Colie Brice’s ReverbNation
p2pnet news | Music:- Earlier today I was checking for comment spam – Yup, some still slips through, damn it – when I noticed a Reader’s Write from Colie Brice.
It was posted under Good-bye Corporate Pop and apart from the content, it’s interesting because the item features Andre Gray’s The DEMO Report from back in 2004, and that’s when the story ran as well.
Among other things, “Instead of signing with a major label, aspiring musicians will opt for selling their music over the web and they do not necessarily need to go to a major player in order to do so,” says the report, going on:
There are quite a few alternatives available on the web that allow musicians to create their own stores for a nominal fee. The major labels all have excellent catalogs to ensure strong online music sales. But, let’s face it, independent musicians can and will create their own catalogs as time goes by.
Even though the United States of America is currently leading the world in online music sales, it is Europe who will be the eventual and perennial world leader in online music sales for many decades to come. No one company, or hand-full of companies, will control Europe; rather, she will have several different major players in each country and hundreds of thousands independent musicians collectively outselling the majors. Unlike North America, Europe will also offer a greater selection of genres and subgenres of music, not only from their own continent but from around the world.
This will cause major players to make serious attempts to transmute their cartel practices from bricks and mortar to the Internet by seeking to form unions, useless industry trade groups, and ultimately, try to have laws passed that would make it cost prohibitive (if not illegal) for independent musicians to sell their music over the web.
The digital music revolution could also spell the end of the album as an art form and the return to singles as a significant seller. In fact, online singles sales for 2003 in North America outsold singles sold through bricks and mortar by a ratio of five to one. The global music industry is also in its third consecutive year of CD sales decline forcing many independent record distributors and record store chains to file for bankruptcy. Mergers and acquisitions is not the answer for surviving the music business in the 21st century. Embracing technological change as a necessity, treating musicians fairly and valuing the music buying consumers is an excellent starting point.
Brice is a musician who runs an indie label called AERIA Records in Asbury Park, New Jersey in the States.
Last year he launched ReverbNation and on it, “We have an incredible scene here with live original music in several different venues – 7 days a week!” – he says.
“Even in the age of the internet, music is still enjoyed both live and recorded, and still travels from fan to fan. ReverbNation is here to provide the online environment in which those relationships can thrive.”
Click here to head over to his site. For now, here’s his Reader’s Write to the 2004 p2pnet story >>>
Perhaps the only thing I can hope to do as an individual artist is produce works of sufficient substance, merit or appeal that inspire patronage. Music is everywhere and is an essential component to many for a life worth living, but it is all too often taken for granted by many people – like fresh air or water. I believe that the government should be making educational and vocational training available to music business professionals who have been utterly displaced by these profound changes that have occured.
A lot of people express such contempt for labels without ever even knowing the full score or reality of life at a record label. Major labels employ more than fat cat lawyers and accountants. There are engineers, archivists, shipping clerks, warehouse pickers, etc. – all good, regular people who are also suffering from this radical transformation. There will always be people willing to pay for live music, but not all studio work or composition is intended for live performance. These people deserve compensation for their efforts too. Its endemic of a contemporary society that frequently values style over substance and is ruled by selfish greed and apathy towards the plight of others.
I’m 39 years old, I support a wife and two children. I have been in the music business for over twenty years. I have been a major label artist and I have swept studio floors – most of the time I’ve been somewhere in between. I have often worked twice as hard for half as much as people in comparable positions in other industries because I know I have been fortunate to work in the area of my heart’s desire.
Now as I approach my fortieth birthday I am eeking out a living in the fragments and scraps of an industry where at this stage of the game I should have been enjoying some of the fruits of my labor.
I earned the right to health care and financial security just as much as anyone else in another field.
In its stead, survival has become the new success in my area of expertise.
I hope people at least think about people in my position the next time they visit LimeWire.
Granted I’m not a young kid in Iraq dodging bulletts over a bullshit war, and I know it’s all a relative matter of perspective and that I have much more to be grateful for than bitter about.
Yet all the same I believe working artists and musicians deserve to make a living too.
