More of the same............

Actually a few evolutionary (revolutionary?) activities spurred on by technology are just starting to turn the music and arts establishments onto their ears. At-home recording devices of music, movies, video and frame quality art with laser printers, via the internet or sophisticated pirate organizations, are threatening the financial solvency of the original artists and the companies marketing those products. Oddly ironic that those establishment companies despite their un-ethical, bordering on criminal, treatment of their artists are now crying foul and asking the governments to protect them.

Name an arts industry that isn't dirty with sleaze from top to bottom? From the music business dramatizing scarcity of good music and their buying of chart position, to model agencies supplying drugs and the sex-ploitation of their more younger-each-year models, to the Hollywood sex and drugs obsessions. For the few stellar success stories, there are thousands of promising artists chewed up and destroyed by the corruption. Artists that, up until recently with the emergence of the internet, couldn't make their work known without comprimising their morals or artistic integrity within their fields.

The independent artists have a modem (pun intended) to get their work seen and heard via the internet sites which can highlight and bring attention to them. Interested public can order the product direct. The general public won't know of their work until the established industries notice them and give them the hand up which is how it's usually done except for one great change now. An artist, once recognized and popular, could use the internet to promote and deliver their product directly to the public's home virtually (another pun) cutting out the middle men like marketing companies and stores. This will give more power to the established artists and change the behaviour, ever so slightly, of the management industries to treat their new people more fairly. The arts industry, to survive, will have to perform outstanding valuable services for the artists, moreso then the artists can do with their own marketing using their own resources.

Don't under-estimate this subtle change. It's very powerful and will eventually bring about more ethical practices in the arts industries in dealing with the artists. I think the fear of artist direct marketing on the internet has already started to shake up the music business, at least in their dealings with their top name artists.