nanojath's Journal: Can you make it happen?

So, today (and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow) is all about promoting the M.A.P.S. project. I'm waiting for the pile of scorn but I'm a lot more concerned about the pile of silence from everybody ignoring me... but that's the internet.

So, what is a M.A.P.S. project? well, the site definition (http://www.kingdomcomeinstitute.com/) is "a conceptual exploration of alternative models for the distribution of music and methods for promoting the realization of these models."

In short, it's about the fact that the business of music is broken. The conventional industry is publishing less artists, carrying on a long tradition of treating the artists they represent like the lowest sort of wage servants, overcharging us for their products, working actively to break more efficient alternatives of distribution, they are price fixing, engaging in legal payola. Everyone knows these things, they are not the subject of dispute.

Unfortunately, the question that is getting framed is whether the industry should be trying to control file sharing and whether file sharing is actually bad for the industry. I think this is not only missing the point but actually counterproductive. The industry as it exists, the corporations that control the production and distribution of the majority of the product and control the majority of the conduits, is rotten. Although I do not share files of copyrighted materials, I say that if this activity is not harming the industry that is too bad.

What I want is to see these technologies harnessed to let artists and their fans take control of music and use the intrinsic efficiencies of the digital paradigm to increase value for the only people who matter: the people that make music, facilitate the making of music, and the patrons of music.

There are five basic themes I express on the explanation on my site. I believe that every one of these themes is solid and that collectively they scream out for change to come and come now. It's time to stop asking how to get the big bully on the playground to let us play ball with him and start getting our own game together. It's time to stop screwing around and start participating. I stopped buying music from "Them." The final, biggest lie of the industry is that music is gold and they've got the keys to the mine. Good music is everywhere, waiting for us to be creative enough to unleash it. So stay tuned and please feel free to write.