Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

--- In CZsynth@yahoogroups.com, "ezra buchla" <ezra.buchla@...> wrote:
>> but i still think the bottom line is that potential income from
> recordings is lower than it used to be, and certainly is scaled
> differently... homemade music has a better shot at being heard, and
> superstars can still live large (mostly off licensing and tours, not
> record sales), but the "middle class" of independent professionals 
is
> quickly disappearing.

What middle class?  Who are you talking about specifically?  There 
are still bars where cover bands get nightly gigs.  If that's what 
you want to do, I'm sure there are opportunities.  But the record 
industry has ALWAYS been hit-driven.  You don't have a hit, you don't 
make money.  It's never been any other way.  Now that there are 
industry-respected online charts, more artists than ever are charting 
and getting exposure.  I'm not here to insult you, but maybe you're 
just bitter because you never got to grab the brass ring?  There are 
tons of new bands out there making scads of money.  Far more than I 
could ever hope to keep up with, luckily most don't interest me.

> there is no
> question that illegal downloads are bad for cd sales; this is as
> obvious as you can get.

Your own statements regarding 'viral marketing' earlier in the same 
post suggested that illegal downloads lead directly to greater CD 
sales.

> but i haven't made any money off
> music, and i don't expect to. (when people in my band start talking
> about licensing deals at practice, i know it's my time to quit...)

Ah, ok, so you deliberately sabotage your own career on a regular 
basis.  Well hey, we all know there is a greater proportion of the 
insane among musicians than in the general population.
> at the same time, i think in recent years i've started seeing some 
of
> the fallout of that ubiquity in the form of shorter and shorter
> attention spans, shorter and shorter fad-cycles in "underground"
> music, more derivation, less actual originality. 

I disagree, there has always been a vast amount of complete crap 
sitting on the shelves of record stores.  I agree that when it cost 
more to produce an album, people putting up that money only risked it 
when they really thought they'd had a potential hit on their hands, 
and that served as a filter to keep substandard product out of the 
market to some degree, but nobody has ever forced anyone to listen to 
crap.  

> maybe music should never have been integrated into capitalist
> economics. folk musicians have traditionally been indigent (the 
blind
> monks of japan, the hobos of america, the troubadors of medieval
> europe), and art music has traditionally been patronized by
> governments, religious organizations, or powerful individuals...
> 

Those options are far worse.  Like the Olympics.  It's an absolute 
travesty that organization has convinced governments to throw their 
big party for the elites of the world and passing the bill for it to 
the regular joe taxpayer.  They actually managed to convince sucker 
populations that their event is more 'pure' without corporate logos 
everywhere and its downright despicable.