Billy Bragg leaves a2f2a.com
p2pnet view Music | P2P:- Billy Bragg has decided to leave a2f2a.com — artists to fans to artists — the site he co-founded with me to to:
- Help each community better understand the other;
- Help find a practical and workable system which offers artists fair remuneration in exchange for access to material by fans; and
- Help set the agenda for discussions about the role P2P can play within the emergent digital record industry.
For me, nothing has changed and as I say here, “before I do anything else, I’d like to thank him for having the courage to get involved in the first place”, going on >>>
It took some doing.
Without him there wouldn’t be an a2f2a.com.
For what it’s worth, I don’t believe he’s misreprested himself or ‘played’ any of us in any way. His view are his views, right or wrong, and I’m genuinely sorry he’s decided they’re not compatible with ours.
Let’s leave it at that.
So, Billy, thanks.
Meanwhile …
IMHO, a2f2a is close to getting over its teething problems and I’d definitely like to see it continue. It’s the only web site committed to giving fans and artists a way to talk with each other and help each other and it has a future.
What do you think?
My host in Belgium, Cliff Haerden of multibox.be, has agreed to add a2f2a to the p2pnet server which is, to say the least, extremely generous of him.
Some a2f2a.com members will have signed up because of Billy’s presence and now he’s no longer a part of the project, may want to leave. If that’s you, please contact me privately and in confidence at p2pnet @ shaw dot ca and I’ll immediately delete you from the list.
Otherwise, stay tuned.
More to come …
Jon Newton - p2pnet
(This appeared first in a2f2a.com)
..… and identi.ca
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
February, 2010
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February 24th, 2010 at 10:29 am
what is the explanation? is there a public message from BB where he states his reasons?
i haven’t been to f2a2f since the beginning. i said there what i had to say and got bored very quickly after having read the same opinions from the same people over and over.
meanwhile, the FAC completely supports the UK govt and BB was never able to change their minds.
jon, you don’t give any links to BB’s explanation, and i’d like to know what it is.
thanks.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:10 am
@ catflap:
There’s no public message, unless Billy decides to make one.
As I said, he’s decided his views aren’t compatible with those of most members, judging by posts.
If you want details, spend some time reading comments, the most recent coming here:
http://a2f2a.com/2010/02/15/is-a2f2a-com-dead/
Cheers!
February 24th, 2010 at 11:47 am
” meanwhile, the FAC completely supports the UK govt and BB was never able to change their minds. ”
It was never the intention to change the FACs mind. The FAC is a marketing ploy to change OUR minds.
It resembles the behavior of the oil companies in the US. The oil companies want gas to be, say, 3.00 a gallon.
They raise the price from 2.50 a gallon to 5.00 a gallon for about 6 months.
They then drop the price to 3.00 a gallon. Instead screaming over the increase, people are ‘relieved’ at the decrease.
The FAC WANTS an ISP tax, that’s their true goal, I believe. They use the abhorrent 3 strikes policy as the thing to fear. when they get the policy ‘changed’ to an ISP levy, they would hope to see a sigh of relief instead of the outrage that wold have ocurred if they had pushed the levy to begin with. A levy looks good compared to the threat of cutoff.
That’s just my opinion.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:49 am
@Jon and catflap
It seemed to me that Billy was always looking for 100% consensus, in favor of his ideas of course. If you’ve ever watched a group of people trying to get something done, from a town meeting to the halls of congress, one thing you almost NEVER see is 100% agreement on ANYTHING.
He used to harp on the fact that he couldn’t get Crosbie and a few others to agree with him, as they had diametrically opposing ideas regarding copyright. A couple of straw pols were taken, one mostly p2p people, another which had a large percentage of musicians. Even the mostly p2p person pol showed a fair percentage of people who were willing to at least take a look at copyright reform, which is what Billly wanted to work on, as opposed to complete abolition of it.
While there was not a large amount of people who took that pol, I tried explaining to Billy that from % point, he was looking to be in pretty good shape as far as getting people to work with him. He didn’t want to hear it, he never even acknowledged that post. If he couldn’t get his 100% agreement then we were “all against him”.
