Music Industry Pissed Off? So what?

Radiohead Could Really Piss Off the Music Industry Machine

Radiohead used to be part of the music industry’s machine. Having now cut out the middle man, the band offers content direct to the fans. So with the music industry now looking for ways in which to continually make the same amount of money it raked in during its peak years, I wouldn’t be surprised if Radiohead gets sued.

That's the love/hate relationship with the major labels at its best. Most bands paying local venues and selling albums on CDBaby won't get the exposure a major label can deliver. However when a label places its bets they are certainly not going to take a chance with most bands. But when the lottery hits for a band they use that power against the betting hand.

I think that's where I find myself at odds with it all. If you strip away the concept of recorded music you may be left with a scenario where an artists plays live, and if worthwhile, to an audience. It's the experience of music at its purist. Somehow things got out of control when the middleman got involved. Artists become sugar who are fed to audiences mainly to benefit the middle man.

In my opinion, I'll just assume what ever happens to the industry happens. It's the irony of unbalanced power. A disaster could never be wrong knowing that the worst that could happen that some guy returns to playing a guitar to a crowd on the street.

Or better yet in a world without the music industry's shackles we could all better appreciate the values of jazz! Viva musica!

Little Ruby Book

A tangent from the normal blog posts:

"Welcome to my little book. In it, my goal is to teach you a way to think about computation, to show you how far you can take a simple idea: that all computation consists of sending messages to objects. Object-oriented programming is no longer unusual, but taking it to the extreme - making everything an object - is still supported by only a few programming languages."

- A little Ruby, A lot of Objects

I believe in what's subtle. It's what gives you an edge and makes your work stand out. If you are curious why programming languages make a difference read through the chapters.

More (self)employed

Being self employed does work...in a way similar to baking a cake.

How many times does it take to get a recipe right? I mean the process seems simple: find the ingredients, mix them together, bake it, and enjoy. But the results do vary. Sometimes its the quality of ingredients. Other times it's how they're mixed or how baked. Eventually at some point, with enough trial and error, it works and the taste is amazing.

September closed out leaving me feeling like my latest efforts were fruitless. I measure my progress in terms of months. With a string of rough months this summer I wasn't sure what the fall would look like but as things are shaping up I'm smelling the sent of one delicious cake!

I'm learning that results are found in the details much like how kneading dough effects the texture. I've been makes small corrections to my work habits, how I handle money matters, and how I pursue work. It's all been very positive.

I know this sounds cliche and trivial but it's easly overlook in a world of distractions. There are lots of ideas out there but they can't replace basic work ethics. Those are the ethics I learned by watching my grandparents work on the dairy. It's the same ethics i see my business partner value. They are both immigrants from the old world yet they succeed in the new world.

Never before have I been this certain that I'm doing the right thing with my career. Being self employed is all about getting to where you want to be one tiny step at a time. The steps become less scary over time and win, loose, or draw becomes what you look forward to the next morning.