[Af_List] On a final note re. on-line music...

[David Borrie]

Sorry to keep harping on, but also it occurs to me that although I have been talking about independants vs. corporates / majors, this distinction is an overly simplistic one which obstructs meaningful discourse.
 
The reality is that, with the exception of the big 3 or 4 corporates dominating the business, there is actually a complete spectrum of unique agendas and disparate concerns in the face of the erosion of conventional industry models, which the blanket term 'independent' fails to account for. 
 
A label like Kill Rock Stars or Warp, while independent in one sense has commercial-enough aspirations not to mention dealings with the mass-market to have a vested interest in its tactics and mechanisms, particularly re. downloads. 
 
On the other hand, United Dairies or Wergo could conceivably sail on in a relatively disinterested fashion were it not for the fact that the few high-street retailers carrying their catalogue are dwindling still further due to those same mechanisms. Although possibly their slack is being taken up by increasing business being done by on-line specialist retailers?
 
In either case a sort of adaptation is necessary, but a common solution is unlikely. And in between these you'll find many more specialist labels and aspiring majors with contrasting priorities, all looking for a specific fix.
 
On another note, isn’t it interesting that effectively giving away your album a-la-Radiohead is seen as an act of almost incomprehensible largesse, whereas if you have yet to make your bones as a celebrity the same action is seen as nothing more than an annoying proliferation of rogue media (i.e. by judgmental sods like me)?
 
dB
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