Brick and Mortar to Ashes and Dust.

My local CD shop after more than 10 years of business is gone. They were a cool little shop and it pains me to see them go. They had a SWEET sale before they closed shop though, so I got a lot of stuff for cheap. I had a really interesting conversation with the owner of the shop though.

Steve Jobs may very well have had his hand in their demise with the advent of iTunes. I told the owner of the shop that the reason he didn't get much of my business is because I boycott the RIAA. That also being the reason that I walked out of there for the last time with only used media.

When I told him that I boycotted them he said "Why!?" I was taken aback at his reaction but I told him how I felt about it. He, being a part time DJ in addition to running the shop knew pretty well how things worked in the music business. He told me that he thought overall the RIAA tried to help musicians. He did admit that their practices were questionable, but that ultimately they helped musicians do better than if they were independent.

Although Cloud Cult seems to be doing well, I can see how the RIAA does lift a lot of the burden off the musicians backs so that they can concentrate on writing and producing the music they want to. But my problem with the RIAA is that they don't give the artists nearly what they deserve.

The guy that I spoke to also said that he thought the artists were struggling quite a bit right now. I think I believe that. I'm sure it is much more difficult to become a signed artist right now because iTunes only charges $10 an album so there is much less revenue to give to the artists. David Byrne goes into great detail on the situation that musicians face here: David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars The 360 deal being the worst possible deal for artists to agree to.

So, in boycotting the RIAA I'm sending a message to two parties. The RIAA and the musicians. Basically I would like to see the RIAA ended and I would like to see musicians begin to converge on their own and figure out a new method of helping each other to get noticed. Ok, I guess that just doesn't happen as we all know competition is a big part of the music business. After all that's why all these boy bands popped up at the same time back in the 90's. They gotta cash in.

Ultimately I feel that since music has become so commercialized, it has lost much of it's sincerity. I'd love to see no more payola radio, no more bands releasing one ballad to sell their record only to find upon purchasing their album that they're thrashcore country metal rapstars, no more "the first album was great, but the second album blew" careers... Ahhh what an utopian dream.. Of course it's not ever going to be perfect, but it could be so much better than it is now.

Speaking of Cloud Cult, I'm going to see them in concert in April. I'm really looking forward to it and I just love how they handle themselves business-wise as well. Their new album came out yesterday, go check em out!