Remember The Bright Side

A little something about the attitude of the music business right now.

Many folks around the music industry are full of negativity these days. While the failing of the major label model may be immediately related to the economy and the internet, the reality of this situation is just proof to me that few companies actually knew how to run a business in the first place - they just inherited an old system, didn't change with the times, and these things forced that issue. There are some major growing pains and I've been in there, through the gauntlet - and it hurts. But it's time to move on.

I hope people can step back and see what a huge opportunity this moment is. Right now we are redefining how people receive music and support the artists that inspire them, that provide the ever-expanding score to their daily lives. This may not involve big infrastructures of marketers and sales reps and vice presidents - and I would guess that it will remain a difficult living (though I think it provides much more room for working class musicians). But what an amazing time to be making music: You can have control over what you create and the process through which you present it. We no longer are subject to the physical constraints of CDs or contracts with big companies for distribution. We can experiment. We should experiment. We can do anything. It's all a collaboration and every blind forward step that someone takes is important progress for everyone. There's room now for every hard working person with patience, good music, and something to say - It doesn't matter if you appear for a day on the front page of myspace - good stuff gets out there in time.

Look at our lives and the fascinating time we're in. It's indian summer, you have 10,000 songs on your iPod and it's finally okay to express yourself however you please.

Fuck yeah.