He often accused Crosbie and others of being inflexible but I never saw him bend much, if at all. His idea of “compromise” was “give me what I want and I’ll convince the FAC to change it’s opinion on three strikes.” To me this always seemed not like any form of compromise, but someone saying “do things my way, and I’ll convince the big goon not to punch you in the head”.
It turned me off and while I was still willing to work with him if at all possible, my sympathies went far more to Crosbie’s ideas, which I was never adverse to. I predicted a few days ago he was going to leave a2f2a, as now he has started accusing people of going on a witch hunt and calling them Zombies.
Hey Billy, get a clue, Halloween is in October. Last but not least, I DON’T believe it’s a coincidence that Billy is leaving a2f2a within days of it being exposed that Sam “The Cockroach” I Am aka Gregory A. Roach, a label shill if there ever was one, was involved with the founding of the FAC. People on a2f2a started demanding a full member list to see just what the FAC really is, and Billy didn’t like it at all.
He also didn’t like people wanting to know who in the FAC voted for three strikes, after all wouldn’t want the suckers, errrr fans to stop buying cd’s and concert tickets for those guys, would you?
February 24th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
To me it’s obvious why Billy had to leave. Billy is a moderate and unfortunately both the music cartels and most people on here are extremists. I think he was hoping for some middle ground, unfortunately that is an increasingly rare commodity round here.
The other thing was Jon’s announcement that he couldn’t keep p2pnet going, and, hand outs from friendly web hosts and benevolent readers aside, he still can’t. Ok, nearly $1000 dollars has been handed over so far this month but honestly, I will be utterly amazed if half of that is achieved next month or the month later. There are way too many people on here with the ‘free’ ethos at the absolute forefront of their minds – it’s the nature of this whole debate.
Reality check. You can’t make good money, decent money, regular money by giving everything away. Jon is at the forefront of saying it’s possible, and his unfortunate situation has proved that reality is a harsh mistress.
Why on earth would Billy want to continue down that road? It compromises his position. In all polarized debates, treading the middle ground is like treading in a minefield, a minefield mined by BOTH sides. It’s an unpleasant place to be.
I’ve just been reading about the Massive Monster Mash over on a2f2a. A brilliant title for a new event, if I may say so.
But what is it beyond an idea? Absolutely nothing.
It’s easy to come up with these wonderful and apparent well-meaning ideas, but without funds, without money, it is impossible to pull them off. Unfortunately, even if Jon donated all the money donated to him this month so far, it wouldn’t pay for the advertising. And what about the artists? Who is going to pay their fuel bills to attend these events they’re supposed to attend for free? How do they eat, how do they pair their mortgages? Who feeds their kids?
Penultimately, back to my original point. I’ve been reading this site and the comments for years but recently what I feel i’m witnessing is a core crowd who all pat each other on the back and circulate and re-circulate the same old tired assertions without giving it a second thought. And, as I said, the core appear to becoming more and more extreme. Moderates don’t get a look in.
Tolerance and moderation is the way forward, otherwise you’ll simply alienate the majority. And the majority have the money. Money sites like this need to survive.
Finally, if there is anyone, anyone at all on this site who makes all their money from ‘free’ or anything approaching it, i’d love to hear from you. Jon has my email address if you’d like to contact me directly.
BMKay
February 24th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Frankly Dreddsnik, there’s going to be an ISP tax anyway. It’ll take a considerable popular revolt to stop it, and the tax will be slipped in under the guise of being optional, thus averting a revolt.
It’ll work like this (as I commented elsewhere):
The 3 strikes/graduated response with disconnection aka ‘temporary account suspension’ is just an overture.
What we’re really looking forward to are two tier Internet accounts:
Tier 1: Unlicensed/domestic accounts – temporarily suspendable in the event of copyright infringement accusations.
Tier 2: Licensed/business accounts – not suspendable.
