To be or not to be downloading is the question: part 1

To start the year DJ Shadow posted what can only be described as an essay which laid out his stance on the current state of the music industry with particular stress on his disapproval of illegal downloading.

You can read the whole "tirade" here.

Basically Shadow blames what he sees as a decline in the artistic content of the music industry on the rise of illegal downloads. He concludes that a lack of financial incentive discourages many talented people from putting in the time and effort it takes to make it in the music industry, especially people who would be inclined to make ground breaking material. This gives rise to an overwhelming amount of mediocracy, as artists who play it safe are the only ones who can succeed in this environment.

He goes on to say that making music takes time and money and his art has value.

"I can donate a large sum of money to charity and not think twice, but I won’t give my art away. I’d rather sell it to 100 people who value it as I do than give it away to 1000 who could care less. That’s MY choice."

When Shadow posted those words on his website he set off a particularly dramatic reaction on the internet. The most notable negative reaction was posted by Urb.

And a notable positive reaction was posted on The Daily Swarm.

I found both articles to be insightful and good to read, but I realized one of our sponsors is involved in the music industry. So why not ask him a few questions on the subject.

So let me introduce to you KnowSomething's DJ D-Mass. D-Mass is a DJ based out of Ottawa Canada. He runs Know Something which started as a modest artist consultation business and has recently become a modest Record "label". He has worked as a researcher for Big Meteor Publishing (the makers of The Indie Music Bible)  he's opened for people like KRS-1, Grand Master Flash, DJ Babu etc. And produced a bunch of music for a bunch of artists you've never heard of, but if you had heard of them you would probably like them.

FZ: So what did you think about the essay DJ Shadow wrote on downloading?

D: Well my initial reaction was...that is a well written letter. Really I don't see what the big deal is. DJ Shadow basically was saying that he wants to be paid for his work. I don't think that is an evil thing to say. 

But obviously he was going to catch some flack. Let's face it, there is a whole generation out there who do not pay for music, to them that essay probably felt like a slap in the face from their favourite DJ.

FZ: Are downloads bad for the music industry?

D: For 90% of ARTISTS I would say no, for labels, sure, but I didn't start Know Something to make money selling music, remember before we were a label we were artist consultants. 

All an artist needs these days is good PR and that costs money, we think that the record labels of the future will be more like PR firms than record labels.

FZ: Shadow says that ground breaking art is discouraged by illegal downloads, what do you think?

D: Yes and no. I remember DJing for one of our early clients Flip Kuma at a show to promote his album Burnt Rubber Lung. You should have seen the dread on my face after the set. I knew how many CD's we had sold at that point and where they had sold, so how could all of these people know the words to these songs if they hadn't already downloaded the album. We're talking an indie, underground rapper here, not some major label act, but I just knew that we weren't going to be able to sell many CD's that night. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people who probably would of never heard of him discovered him online and that was a blessing. I just feel sad for all the people who worked on that record with us because there aren't any album credits on illegal downloads.

On the other side of the coin I used to send out hundreds of demos a year of some truly interesting stuff. I used to get responses back from labels basically telling me that they thought my music was good but they didn't know how to market it. Now days if an artist is in a similar position they can send their music out to the blogsphere or start there own blog and if they try hard enough they will find a fan base,  then they can sell their albums online through Itunes and the like. 

FZ: Thanks for your time. Do you have any upcoming projects you'd like to shout out?

D: I sponsor your blog, so I'll let you guys know when we have something coming out first...and yes we will finish our website sometime this year ;P

FZ: 

I thought I would conclude this article with a quote that DJ Shadow took note of on this subject from QN5's Tone Deff: 

"But in the grand scheme of things...this music we make HAS to come out. We don't have a choice, man. It's our responsibility as artists to offer our perspective/filter on the world for those out there that need something to latch on to for survival. These people that support us - NEED us to keep going."

Here is some footage of Tone Deff ripping it live on stage:

One Love