So, with SoundSprout we were working on something new. An alternative to the current recording industry that had been successful for so long. You know - fat-cat record execs holding down the little musicians, payola to peddle their cheesy musical concoctions to the masses, chance meetings with big label A&R reps and recording contracts that will break your heart. But now, it seems sites like ours are sprouting up all over the place (yes, that's a pun).
Originally we thought "Hmmm - file sharing... not oppressed by money hungry labels, but rather supported by the independant artist as a means to relate and build meaningful relationships with more fans." The idea was that by giving away their music, artists regain control of their future. Before the internet, this simply wasn't a feasible solution... but it is today.
"So," we thought again, "now all we need to do is build a forum for the artists to post their downloadable music and give way to find them easily." Novel concept, right? Well, it turns out that other people were just as tired of the RIAA bickering with there customers (the music fans) as we were (and are).
Not shortly after releasing the first version of SoundSprout did we find out what the Creative Commons was; an alternative licensing mechanism for artists who want to give partial rights away to their audio recordings. It was perfect, and already established, all we had to do was plug it in.
Not long after that we encountered Jamendo, a site that had been operational for over four years and was backed by VC investors. After that, we started encountering a whole slew of like-mainded free-music sharing web projects. All with different tweaks, but with the same underlying principal of artists releasing music for free to their fans. For some reason, there seems to be a lot of drive behind this movement in Baltimore, Maryland, which is exactly where we (SoundSprout) are based. I haven't figured out why yet.
You may think this would be a downer for us because we thought we were special... well it is a little frustrating, I'm not going to lie. But really, it's a sign that we're on the right track. Someone is going to get it right and I think there's going to be an enlightenment.
The site that gets it right will be the site that can relate to the artist, because the artist is the fuel that keeps this fire buring. Most artists don't get it yet. I know this to be true because as SoundSprout's "artist relations" I spend a great deal of my time talking and e-mailing back and forth with artists who seem angry at me for even suggesting the concept of giving away their music. Even the existing major record labels know that the artists are the key... it just so happens that over the years the major labels have found a way to fabricate synthetic art and hype out of thin air (very annoying for the true talent out there).
So I'm going to devote my next few blog posts to the "Healthy Competition" I've run accross recently. Below is a list of free-music efforts currently underway. I've contacted each of these groups to discuss the concept or potential collaboration, but I never get a response. Perhaps it's because of the "tweaks" I mentioned above. Anyway, here they are in no particular order:
Well holy crap... that's a lot of healthy competition. Some of these sites are great, some are in internet limbo for unknown reasons, and some are just confusing. Should we unite? Consolidate our resources to overcome "the man". Undoubtedly, in doing so we need to avoid becoming the man. However it's accomplished, united or in fragments, we've got our work cut our for us, but SoundSprout is up for the challenge.
Check out the book, "I Hate The Man Who Runs This Bar" by Eugene Chadbourne...hilarious memoir of a life spent making music on the fringes of the music industry, great insights into the devious ways of corporate music. available cheap on amazon.
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