Tier 2 is effectively an Internet/ISP tax via the back door. No-one has to pay it (the license fee), but it’s there if you need the reassurance that your account won’t be throttled or suspended on the paltry strength of someone’s accusation. Obviously, domestic users are always free to opt for this account, so can’t say they’re denied access to the Internet.
So, this is just around the corner. Softly, softly, catchee monkey.
FAC were just looking for a kickback from the labels as a reward for getting support for an ISP tax from file-sharers. They were effectively saying “Hey guys, if we can make non-commercial file-sharing legal, and you agree that where ‘money is made artists must be paid’, then I think we could cease our support for disconnection.
FAC and file-sharers working together eh? Wouldn’t that be wonderful!”
Sounds so reasonable doesn’t it?
February 24th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
@ BMKay:
My wife has just posted this under the Sam I Am story [ http://www.p2pnet.net/story/36178/comment-page-2#comment-999315 ].
Some of the points she makes are relevant to what you’re saying.
Cheers (And thanks, Liz)
I have been a little occupied lately with one thing or another, trying to find alternate sources of income, homeschooling, and even some gardening, but Jon, obviously, has mentioned the burgeoning debate about how his experiences over the last month and a half with p2pnet are somehow supposed to illustrate the need for copyright of artists’ works. However, equating Jon’s problems with those of a struggling musician is not a straightforward thing because the world of commercial music and that of the written word are, in some ways, fundamentally different.
Ultimately, I think all of us in the Western world view the written word as ‘free’, not financially, but politicallly.
Some of us are old enough to remember buying a daily newspaper but we also always knew we could get almost anything in the local public library for free. And, because with the ‘written word’ the important thing is the message, at any point in the history of printing, somebody could produce a cheap little pamphlet – if the information in it was interesting, the quality of the paper or the ink was hardly important.
In the world of music, the quality of the medium is as important as the quality of the message, so from the start, the early 1900’s, when technological advances allowed for the recording and reproduction of music to become viable on a large scale, the industry that grew around those activities has been dominated by specialists and the cost of entry has allowed monopolies to form.
Unfortunately, nobody thought to charge the public libraries with the task of acquiring music recordings on a large scale from the start. What a missed opportunity for building a public domain for music!
To get back to Jon’s situation, in print (including the Internet), small and large publishers have been able to make a living by catering to given markets. Jon was able to make a living at doing only p2pnet while there were businesses out there who benefitted from advertising on, or otherwise financially supporting, the site. The current financial crisis has changed that picture and Jon is now getting income from readers who value p2pnet enough to pay for the content. It is missing the point entirely to focus on the fact that those revenues are not sufficient to pay Jon’s rent. And let’s acknowledge those people who are demonstrating, to the tune of $918, that patronage does work.
Meanwhile, as an outsider, the thing I wonder about when I think of the current debacle in the world of music is: to what degree do musicians really need all of the specialists whose fees inevitably raise the cost of producing a recording?
Jon is an amateur musician and with not a great deal of financial investment involved, he has acquired the ability to record his compositions at home. So why aren’t more musicians embracing the technical advances which now give them the ability to be their own recording studios? Also, as most musicians are aware, nothing in the past has equaled the opportunities afforded by the Internet for publicizing oneself. You’d think that in a way the world is their oyster.
From an economic point of view, the current music industry is a rigged marketplace; it’s an anachronism of the past. And if you dig even a little into the issue of recording rights, you will come across a musician or ten who feel like they have been chewed up and spit out by a soulless machine. Let’s try a different business model.
Finally, on the analogy of Jon’s situation to that of musicians, Jon has decided to keep doing p2pnet, despite the fact it is not covering the rent, because he really believes in what he is doing.
We are both trying to make money in other ways to make up for the shortfall. If a musician really loves doing their music, in a brave new world where there is no RIAA, they may have to make the same kind of choices Jon is making.
You decide what you want from life and you do your best to make it happen.
