How Does MP3 Work & Will It Work For You?
As you probably already know, all this has opened up a whole new techno/music world, one that is challenging, among other things, the record label/distribution paradigm and the legal and cultural value of intellectual property (copyright). As an artist or songwriter, The World Wide West (oh, sorry, I mean Web) seems to be a highly democratic form. You no longer have to win the favor of the record label (no mean feat) in order to get your music "out there." There are many sites, including, of course, MP3.com, that will upload for the asking. There would seem to be the opportunity to bypass the major labels, and, while perhaps selling fewer units, keep much more of the profit by skipping costly elements such as middlemen and high overhead. First, however, there are two major issues to address. One is how are you going to get noticed? (Have you checked out the sheer multitude of choices on MP3.com?) The other is are you, and how are you, going to get paid? (There’s only so far you can go using the Internet as a “promotional” tool. That won’t make you a living.)
The performing rights organizations and other interested parties have gotten involved to the point where there are now a good number of websites offering legally licensed music for sale or radio play. Alliances are being formed daily between websites and performing rights organizations, between sites and record companies, between artists and websites. ( WWW.COM is an example.) Some major record companies are starting to offer promo samples online. However, there are also still many piracy sites selling or giving away musical works without permission of the creators/copyright holders.
And now we have the advent of often unauthorized file-sharing software sites like Napster and Gnutella that are designed to evade ”inconveniences” such as the payment of royalties. These sites enable music “fans” (somehow, it seems to me, a contradiction in terms here) to copy/download/share just about every piece of music for free, without permission. (Are things free when you steal them? Or are they simply stolen?) (Whoops, I believe I’m editorializing! Well, perhaps you might want to read Artists To Napster: Drop Dead.) It may be wise, until such time as Napster and Napster-clones are dealt with legally, to limit Internet exposure to promo samples rather than full songs. But that’s a difficult, and personal, call.
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