You're missing the point of my post by about seven nautical miles. I'm not "buying into the lie" about anything; for that matter, I'm likely far more jaded than you, having actually worked in the industry for a few years (Promo and PR for Astralwerks, if you are curious).

The point was that musicians need to make enough money to make a living recording and performing. For an amateur musician like myself, a few bucks on the side from web sales is fine. For someone like Trent - or any other aspiring musician - it's not. They have to pay rent, bills, car payments, et cetera just like the rest, and if they're not signed to a label they have to pay studio time, engineer time, duplication, distribution, promotion, etc., as well. A few bucks here and there just isn't enough. If your margins are thin - like they are in a major label deal - then quantity is your only solution. Alternately, you have to sell at a significant enough markup to break even, which is higher than you think.

I'm not commenting on the quality of the product - I'm making a commentary on the ability of a musician to actually make a living (without being constantly broke) pursuing their craft.

I'm also not interested in discussing at length the benefits or lack thereof of a quality producer, recording engineer, PR net, promo team, or anything else. They have their ups and downs, and that is vastly outside the scope of this discussion.

Yes, music that was recorded for a few hundred bucks with the boys from the block can be astonishing. And yes, music produced with millions of dollars supplied by labels can suck. But it works the other way around, too.

The industry isn't going anywhere, not really. Most people don't want to have to dig to find new music (once they leave their teens and early twenties); they want to be fed content by the gatekeeper of their choice. That gatekeeper used to be radio. Not it's video games, movie soundtracks, and Pitchfork Media (God help our souls). Shifting, transforming, reinventing, yes. But the BUSINESS of the music BUSINESS will never go away.

PS - What do you think that bowling alley-turned-venue is? It's a business, out to make money. Its manager will primarily book bands s/he thinks will sell the most tickets/cover charges/drinks, not the ones he loves.

What you ignore is that Miley Cyrus could only do that BECAUSE of the millions the labels spent on her. Elsewise, how else would you know who she is? And besides, making a "profit" does not equate to making a living. To use a real life example, how about Trent Gentry? He recorded an album earlier this year that's fantastic (he really did, and it really is - grab it on CDBaby). Do you own it? Do you know who he is? No? Ah. Now you understand. Making a great product is utterly worthless if no one even knows it exists or that you can buy it. Sure, there's lots of fat in the industry - there is in EVERY industry. I don't think, however, that you have any clue what you're talking about. Being a musician is a skill set on its own. You can't expect every musician to also be a recording engineer, marketing expert, salesman, promoter, tour coordinator, bus driver, roadie, local and nation PR guy, or the rest of it. You're suggesting that every musician be the entire industry independently; it's unreasonable and unrealistic, in the same way that I don't expect the coder to also plan, implement, or maintain the entire environment for which he's coding.

Beat me to it.

Of course it's win-win. We Texans come standard issue with an arsenal of firearms (even when we're gay, kung fu studying, yoga-practicing, car guy vegetarians). We need SOMETHING that moves for target practice. May as well be these idiots.

I listen to music, and I play it, thus I am a musician. Also a music geek.

I watch movies. I am NOT a "movie guy" or a "movie afficiando" or a "movie snob."

I work in IT, and thus am a geek. Just browsing the web doesn't make me a geek.

My sister drives a car, but that doesn't make her a gearhead or mechanic. I read car magazines regularly, participate in forums online about cars, and do a bit of work on my own. Thus, I am a gearhead, and she is not.

When I say "gamer", I do not mean just "a person who plays video games." I mean "a person for whom playing video games and participating in the associated subculture is a significant hobby." You know - I play an occasional game, but I am not a gamer. My roommate is a gamer - he subscribes to EGM, reads IGN regularly, and spends hours a day gaming almost every day. He can tell you things like what cool new game is coming out, or what spiffy technology is behind it, or what the cheat codes for GTA4 are off the top of his head.

So, while your polite and well-meaning comment is understood, you're taking it the wrong way. The term gamer isn't used in a derogatory manner, at least that I know of. Human beings categorize things to make them easier to understand. As intelligent (I hope) /.ers, we are aware that each individual is unique and blah blah blah, but we are still going to categorize. It's the way our minds work.

If you don't like the term, try and start a new one. However, it's fitting and apt, thus I think you're out of luck. After all, no matter what you do, "fetch" isn't going to happen.




PS - Listing two games I've played in the last 6 years hardly qualifies as a "bunch." And I pick up on things because I'm not an idiot and I have a gamer for a roommate.

Rules 34 and 35.

*groan*

And I'm not a gamer at all, but it's worth pointing out I'll buy literally anything BioWare makes without question because I was so impressed by KOTOR 1 and 2, and I'll be signing up for my first MMO with TOR from BioWare. Unless the Stargate MMO comes out first. Because I 3 snarky Colonel O'Neill.

Actually, the flying part is really easy. It's the navigating and legal stuff that's a pain. Takes about thirty seconds to master the controls of a Cessna; 45 if you deal with flaps.

That is VASTLY more complicated that it needs to be. "Stupid passwords that OS/X or Windows manage to forget"? Funny, I've been running consumer grade WiFi (on Open/Hyper/DD-WRT routers) since it was available, and I use my laptop at many locations on a regular basis. My XP install has yet to "forget" a password. Sounds like an overtech solution to PEBKAC.

No, they are the internet's army, and I don't doubt that anonymous would be interested in this little scam.

So what you're saying is that broadband data transfer is dead in favor of a SNEAKERNET?

Wow. Because everyone *I* know has terabytes of media that they didn't get from me.... *rolleyes*

In seriousness, that part of your post is as bunk as the "Windows is dead, long live *nix" guys (not arguing which is 'better', just that Windows isn't going away, no matter how much you may like it to). However, you did make one VALID point:

"Choking online won't stop the bleeding. "

That is true.

Wait... You deployed a new server solution and it wasn't patched to current? I know you *nix guys are lazy about patching, but really? Why WOULDN'T you patch a new deployment before deploying it? Sounds like it's a PEBKAC issue..

In a true enterprise-scale environment, that's not a risk I'm willing to take. My hundreds of HP, Dell, and Sun Intel boxes are guaranteed to have their hardware supported by Windows, as are my storage arrays, tape library, and thousands of desktops.

The Corvette, among others, has had this system in place since the late 80s. It is an option. Simply consists of a low power RF transmitter keyfob that changes the electronics locks to the unlock state when in range. Nifty, but not the smartest thing. Just because I'm within 15 feet of my door, doesn't mean I want my front door unlocked.