Just imagine….
Steve Jobs at his latest Apple keynote speech unveils, with his usual flourish, the latest world shattering, must-have gadget… the Apple iClone!…. this microwave sized gizmo is capable of perfectly copying and reproducing any average sized item……. from your Prada Handbag to your Tag Hauer watch ..to even your old worn out toothbrush (repair those tired bristles with Apples free downloadable ‘Refresh’ app!). Stroke the sexy ‘iClone®’ button and watch in amazement as out pops a perfect digitally reproduced copy right down to the ‘made in china’ stamp on the inside – no more boring trips to the mall to replace your old products – borrow that coveted Chanel bag from your friend next door and you can instantly and forever* (*subscription required with ‘Appleforever’ 12 month minimum contract) …share in that special luxury thrill….. He’s a smart guy that Steve Jobs, and you know sooner or later it’ll be so attractively priced that we’ll all want one…… Prada are busy meanwhile trying to stitch some digital rights anti-clone management software into all their latest bags… what are we all to do? The luxury goods business could be in meltdown because people don’t leave their homes any more …not only because they cannot afford the petrol, but with their new apple iClone they are busy filling their homes with every product they ever wanted and all at the press of a button….
Scary or what?
Would we blame Apple for the collapse of western civilization? After all Steve’s rival over at Microsoft had only developed the technology for us to clone spades and forks to grow our own vegetables in order to become self sufficient….. it never occurred to them that we’d clone luxury items and all stop shopping… what about all the factory workers in the sweat shops – how are they going to earn a living, now we copy their goods for free…how could they create this evil technology?
Hmmmmm….
Ok, I’m having fun here. But did we hear this outcry before. Cassettes, crappy little tape boxes – the devils storage system – just borrow your friends albums and make a copy…OUTRAGE!! The record industry is ruined, we’re all ruined… artists wont get paid any more because who will buy a record when you can just copy it… I don’t need to go into this again.. they put that clever little “home taping is killing music” logo on everything, a whole lot of lawyers put in a lot of big bills and 30 years later there are more, millions more, groups than ever….
People used the technology… more music got heard by more people …and Art Flourished…
Look, lets clear up something right away… people don’t pick up a guitar, paintbrush, pen, whatever because they thought Art was a winning get-rich-quick career prospect – usually its not – they do it because they are driven, they have no choice, are compelled… whatever you want to call it … and every now and again a few of that decades artists will get rich (Damien Hirst)… and some miss the boat (Van Gough)… same in Rock and Roll… Blues guys, damn – got screwed… X Factor winners…weeeeeell…
But you see what I’m trying to say here, and Mick and I are doing this band for the same reason we formed bands when we were 17… just can’t stop wanting to be in a rock band and MAKE MUSIC.
I’m sitting here tapping at my (Apple of course) laptop because somehow we’ve got drawn into the ‘MP3’s are the death of music’ debate again.
On the back of our latest CD release “Live at the Carbon Casino” instead of that usual “this is copyright music – any illegal copying and the Nanny State Thought Cops and their BPI or RIAA police lawyers are gonna come round and break your door down and arrest your children” bit of jargon, I wrote something a bit different. As my hand hovered over the Photoshop palette, the devil in me just thought.. ahh, hell – why don’t I just put what everyone is thinking anyway… so I wrote “please rip this CD and post it all over the web” because I think this is an interesting debate and besides it’s what we believe is happening anyway.
Was I just actually heretically saying what every 11 year old believes anyway – that the though of actually paying to listen music in many instances seems crazy to them – I like it that this is so thought provoking – such a big can of worms – can I take the time to try to work this out in my head too because I certainly don’t have all the answers…..
See, smart people gave us the tools in 2008. I can buy a laptop for £500 or less – seems every home’s got one now. Its got a CD burner in it! Hang on – what’s that for?..hell, now its got a DVD burner in it too… whats that for? Surely not burning movies?? Downloading them for free – how we gonna stop that? Copying things…er? And I bought 100 blanks yesterday for next to nothing… but then I don’t even need to burn a CD/DVD because I could buy a 5 gig tiny USB drive in my local convenience store and copy my playlists onto it and give it to my cousin to turn him on to some great music…..
Now if I could just get my hands on one of those iClone thingies we’d really be living large…in fact I might need a bigger house to put all the new stuff in… and on it goes……
It’s all so easy now – it’s in your hand. Can we blame the consumer for using these amazing tools they have been given? I believe in the exact opposite to what the doom sayers are predicting – I think music will flourish as it always has done…..
Yesterday I was driving home listening to digital radio (for free) and I heard the new Primal Scream album tracks which I loved and the new ‘Hold Steady’ album…. I Thought I’ll go and buy the CD when it comes out….. (What? You? But surely…….)
But damn – it’s not out until Monday – so I typed them into Youtube and up they popped – some one had already uploaded a copy (guess they got it free off digital radio) and there it was for me to listen to, but I’ll still go and buy a copy when the CD comes out.
So why is that then Mr ‘give it away for free man’ Tj?
