March 4, 2010 Screw a New Music Tax – We’ve got our Own Ideas
So by now you’ve probably heard a lot of talk about a new music tax for AM/FM radio stations, that corresponds with the 1995 fee imposed on Internet, satellite, and cable radio, crippling hundreds, if not thousands, of internet radio stations.
If you’re an independent artist, I’m happy to announce that this means pretty much nothing. If you want the real scoop on what all the popular opinions are, and the real truth underlying them, this article is great The Man Can’t Tax Our Music . My suggestion: don’t worry about it.
The tax isn’t expected to go through, but even if it does, AM/FM stations already have a phobia of playing music that isn’t already established as having mass appeal.
If you’re an independent artists, it’s time to realize one very important fact. There are 2 music industries. One is small, roped off, and dieing. The other is massive, teeming with talent, and about to explode.
This is the only thing an independent artist has to remember. You are already in the industry you want to be in. There is no point in jumping onto a sinking ship.
The independent music industry is about grass roots support. The independents need to recognize the tremendous amount of power they can have if they stick together as a unit, and we need to all work together to reach our not so different goals.
The picture is just beginning to change, especially with the emergence of new online tools for artists like Beat-Play, a free, viral method of word of mouth promotion and distribution.
If you’re the kind of artist who likes to keep up with what’s going on in the major music industry, it’s time you adjust your eyes a little bit, and realize that the real major music industry has the word independent in front of it.
Don’t waste your time worrying about taxes, and lawsuits, and bribes. Focus on you, your music, and make your own rules.
This has been a public service announcement from Beat-Play and Music Without Labels.
Source: The Beat-Play Experiment
Reader Comments (6)
Is there anyone seriously suggesting we worry about "taxes, lawsuits and bribes" ?
I'm just curious where this straw man is, exactly.
While many indie artist services - possibly including yours (haven't checked yet), are certainly valuable, and your zeal seems sincere (albeit self-servng, of course), BUT...
name a single artist who has yet reached mass market visibility/success (and yes I realize that is not the aim of many), who has done so WITHOUT major media - you know, the "small, roped off and dying" folks.
Not 100, not 50, not 10...BUT NAME ONE.
I truly wish it weren't so - I'm on your side, but seriously...
@Dg.
I think you might be barking in the wrong direction with that question, though -- the goal is to build up enough momentum outside of that mainstream media system in order to essentially FORCE the Fiction Factory to start giving you coverage and acknowledging you exist. It's about using this free shit as leverage to force your way into their game.
But of course: yes, the only way to win their game is to play their game.
@Justin Boland
Agreed 100%.
Just that the author is making a case that "no point jumping onto a sinking ship" and other such comments I feel are absurd...that the system is no longer needed.
I think that delusion is being unfairly cast upon naive indie artists a lot these days, when in reality, as you so aptly put it, "the only way to win their game is to play their game".
Fortunately we have one hell of a set of tools to help us get onto the field now!!
I'll name one independent artist who is majorly successful without major media - Lisa Lavie. Check her out on Youtube. I just had an interview with her that I'll be posting soon, and she says her only promotion is youtube and myspace. She is #34th most subscribed to of all time on YouTube, with over 20,000,000 views. I'd say that's pretty damn successful. She's called the Canadian Mariah Carey.
"Is there anyone seriously suggesting we worry about "taxes, lawsuits and bribes" ?
I'm just curious where this straw man is, exactly."
The same people who have blogs and report on the mainstream, since there's nothing else going on than taxes, lawsuits, and bribes..and it's people who think like this:
"the goal is to build up enough momentum outside of that mainstream media system in order to essentially FORCE the Fiction Factory to start giving you coverage and acknowledging you exist. It's about using this free shit as leverage to force your way into their game."
Why should we try to force our way into their game like millions of sperm trying to all fertilize the same egg? There are millions of amazingly talented independent artists all over the world that you or I have never heard of, and as a music lover, that's a big problem. Now, with the internet, If you can't change the environment to include you, you can create your own environment. That's what Beat-Play is for independent artists.
My service is not even out for beta yet, and has not had the chance to prove it's ability to earn indie artists real attention and revenue, but it's whole design is strictly for this purpose, and we operate like no other service I've ever seen. We should be launching in May by invitation. Check us out to sign up. Can't hurt to try, there's no risk, it's free promotion.
"If you can't change the environment to include you, you can create your own environment."
Yeah, and there's 100,000 abandoned Ning networks from people who fell for that kind of rhetoric without thinking first. You can create your own environment all day every day -- it needs people. Period. If you're not using "go where the people are" as a marketing mantra, that demonstrates a serious commitment to wasted effort.