February 24th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
@BMKay
I disagree with you about Billy being a moderate. I never heard of a moderate that demanded 100% consensus, as Billy did. Crosbie, who you seem to imply without naming, never said “give everything away for free”, he just proposed a different sales model than the current copyright scheme, which BTW mostly benefits third party rightsholders, not creators.
“unfortunately both the music cartels and most people on here are extremists”
I already explained in my previous post that there were people who were willing to work with Billy on copyright reform, apparently you, just like Billy, refuse to acknowledge that fact.
“I’ve just been reading about the Massive Monster Mash over on a2f2a. A brilliant title for a new event, if I may say so.
But what is it beyond an idea? Absolutely nothing.”
You remind me a lot of how Billy has been recently. Nothing positive to say, and denigrates any ideas not his own. If your idea is “my way or the highway” and you have nothing but negativity to say about other peoples ideas like the Massive monster mash, then bugger off mate.
February 24th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
This is a great shame because I had some faith in Billy to spend some time and work at a consensus with even the hardest of critics, good will often softens any hard tongue I have found.
Cheers for trying Jon, Billy keep on reading a2f2a and dont write us all off as extremists and freeloaders, many of us produce material that we give away for free and we work our day jobs to pay the rent, that may not be what you guys are talking about but it does give us at least the moral highground in many discussions where the dollar signs are all that some seem to care about.
We have lost nothing by this and whilst I,m sure recriminations will be around for some time from both sides in some form its better the effort was made, maybe next time…
February 24th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
@ BM Kay
“But what is it beyond an idea? Absolutely nothing.”
Our band completely disproves your point, it started as an idea which WE made reality.
“You gotta be able to go out there and do it for yourself. No one’s gonna give it to you” – Joe Strummer
February 24th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Billy lost me early on with his insistence on a copyright EXTENSION of 20 years (to 70 years past death) – something that gets lost in more recent debates about ISP tax and such. Also – Billy’s insistence that class issues had no place in the debate. Of course they do. As wages are driven even lower and jobs are eliminated, it does become more difficult to be a patron of folks like Jon or your favorite artist. The only message I ever got from Billy was that he didn’t really give two sh*ts about the struggles of the audience as long as FAC artists got their privelege (and even extend it). Harsh critisism of Billy? Perhaps. But deserved.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
1. To even get to the point of advocating copyright “reform”, involves acknowledging copy”right” for the explicitly-limited monopoly PRIVILEGE that it is. Now, I’ll play along, and assume that certain business-models “need” that particular privilege. That *still* doesn’t justify either the current absurdly-long lengths, or the fact that those SAME corporate lobbying-groups keep demanding even LONGER terms.
Think of it this way: Patents are basically a limited-term monopoly privilege granted by the State, just like copyright. (Hell, here in the states, both patent and copyright “protection” ultimately derive from the stuff about “advancing science and the useful arts”, in Article 1, secion 8, of the Constitution.)
February 24th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
But Y’kknow what the *difference* is? Patent monopolists who whine about how they “deserve” longer or more restrictive patent terms, are *rightly* seen as un-competitive leeches. There is still at least SOMEWHAT of an understanding that monopolies like copyright and patent are ONLY justified by reference to a specific purpose (advancing “science and the useful arts”, or some equivalent formulation), and ARE EXPLICITLY INTENDED TO EXPIRE, and free up whatever is being monopolized.
Until you admit that copy”right” is SUPPOSED TO EXPIRE (and do so in a timely fashion), any notion of “reform” will inevitably consist of strident squealing about how the monopolist “needs” twenty — or forty — or a thousand — more years of “protection” (from the Public Domain.
It’s not “extreme” to simply acknowledge what copyright really is, or to recognize the fact that at this point, it’s become the cultural equivalent of metastatic cancer which — if it continues to spread unchecked — can only be extremely harmful to the culture which it infests.
Now, as far as Billy: I knew everything I needed to know about *his* views on copyright/p2p, when he claimed that voting for a “kinder, gentler” version of 3-strikes (throttling vs. disconnection) represented some kind of “big stand against the labels”.
