3 - he would nod his head.

So, where does that leave us? It puts artists in a situation where on one hand they need the internet for the publicity, they they authorize,  but on the other hand they don't need their music pawned off like it was dirt - and was free for anyone to come along and take a scoop, or worse, fill their wheel-barrow up. And that is exactly what is happening.

I'm not saying that the internet is bad - its a fabulous tool - but like anything good it can be abused. The problem is how can bands use the net and not fall prey to illegal downloading of their music? I honestly don't think that answer exists yet. Sueing fans isn't the answer - but it may help curb it to some extent. But if you are honestly one of those fans who downloads your music, listens, then decides if he likes it or not. If he doesn't - does he delete it? Or does he have an obligation whether he likes it or not to go out and buy it?

That is a can of worms in itself. All this relates back to whether or not Prog-rock is dying - because the prog that we love is suffering from this, although, as stated, I don't believe it is dying. It's just not as healthy as it once was.

What part can we play?  How can we listen to the music, before we buy it? And should we be allowed to do just that? You can test drive a car before you buy it. If you don't like it - no sweat - move on and test drive until you find one you like. It's a good system - one with we all agree upon.

But you can't order a pizza, eat it, and then say, no, I don't like this, make me another - and not pay for it. It just doesn't work that way. I think we need to understand how important the music is that we choose to listen to - regardless of how we get it. And if you get it from an internet site where paying isn't an option,  perhaps you need to rethink just what it is that went into making that product. More and more often kids think that music "grows on trees". It's just there to be picked, ripe or not, whenever they choose. This "on demand" system that we live in has a hefty price - and one of those is our artists have paid with their creativity being sold for nothing. I honeslty think that this is a mentality that we need to teach kids in school. It's not enough for them to be told that illegal downloading is wrong - we have to teach it to them. Show them the consequences - on both sides of the coin. From the consumers perspective, where ticket, and merchandise prices are going through the roof to compensate, and from the artists perspective - where dreams are shattered, and dues are paid almost in blood - for a few dollars more.

Yeah, I can rant.....

The record industry (like the film industry) suffers, in my point of view, because they keep shelling out crap on the public, and while many people accept it as 'music' those of us who are wiser to it don't always live in an area where good music is plentiful. I know that I live nowhere near any frecord store that keeps classic Genesis material in stock, and to me that is a shame, but at the same time, folks don't want to pay close to twenty bucks (sometimes more) for something that they may or may not like, especially with all the horrible sub-par music that is being released. The internet is only a small part of what is causing these big industries to fail, in my honest opinion. The rest of it is their own doing.