Thursday, May 13, 2010

An open letter...

When Shawn Fanning invented napster more than 10 years ago and the program broke out into the mainstream it was like being directly lifted up into heaven-- All of us who really love music must have realized instantly that this was going to totally change our worlds, the mp3s and the idea of sharing freely all the music of the past that had been hidden and kept secret in warehouses, record stores, people's collections, or even used record bins. I remember it like it was yesterday... I spent days and days finding album after album I had wanted to hear but couldn't, out of print stuff, rarities you could never find in stores, masses of regular albums I could never have bought. You might recall when napster was about to be shut down in 2001 and we frantically tried to download as much as possible before the end doing all-nighters just like in university. Some moved to winmx, I moved to audiogalaxy where there was no concept of leeches or hoarding, everyone was forced equally to share and take because of the set-up of that system. I never really thought about hoarding albums away until I learned about the record collectors who were so unwilling to part with their prized possessions, most of which turned out to be terrible! To pay 100 dollars for what is musically worthless-- no one can possibly argue that this is a good thing, unless you have invested so much you are past the point of no return. Music is bigger than any one of us, it's for sharing. We are in a minority, there are not a lot of progressive fans out there, why does it make sense to keep music away from the few people who can enjoy it? To be secretive with something so valuable -- as we must all agree, this stuff is valuable art-- it really seems pointless. I have never heard of a writer hiding his great novel away from people for fear of it getting well-read and well-known. I have never heard of people hiding a book of poetry they love to make sure no one else reads it. Even jd salinger only did this after he became rich from catcher in the rye.

If a really really good album is lost forever to the world because the only people who own it are a couple of collectors guarding it in a bank vault safety deposit box, isn't it kind of a tragedy for humankind? I think because of my children I worry about this kind of thing a lot, and this is my reason. A given album on the blog is downloaded by perhaps 1000 people total, but this is in the whole world. And that's pathetic, out of a population of 7 billion humans almost. Instead let's try to spread the word and share everything.

11 comments:

Loret said...

Good job, man.
I search rarities for years, always share them with my friends so we can open our minds to concrete example of beauty in the world of sounds, especially in prog rock.
Moreover, keeping valuable music away from people concerns other types of interesting sounds. I'm also a fan of throat singing and I know it's really hard to find lots of that great art. However, I've found some fantastic albums yet, I exchange the music with my old friend because we are conscious of the perdition of culture and the boom of rubbish.
Best regards

isabelbc said...

Tristan,

Wise words,thank you!
I totally agree with you.

Isabel :o)

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't give an answer to this but perhaps it needs.
Is right or not to share music, leaving a part the personal factor of everyone?

I think yes and think God is according me in the right measure. I speak only for great rock of the past, art and avantgarde musics, not interesting in waste commercial music.

Principle
Is good and proper to sharing music freely (only for personal use and avoiding to share albums from the last two or three years) but everyone who downloads have also the duty in conscience to buy the originals in proportion at his financial possibilities. If one is poor or don't earn enough moneys and have a good soul, can download without any problem. Are excluded from this action, stingy misers and other craps of various kind.

To this principle is right to add that the entire world is crossing a period of great crisis, created ad hoc by financial minds, so the sharing thing is more justified.

In the years i noted that almost generally, riches people are the first to downloading a lot, without buying any original, so there really is not possible any justification.

There would be a lot to say again but the principal line is here.


The Sage

Sadness said...

Another great point given to us by tristan..Many thanks Tristan and i hope you are still sharing and recieving after another 10 years..
all best mate.. keep well.

Tristan Stefan said...

Dairos, you are 100 percent right again, I did not mention the issue of buying to support artists-- this I mentioned earlier when I said I've spent half my money on buying music in my life (and I bet most of you could say the same) and I still spend a ridiculous amount of money on CDs, which by the way, I would never share publicly (If there is a cd people should go buy it, it's not like it costs a lot). Odyssee white swan (requested earlier) for ex. is out on cd, this is one that shouldn't be posted now.

Anonymous said...

Odyssee White Swan is on CD? What label? Who carries it?

Tristan Stefan said...

I thought I saw it being sold by greg walker in his list but possibly it's out of print now since it's not there anymore

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the response on the CD Tristan. If Greg had it, it was a bootleg on Tachika. That album remains without a legit CD reissue I'm 99.9% positive. So you can still share it ;-) I have the LP, but if someone still needs it, you can get it here:

http://centraldoprog.blogspot.com/2008/06/odyssee-white-swan-1978-lp-germany.html

Alex said...

I might be younger than most of the people here who download, but Darios' comments are fairly black and white.

Of all the music I have downloaded here, the songs have given me no urge to discover more about the artists behind them, nor have they given me the urge to buy more on a service like iTunes or a store like Amoeba.

Everything here I download because it is free; everything that I choose to download, I choose because it is (relatively) free of risk.

A majority of the music I listen to is contemporary pop and dance; nearly all of it from mp3 blogs, much like this. I come to mp3 blogs because I'm aware of a rich, varied history of music that I'm not aware of, and I want to explore it in a way that I am accustomed to: growing wild in the open expanse of the Internet and ripe for the picking. Each download is either an aromatic discovery, or a pungent weed. Each download will become a tapestry of sound that resonates further into the journey that is my life.

You lament only 1,000 people download an album. I believe in the hope that it's 999 other people like me.

Anonymous said...

I always try to "convert" my friends to this kind of listening. Someone follows me, someone else not. But every time that I convert a friend, I consider this a personal victory.

RomanZeus (sTavros) said...

Technology, the great democratic means of spreading freedom is also our chain to the wall of those who contol it.... we share until they allow us to do so... then we have to do a Farenheit 451....

sTavros

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