It didn’t. Just because they didn’t get *everything* they wanted, doesn’t mean that they didn’t get *more than enough* to do a hell of a lot of damage.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
@ Jon
“As I said, he’s decided his views aren’t compatible with those of most members, judging by posts.”
It’s his own fault in many ways. For starters, he couldn’t get even one other FAC member to join in the discussion? Might have helped in many regards…
The artists who HAVE shown up he completely disregards. He’d disappear for long periods of time and only really join in to preach, rather than listen and discuss. I don’t believe his heart was ever really in it and it was only a matter of time before he did a “Lilly Allen”.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Are we all forgetting that he did actually deem to talk to us even if you guys feel it was in a somewhat limited way, thats a lot more than others have bothered to do after they have climbed their way up the ladder of success, lets not show bad form by villifying someone who maybe will never agree with us but at least got together with Jon to allow us a platform to have our say.
Things didnt work out thats all there is to it, we here will of course continue our discussions and broach concepts and ideas that cant ever be viewed as being static in any shape, ideas never die and we have plenty to fuel our war against the copyright maximalists.
February 25th, 2010 at 12:59 am
“If he couldn’t get his 100% agreement then we were “all against him”. ”
It’s not entirely his fault as this is a very common human failing. For every person that thinks an action is wrong, there will be another who firmly believes it to be right and just. It’s the reason I believe an equitable solution will never be found. People just have this natural tendency to approach everything with an ‘us versus them’ attitude. If you’re not with me, then you’re against me. Everything becomes black and white with no room for compromise. This is why I’ve given up arguing for the most part. Everything that needs to be said has been many times over. Human nature isn’t going to radically change overnight and so rehashing the same points repeatedly is a fruitless waste of time. No matter what laws are passed or how harsh the punishments are, people will always continue to act in accordance to their beliefs. Trying to forcibly change those beliefs will only make people hold on to them that much harder. No matter how influential, profitable, and powerful, businesses have come and gone throughout all of history. In the end, basic economics will settle the whole copyright debate once and for all. Unfair? Irrelevant. Reality? Most definitely.
February 25th, 2010 at 1:47 am
@Joe Friday
“If he couldn’t get his 100% agreement then we were “all against him”. ”
That statement was not a criticism of Billy’s position, it was a criticism of him expecting ALL of the a2f2a members to agree with it. While wanting agreement IS common, expecting 100% agreement on almost ANYTHING is just ridiculous. I’ve watched clips of the British House of Commons, debate is nasty. They may reach agreement on things but I very much doubt is with 100% member consensus and there is LOT of arguing along the way. Billy HAD people in a2f2a who were willing to work with him, it was stated to him in posts and shown in the straw polls, it just wasn’t 100% so he wasn’t satisfied. I do think he would have run into a brick wall pushing for copyright extension, as from posts I’ve read the people willing to discuss copyright reform pretty much all wanted it’s duration shortened, but the discussion never got that far.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:49 am
I’ve seen nothing from Billy Bragg himself formally announcing his resignation. So to me its just hearsay so far.
Had he said something like “Fuck you all, I’m outta this shithole” then it’s understandable why Jon Newton chose not to repost his parting words.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
@Skep:
Jon and Billy were the co-founders of a2f2a.
It was Jon that published that Billy has left.
What other “formal announcement” would you need??
Billy paid for the hosting (something we were all informed about), so any false stories about him wouldn’t exactly be in Jon’s best interests, now would they?
____________________________
@Joe Friday:
Compromise is not necessarily even a possibility for some issues.
The very nature of copyright doesn’t leave room for such a thing as compromise.
Contrary to what some people seem to believe, you can’t actually “reform” it to apply to the digital world. Not without stepping over boundaries that are outside the very scope, intention, and realm of copyright, and inevitably trampling on natural and Constitutional rights.
The only “human failing” at play on this issue is the persistence of some in continuing to argue with this point, either because of a lack of understanding, or a need to deliberately deny the facts, which are actually “black and white”.
