It's All Gossip-Driven

I was listening to this radio show the other week about the state of affairs in the collapsing recording industry, and on the show many of the guests wresteld with the problem with pirated mp3s and the myriad of peer-to-peer download sites that are at their core stealing money from the artists and the propaganda organizations (the record companies). This one guest suggested that the model of cable TV be instituted for the web, in that each and every ISP would charge $3/month that a would funneled to ASCAP/BMI -- and then people can trade as much "illegal" music as they want AND the artists get compensated.

It's not a bad idea. Xtina Aguilera had recently lamented that the music business has become driven by the tabloids and the gossip columns -- if you think about it, that is too true. New music doesn't really have a chance of becoming internationally known unless the big media money is spent on it, and the Record Companies seem to only want to spend money on the well established acts (which also have a back catalog). For instance, I've been listening to this CD (yeah, I actually bought the CD) of this supergroup from the UK called THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE QUEEN; it's Damon Albarn's new project that Danger Mouse produced that features Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen and The Clash's bassist Paul Simonon. You'd think there'd be a lot of buzz about this music, off the participants alone, not to mention the quality of the tracks.

It actually drives a nail into my dick knowing that the a huge element of pop culture is dictated by the bratty rich bitch behavior of Hollywood socialites. Music, arguably one of the most plebian-influencing activity, is caught in the deathgrip of "did you hear that Brittany cut off all her hair?" or "Jessica Simpson is dating John Mayer! No, they're not... oh, yes they are" or "Cameron Diaz just bitch-slapped Justin Timberlake at the Sunset Marquis." See -- nothing of any actual importance, in fact it's the kind of crappy drivel that people will talk about at the watercooler at the office or what they'll read about when 15 different photographs from 15 different photographers about the same subject on 10 different magazines... er, tabloids masquerading as magazines.

So where are we actually with music without the continuous mulch of bullshit.

Scavengers at The Tower

Yesterday I was down in Redondo Beach area going to a friend's house, and I stopped by a Tower Records that was going out of business; had a "Five Days Left" sign blazooned across the front of the store. I had to stop, maybe there might have been a CD or a DVD that I could buy (I snagged teh 20th Anniversary of PLATOON the other day from the Tower in Sherman Oaks for only eight bills).

I walked in the door and was like, "FUCK" the place look liked a bunch of scavengers in a Mad Max film had looted the place, and recently, too. All the aisles and bins pushed to the side and where picked clean of anything of substance, the workers looked like that didn't give a rat's ass about anything (and why should they? They probably don't have any new jobs lined up).



It was sad to see this store, shit any store, in this state of complete "i-don't-give-a-fuck", because records and tapes and CDs mean a lot to me, nothing can soothe you like music, nothing can set the mood to get some fuckin' done like music, and yet we all have migrated to acquiring our music thru wired digital means -- with no desire to amass CDs anymore. I love album cover art, there's just something potentially cool and interesting about the artist that can be said in a few brief photographs... no all we have to look forward to is, the squared image on iTunes or what ever pose struck their fancy for a Rolling Stone or Vibe photo shoot.

Let's face facts though, mp3 files sound like shit, unless their being played back on those two-way or micro speakers that most computers come with OR over the earbud headphones that came with your iPod or Zune (is anyone even thinking of wasting their money on a Zune? Fuck, Bill Gates, if you ask me; and I don't give a shit that he's giving away his money to needy Africans -- and they need it, too).

But you know what? This is just the beginning, the face of things to come, when all the retail establishments that dispense with crap that we really don't need (yeah we NEED music, but not nearly 75% of SHIT that is recorded and sold to us). Just go to a Third World Country and see if they got music stores there, and then imagine what Tower was looking like when it was one it's last legs, and then look around at the other stores in the shopping centers and burn that image in your mind, 'cause something wicked this way comes...