I ask myself that. Is it as a fifty year old man that I still like to shop? Do I still relate to the feelings I had when I was young of queuing up for the new Stones album and bringing it home? Do I still like the tangible product in my hand when I’m listening to it, to read the sleeve notes and the lyrics… then I rip it and put it on the iPod. Now my wife likes to buy them direct from iTunes, not bothered about the sleeve… millions still think like me though…
So my generation will still go and buy the CD, just like a lot of people bought the In Rainbows CD anyway. There’s life in the product yet, I’ll listen to the music from where ever but still buy it. I like buying things… and there’s a part of me thinks by buying the CD I’m supporting the artist (er, as to the artist actually getting the royalties – well that’s another story!)
I always make that joke about ‘no one ever asked me to sign their iPod outside a gig yet’ all the time, but it’s true – they are all clutching CDs.
In 5 years time? Who knows what the next generations will do. I certainly don’t.
Look, I used to go buy my newspaper every day, I liked doing it, it was part of my morning routine, going to the shop, saying hi to the shopkeeper, reading all the headlines before buying my choice of daily and then reading it from cover to cover with my breakfast. Now I flip open the laptop at 7 a.m and read ALL the newspapers online. Get a balanced view, read Gawker and Defamer too and AppleInsider….I haven’t bought a paper for months, years… (I use the free ones they push through the door to light the barbeque these days) .
There’s a generation of kids out there who have grown up with the tools of music copying and downloading all their lives. They weren’t even born when Napster blew up. They think it’s bizarre, inconceivable even to pay for it. Why pay for something that just ‘comes through the air to your ears’ at a mouse click. It would be like paying for sunlight or for looking at your mates photos. Do you think the majority of them will ever buy ART – like actual canvasses? No way. One very rich bloke buys Damien’s new work for 10 million and we all look at it free…or go and see it ‘LIVE’ in a gallery. Ah, so now you see where I’m going with this – it’s like saying that a Russian Oligarch buys Coldplays new album for £10 million and keeps the original in Russia but we can all get a free ‘copy’ online…)
It must seem as mad to this new generation as me buying a newspaper. Okay, so with newspapers I have the choice – I can buy the tangible product or get it online. My choice. But even if those newspaper proprietors did not give me that choice by putting up their sites for free view, I’d just get the views from a million blogs or comment sites and no one would threaten to arrest me.
The newspapers went with the realities of the modern world and adapted. The death of Newspaper barons? I don’t think so. The death of news print? – seems not yet and maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing any way – save a few forests – have you seen the size of the Sunday papers recently? I think there’s more great writing out there than there ever was – there’s just not time enough to read it all…..
With music, Mick and I are just going with a revolution that we did not start. We’re embracing it because we believe it’s good for music creators. We cannot un-develop the technology of computers and MP3s or whatever but we can give people the choice of how they hear it. We’re just using the tools to create great music and get it to your ears.
If you wanted to make a record 20 years ago, you went in a studio that costs thousands, then men pressed plastic discs, put them in boxes and drove them to shops where others who cared about music sold you that product. Everything’s changing. Now, for the first time in history, I can make a record on my laptop for nothing except my time, passion and talent. I can design my artwork on photoshop and then I can choose to give the whole thing away for free. My choice as an artist, whose only only motivation for making music is that my music gets heard.
So here we are. And we all have to face up to the realities. As I’ve said before, the digital Genie is out of the bottle and he’s got a million singing, dancing laughing clones out there and they all just want to listen to the music. Now perhaps there is an element of mischief in me saying this – but I don’t think so – it’s more about posing the question – I’m really, really intrigued by the thought of what happens next.
Our ideas of copyright will have to change ultimately to reflect the 21st century. Yes, if you play my record on your commercial radio station then you should pay me for that use, because you’re doing it to make money for you. Want my song in your advert – pay me. Want to see me play live – pay me.
And the men of commitment and passion sitting in those big record company offices, (and I’d like to believe that there still are some that are there for the love of music and not the love of the share price on the stock exchange) will have to change too. But they are smart guys, they’ll find a way. They need to look at this vibrant exciting creative world we now live in and find new ways of creating revenue streams from the creative process and from the live moment, and from ways we haven’t even thought of yet. Will artists stop making music? NO. Never.
Television did not kill live football or other local or global events. They just evolved. We all can. I was amazed to hear USA football makes more money from parking and hot dog sales than gate receipts! See that’s the modern world. We will find ways of adding value to the promotion, playing and watching of music. The same way that film’s only hope is to get people into the cinema.
You know, I sit here wondering how will it be 20 years in the future – the idea really fascinates me. Will we, our children and our children’s children look back and laugh out loud at the idea we paid for music or movies we watch in our homes? That we went to a shop and brought home ‘products’ and loaded them onto shelves in our homes. Will those children laugh like we now laugh at the idea of the window taxes of 1696, that there was a time when we had to pay for how much light came into our homes? That we went and bought ‘News’? Will the 2030 child laugh as he pulls out of his pocket every art work, song and 3D experience ever made because it came preloaded on his iPhone? As he sits there in his 1 meter square apartment with only a mat and a screen. No room for shelves in his life time. No petrol, fresh air or sunlight either – couldn’t afford those….
OR?
Or will he be just back from the shops carrying home more products than you and I could ever imagine and he’s got more shelves than we had in a lifetime. I bet he’d be listening to some great bands too…..damn. I wish I could hear them.
You just never know with this future business…it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom … just around the corner is the next great idea..
Now where can I get a beta of that iClone software?
Tony James
14/July/2008
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