First of all, thanks to all the people who made last night’s Ustream Concert a success. All of you Twittering and sending IM’s to your friends really helped build a crowd. In fact, there were quite a few new faces (well, okay, screen names) in the crowd last night and that’s always a good thing!

Which brings me to the subject at hand: assholes. Once you start to get noticed by a large group of people, they seem to come out of the woodwork. This is true whether you’re a politician, a performer, or even a priest. These are not the people who legitimately dislike your style, those people are critics. Assholes are people who simply have nothing better to do than piss on other people’s fun.

They’re the reason stereotypes and prejudice exist because often they’re the first representative you meet from a particular group. And here’s the key lesson from this sermon: Assholes transcend all age, race, gender, sexual orientation, class, nation, and political barriers. Simply put: they are everywhere, usually in positions of power. I emphasize this because I’m part of too many groups that are becoming more known for their assholes than their virtues.

You might know the Christians that carry “God Hates Fags” signs. I’m not one of ‘em. You might know the Furries that hump your leg at comic book conventions. I’m not one of them. You might know the liberals that want to take away your guns. I’m not one of them. You might know the chat room dwellers that do nothing but harass people behind a shield of anonymity. I’m not one of ‘em, and I’m rarely anonymous online.

So where am I going with all this? Other than the obvious (don’t be an asshole), try to understand that there are simply people out there that want to make you a bitter asshole like them. What sets you above them, however, is your power to set the better stereotype. You must have the self-confidence to write those people off in the blink of an eye. Those people are not your customers, so they do not matter. Critics matter, to a degree, but assholes will never, ever matter.

They only have power over those who give it to them.

Photo by jpockele

I just got another check from my Performing Rights Organization, BMI. To those of you out there actually paying your BMI license for the music you’re podcasting, THANK YOU!

Just like the previous check (my first one), it’s not enough to retire. Not enough to pay rent either. Heck, it’s not even enough to celebrate with sushi and sake. It’s encouraging, though, to see that one old-media establishment does indeed work in the new media world.

If you’re a podcaster, this is the part I want you to focus on: Once you can afford your bandwidth and hosting, get a BMI license. Every reported podcast play puts another drop of gasoline in my touring tank. BMI is not a big evil monolith like the RIAA (assholes), it’s a well-established system where songwriters (me) get paid for radio and internet play (you). Even on a small scale, it works.

If independent music is making your podcast better- and especially if your podcast is sponsored or making affiliate sales or ad clicks, etc. -then please help us fill up our tanks (and stomachs). This system actually works, but only if you make it fair.

Presented without comment (except for yours).

Edit: Okay, I lied, I’m commenting on the notion that “when people start moving to encryption… they know they’re engaging in illegal conduct.” Apparently you’ve never kept all your financial data on a laptop hard drive before. Maybe you should start suing Apple for including 128-bit system-level encryption on every single Mac. Those Cupertinian bastards are encouraging piracy, I say!

OK, I’m done.
[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, RIAA, technology, piracy, assholes[/tags]