Thanks for the perspective, Colie.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
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October 9th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
The question comes from who gives you your wage and benefits. The price of a song varies, not by what the labels want to charge for it but by what the customer is willing to pay for it. The reflection of the willingness to pay is also on what sort of container and restrictions are placed on this item as well.
People are no longer in love with the shiny cd disc. When it came out it was a technological fascination. Something without grooves or magnetic embedding that wore well over time if it was taken care of. People were willing to pay a high price for that wonder at the time. Distributors like AOL ruined that value in the eyes of the customer. If AOL can afford to put millions of their free software out then the discs can’t be that expensive to make. The value of that shiny disc plummeted as a result.
Near of the blame for the demise not only of the cd but of the business in general can be traced right back to the major labels. Grass roots indignation takes a long time to develop. It can be stopped along the way by treating the issues fairly. Something the majors are well known for rarely doing. The majors instead are like a vampire, sucking the life blood of all around them in a business sense.
The majors “business practices” are well exposed on the net by the same technology that allows file trading. Before that, you didn’t hear near as much about how they really did business. I think this is the very best that could ever have happened to the business simply because it has forgotten where it is important to pay attention to.
The only main function remaining to the majors is that of making recordings. They no longer maintain the control and life over distribution channel and it is long over due.
If in your golden years you do not have a retirement nor a medical insurance, it is the result of two main factors that are driving it and both go straight back to greed over long term benefit of the business. You, I, nor the public can control that other than in the sense that we must stand up and say, “Enough”!!!
Obviously you didn’t get good benefits for the article to take the tone it has. Why? The customer doesn’t guaranty to pay your health benefits, they never have done that. So guess who pocketed the funding that should have gone to take care of the employees? That wasn’t the gouged customer either. Point your issues straight at where they lay, not at the scapegoat.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Jon,
Thank you. I deeply appreciate your kind remarks and consideration.
Sincerely,
Colie Brice
October 9th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Dear Reader’s Writer,
I’m not scapegoating anyone, I’m simply offering a perspective from a working class musician and business professional. None of these issues are black and white. The end result is that artists suffer in either scenario. irst from corporate greed and now from attitude that music doesn’t need to be paid for becasue it’ll just go to some scum bag record company anyway.
Its a handy rationale for evading the reality that music content creators need fair compensation too.
I just bought Apple Logic Studio. I could have gotten it for free via P2P, but instead, I made a conscious decision to support the product because I knew some really fucking brilliant and talented folks must have come together to create this amazing tool that enables some barely technically literate idiot like me to be empowered..
Hey man Karma is Karma, I’ll pay my dues.. I used to use pirated software too..
Colie
October 9th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Cheers, Colie
Jon
October 9th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
By the same token, I’ve been burned so many times I can’t count it, by the product not being or living up to it’s billing. It’s the reason the single has returned to fame in spite of all attempts to kill it by the labels. The practice of not living up to the expectations made has resulted in the majority of those who consider a product, be it music, software, or what ever not to buy first but to try first.
Many is the game I have purchased just because it was good after trying it. More than I can count are still on the shelves because they seriously lacked either in quality, replay value, or just simply were not what they were billed to be. Because of over-hype and over-expectation by advertisement I no longer consider buying to try. I won’t do it. I’ve wasted a fortune that way. The odd thing is most of the public now feels the same way.
While I do sympathize with your plight, it is much the same as the buggy whip makers faced during their time. It is painful and no fun but that doesn’t change a thing. Before you get into I couldn’t possibility know about how bad it is, the same thing has happened to me for other reasons. Job farm out overseas, corporate profit reaping by reducing work staff, has struck home 3 years ago and I have not worked a day since.
Funny thing, I’ve never bitched about it here. Never said a word till now. It’s not just you that is seeing a hard time making it. More than just you are I are lacking in discretionary income to spend.
October 9th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Discretionary income —- what’s that?
Cheers!
October 9th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
I’ve never had an issue with P2P, podsafe, or “try before you buy”.. I’ve been giving away mp3s since 1997, wav & aiff files before that.. All the music on AERIA Records is podsafe and I consider it a compliment when I see one of our tunes on lime wire, etc. On the other hand, some folks will sit there slurping down a $6.00 soy mocha cappucino grande while surfing at Starbucks and never even consider patronizing someone’s work.
