Downloading: Lost Opportunities - Page 2

Crystal Silence - Gary Burton & Chick Corea

Burton and Corea's landmark recording. It's very fine, though maybe not quite as good as Live in Zurich. Ever seen these guys play together live? It's scary, like musical conjoined twins.

Wings Over America - Paul McCartney

Even though I'm not a huge McCartney fan, this record's always been a lot of fun for me. The live "Live and Let Die" is spectacular.

Now, after I got all this stuff home, all cleaned up and inner sleeves replaced...I got to thinking about the ongoing "Downloading Is Killing Us" phenomenon that the recording industry is going through.

The industry sees each and every downloaded song as vanished money. Yep, those little mp3 files represent lost revenue. While I don't really agree with that sentiment, I do have a problem with the phenomenon of kids who see all music as 'free'. It creeps me out. More than that, it makes me realize that a big & important part of the culture that I grew up in is now seen as without value by the younger generation.

It's a sad thing....but maybe it doesn't have to be that way.

The industry needs to look at reliable, low-cost and unlimited digital downloads as opportunities. One part of the file-sharing thing they seem to completely not get is the fact (I will use the word 'fact' because I'm absolutely certain that this occurs) that exposure to new music inevitably leads to demand for more music. People will sample here and there if the price is low and the experience is painless...and they will want more. Just look at my weekend LP trip. As far as the record industry is concerned, I might as well have downloaded ALL of that music because they certainly didn't get a dime for it. And now, after listening to the majority of the albums, I've added several artists to my "want" list. Yes, there is more Yes, Focus, Keith Jarrett, Tangerine Dream and Gary Burton in my future. There's no doubt about it.

Downloaded music can easily serve the function once the domain of commercial radio (before ClearChannel squeezed the life out of it): spreading the word on new artist's music.

Or...the RIAA and its partners can continue to waste money and time in their hopeless effort to stuff the technological genie back into the bottle. At the end of that road is the unemployment line.

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)

Article Author: Mark Saleski

Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. He is an editor and writer for Jazz.com. He also writes reviews for Blogcritics.org and produces the weekly feature The Friday Morning Listen. …

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