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.
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