I think grabbing a few mp3s to check something out is absolutely fine, if your poor, by all means take and enjoy my music.. My personal and primary ambition has always been creating the music itself and achieving financial sustainability.
When I play out here locally at the Jersey Shore, more often then not, if somebody likes my performance they’ll offer to buy me a drink, so I guess it would be nice to see the P2P equivalent evolve over time. If you find yourself constantly enjoyimng a particular artist’s work, it would be nice to virtually “buy them a round” once in a while at a piad download site or direct pa pal donation. You know just like shareware, which I personally do pay for.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:46 am
“Colie Brice is a true Gemini, a lefty chameleon, who produces extremely eclectic music that ranges from soothing new age blues to tightfisted face melting rock – often recording in manic/depressive bursts of crazy inspiration where he quickly improvises tracks like a one man band utilizing technology to capture the spirit of the moment via a creative approach he terms the “Luna Muse Principle”. With over 200 tracks at iTunes and other leading digital retail outlets, his vivid aural landscapes appeal to discerning listeners more interested in artistic authenticity than the pop flavor du jour.” – AsburyMusician.com
February 19th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
(THIS GUEST EDITORIAL WAS RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN A LOCAL NJ MONTHLY A&E PUBLICATION, thought it might interest anyone following this thread)
We are extremely fortunate to live in an area with a rich and diverse cultural community. (Believe me, I know.. At one point I drove from coast to coast six times within a span of four years and observed many places in America where Walmart, a truck stop and Cracker Barrel were the only games in town. Homogenized is far too kind a term.)
Fortunately, here at the Jersey Shore, we actually have abundant, original, live music every night of the week! How many parts of this country can actually claim that? We have art galleries, independent publications, great public radio, hip boutiques, eclectic eateries, etc.. We in fact live within a vivid kaleidoscope of creative expression. This is a fragile and precious gift, yet how do we support each other in thought, word, and deed?
Its tough. Many of us adhering to our creative calling suffer for our art. We rarely make as much money as “normal” folks do and its financially challenging to patronize all the deserving and wonderful things around us. Conversely, and perhaps perversely, too many of those so called “normal” folks are more preoccupied and interested in taking their kids to see Miley Cyrus lip sync than thinking globally and acting locally by seeing an amazing local talent like Rick Barry at the Saint.
Simultaneously we are enduring an era (or error as the case may be) where we live in a world that values style over substance and where art is to often regarded as cheap, disposable, and free. So how does an authentic aspiring artist compete with free? How does a struggling news paper compete with a free web site covering the same ground? How does a musician inspire someone to pay for a download when there are a hundred thousand or more available for nothing?
In other words, how do artists inspire conscious compassion from consumers? It can be ironic. As a guitar player, if I’m playing in a club and someone digs my playing, its not uncommon to be offered a free round worth at least 3-5 bucks, yet if someone hears and enjoys one of my tunes online via an internet radio station or a podcast, it rarely compels someone to make a purchase at iTunes. Itruly believe that the only way the music business will survive is by individual artists cultivating meaningful, personal connections with their audience through live performance, an exceptional, constantly updated new media presence, and oh yeah talent!
But what do I know? Apparently nothing because the music business has collapsed as I knew it. Over 20 years in a career and now nothing I know seems to have economic value anymore. Ah the sweet sound of progress! Alas, I’m calling upon Rag Readers to inform me as to what it takes to inspire patronage for recording artists in 2008. Send me an email at: colie.brice@aeriarecords.com and let me know what you think. Tell me what takes to persuade you that the local talent of this region is genuinely worth supporting..
(Colie Brice is the Creative Entertainment Organizer (CEO) of AERIA Records in Asbury Park. AERIA Records has released recordings by popular local legends such as Agency, Brian Amsterdam, Rick Barry, James Dalton, Joe Harvard, Juggling Suns, Phantom’s Opera, Mark Prescott, Brian Saint and the Sinners, and St. Christopher among others. Colie is also an active recording artist himself with over 200 tracks available at iTunes and other leading digital distribution retailers. For additional information please visit: coliebrice.com or http://www.aeriarecords.com)