[rack gear]

No matter what you think of the current state of the output from the labels, one thing is clear - Piracy does not help to develop better music.

The argument that if there was better music people would pay for it - doesn't hold water, people are downloading as much Led Zeppelin as they are Flo-Rida. Also if it's wanted enough to steal, it's wanted enough to buy. There's plenty of Free Legal Music to Download available at Soundclick, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Artist development takes time and money which piracy completely undermines. I think artist development has shifted from the majors to the indies - who have smaller margins and less of a buffer from dwindling sales.

There are so many indies developing artists for the love of music and craft it's just unfair to say it's not happening. Once artists are developed than they crossover to the majors who have more resources to build them to a larger base.

I'd like to think that w/ the barrier to entry being much lower with home recording technology we would not be so dependent on labels for the discovery or development of new artists - but one look around Soundclick proves this is not the case. Like it or not, it takes a labels investment to develop artists - exceptions may exist, but they are just that, exceptions.

Whatever measure anyone is using it's clear that the music on Soundclick is inferior to the music on Itunes. This in the same way that guys shooting hoops down the block are not the NBA. Proffesionals practice and develop their craft full time, this takes a financial investment. Remove the return on investment (Priracy) and it's just a race to the bottom.

Theoritically between home recording PCs (Production) and an outlet like Soundclick (Distribution) there should be amazing unsigned artists on Soundclick. I'm just not finding them.

Labels provide a service, of filtering, marketing, promotion and financing that is essential to the development of artists, even if those artists are not of your tastes.

Times have changed, Consumer tastes have changed, and labes have changed.

I work in film music with a lot of people young and old - I'm somewhere in the middle. The older folks say, "you kids don't understand great music" and the younger kids say, "you don't understand our music"... and then I remember my youth and think, that sounds familure...

the more things change, the more they stay the same...