the riaa have sued Jammie Thomas-Rasset of minnesota for $2,000,000 for illegally downloading music.

argh. what utter nonsense. this is how the record companies want to protect themselves? suing suburban moms for listening to music? charging $80,000 per song?

punishing people for listening to music is exactly the wrong way to protect the music business. maybe the record companies have adopted the ‘it’s better to be feared than respected’ approach to dealing with music fans. i don’t know, but ‘it’s better to be feared than respected’ doesn’t seem like such a sustainable business model when it comes to consumer choice. how about a new model of ‘it’s better to be loved for helping artists make good records and giving consumers great records at reasonable prices’?

i’m so sorry that any music fan anywhere is ever made to feel bad for making the effort to listen to music.

the riaa needs to be disbanded.

moby

I’m not a huge fan of Moby’s music, but I agree with him 100% in this case. You see, I’m a Christian artist. No, I’m not making CCM albums anymore, but I believe in a Christian philosophy which can be summed up as this: I believe that people will try to steal from me whether I am a tyrant or a beggar. What defines me and my nature is how I treat other people, even if they’re not concerned with how they’re treating me.

The RIAA believes that huge fines will deter people from file sharing, much in the way that capital punishment seems to be deterring people from killing each other. Those of us in the reality-based community understand that you will never keep people from stealing, all you can do is treat your legitimate customers like kings and make their experience worth more than the 99¢ track they’re paying for.

Update: And now Richard Marx, an artist actually “damaged” by this file sharing, has released a public statement decrying the verdict and siding with Ms. Thomas-Rasset, calling it “farcical”.

• If you want to post photos of me at a performance or convention, I strongly encourage it. All I ask is that you let people know who that guy in the photo is.
• If you’re videotaping or recording one of my live shows, I would love to see those recordings spread around. Just do me a favor- try to remind folks that they can get professionally-recorded live music at matthewebel.net. If you want more concerts, I need to keep paying my bills- subscriptions are the best way for me to do that.
• If you want to use my music in your project, just bear in mind whether or not it’s a money-making project. You want to put Everybody Needs A Ninja behind your kids’ martial arts tournament video? Awesome. Want to use it on a site that’s bringing in Google Adwords or affiliate link revenue? Talk to me first. I want to make things easy for you, but again… I have bills to pay. If I’m helping you pay yours, I’d appreciate some assistance.
• For anything you post online, try to tag things with either Matthew Ebel or matthewebel so Google and I can find it. And whenever possible, I always appreciate a link back to matthewebel.com as high up on the page as possible.

So there are some official policies straight from the musician’s mouth. Er, blog. The point is that I’m not some RIAA stooge, I’m not commuting to gigs in a private jet, and I’m not trying to break anyone. I want to see my fans get as excited about the music as I do, so if there’s anything I can do to help (or if you have any questions), just email me!

(By the way, if you don’t remember me asking you about this, you’re not signed up for my email list yet.)

Why is this a slice of awesome pie? Two reasons: First, Pandora pays its BMI licensing fees like any other radio station, so the more my music plays on their system the more likely I’ll actually see a royalty payment (and, therefore, eat). Since the stations are built around a recommendation engine, my tunes will be played any time someone searches for someone famous like Ben Folds or Keane. They don’t even have to specifically search for my obscure name.

Second, since a lot of people will hear my music because I’m similar to the artists they’re searching for, there’s a good chance some of them might become fans of mine. I know more than a few people who have discovered new artists they like because of Pandora. As much as the RIAA likes to ignore it, people do in fact buy albums via iTunes and Amazon from Pandora recommendations.

So thank you, all of you, who helped raise the awareness! Hopefully some more of my albums will appear in their system soon, but for now you’ve really helped me break into a new playing field!

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, don’t worry… if this turns out the way I’m hoping, I’ll be adding a lot more details in future posts!

Update: Almost ready to actually embed the video right here on matthewebel.com. Stay tuned!

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.

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]

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend (no, not that disturbing trend, another one) in discussions of where the music industry is headed: Seldom does anyone bother to ask the musicians. You would think that if people were discussing the future of agriculture, they’d have a farmer or two on their panel. It just makes sense when discussing the industry and the business to involve the people actually making the product.

A few specific examples…

Culprit #1: Leo Laporte. Or, more specifically, This Week in Tech (TWiT). I am a regular listener to both TWiT and MacBreak Weekly, tuning in to every episode. For months now I’ve been listening to Leo and friends talk about how “CD’s are dead” and how the recording industry is spiraling out of control… yet not once have they ever brought an actual musician onto either show for some perspective.

Hello, Leo? It’s Matthew. I’m a new media geek, a Mac user, and a musician. Call me.

Culprit #2: The “Podcasting and the Music Industry” panel at PodCamp Boston 2. The panel lineup from the official schedule:

Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity. Other panelists will include Adam Lewis of the Planetary Group, Kevin Greenstein of Bandletter, Matthew Wilkening of What Are Records.

My pal CC Chapman also got drafted onto that panel as well. Looks like an impressive lineup… except for no musicians whatsoever. I sat in the back and bit my tongue through most of the panel since I knew if I started talking I’d take up most of the panel’s time. They seemed like really earnest people committed to the music business, but not one of them was a touring act. I even heard them give the “CD’s are dead” argument as well.

Clue-by-four, people… Fans will always want something autographed at a concert. If not CD’s, then what? You can’t sign an iPod, and people aren’t as likely to buy an 8×10 photo.

Culprit #3: SLCC. Old story, but if they’d have involved actual musicians in the pre-game process, they could’ve avoided the PR nightmare they got themselves into.

The moral of this story is simple: Don’t purport to cover the music industry unless you’re involving the people actually making the product. We’ve got valid viewpoints, and we see things that the rest of the music industry doesn’t. Invite us to the conversation, otherwise you’re not covering the complete story.

Note: Leo, I’m serious. You don’t answer email, so I tagged your name about fifty times in this post so you’d catch it. Call me next time you plan on talking about the music industry.

[tags]evolution, Leo Laporte, MacBreak Weekly, Matthew Ebel, Music, SLCC, Ariel Publiciy, CC Chapman, Ariel Hyatt, Kevin Greenstein, Matthew Wilkening, Adam Lewis, Bandletter, What Are Records, The Planetary Group, music industry, piano rock, revolution, RIAA, This Week in Tech, TwiT[/tags]