February 25th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
In hindsight, Billy Bragg was obviously the wrong artist to get involved with in such a site, and the resulting acrimony was practically inevitable. Too bad Trent Reznor was not the one. He has a lot of innovative, workable ideas for modernizing the music business, and unlike Bragg, proposals that DO NOT include demanding more laws to punish file sharers.
http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?30,767183,767183
February 26th, 2010 at 12:07 am
No disrespect to Jon or anybody else, but Trent Reznor wouldn’t get involved with something like A2f2a:
1. He already understands how to “connect with fans”.
2. He hates the corporate media megaliths with a passion, and calls them out for the dying dinosaurs that they are, all on his own.
Basically, anything Trent Reznor would say would be a sub-species of “preaching to the converted”, in that he’s ALREADY on the correct (reform/abolition) side of these issues. Billy’s primary role over at a2f2a seemed to be trying to apologize for FAC’s turnaround/attempt to justify RIAA-type claims about how much of an evil problem p2p “piracy” supposedly is, etc.
Before his involvement with a2f2a, Bragg was already able to “connect” with his fans (witness the discussion forums and such over on his official website).
I wish Reznor or Mike Masnick or somebody would do a generalized “how-to” manual about new/workable/non-evil business models.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:10 am
Author Cory Doctorow has written extensively about developing non-victimizing business models in the digital age, where everyone benefits, from producers to consumers. (now to google-up some links …)
February 26th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
@Jon (Liz Newton’s comments)
“Meanwhile, as an outsider, the thing I wonder about when I think of the current debacle in the world of music is: to what degree do musicians really need all of the specialists whose fees inevitably raise the cost of producing a recording?
Jon is an amateur musician and with not a great deal of financial investment involved, he has acquired the ability to record his compositions at home. So why aren’t more musicians embracing the technical advances which now give them the ability to be their own recording studios?”
I can only speak from personal experience but I have found that few artists (at least the ones have dealt with) think they are not capable of learning that kind of “high tech” equipment and software. And of those that do understand the technology, even fewer are willing to go through the pains of learning the specifics of the hardware and software involved. My band produces our own cd’s because I did go through those pains to learn the equipment and software and let me tell you, it’s very time consuming. Time that could have been spent writing new songs or preparing for a show was spent on learning all this equipment and software. The engineering of an album is also very time consuming. So a lot of artists prefer their time over money (and sometimes time is more valuable than money) and so they choose to out source to specialists.
That being said, the best investment I have ever made in my music career was the time spent to learn the necessary equipment and software to produce my own cd’s. Now, I have added another service that I provide to other artists (in addition to session and studio drumming). I have artists that pay me to produce their cd’s, from start to finish and it saves them their time and it doesn’t inflate the cost of the cd because I am only one person instead of a record company with a huge staff of specialists. But the big factor is that I get paid for work performed. I don’t not take a cut of cd sales like big music does. I also do not claim any copyright over the technical work I do so the artist is free to do whatever they want with master recording without having to get permission from me.
I think that record companies, as we know them, are a dying breed but I don’t think that “middle man” services will ever become obsolete.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
@ jamillard:
It’s really funny you should post this right now.
I bought a second-hand JamMan (cheap) a week ago and today is the first time I’ve tried it. And I’m impressed. It took me about 1/2 an hour to lay down a bass and drum track, plug in a mic and guitar, and powee! No software. All low-tech, although I DO have the other stuff and am still having a lot of fun learning it — when I have the time. Which is about once every year.
Nothing technical about it and I’d say it’s CD quality.
Stay tuned. Because when I’ve played around with it some more, I’ll be posting a result or two online.
But I don’t mean to dis your comments. I know what you mean and you’re probably right, in some instances. I’m merely pointing out there ARE ways people can do their thing by themselves (or with others) without getting technical, and without spending an arm and a leg.
I’ve just done it. heh
Cheers!
February 26th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
@Jon
You are absolutely right. It can be done with low tech means and a thinking artist would benefit greatly from considering such options. And the results can be fabulous. But, through my experience, most artists walk into Guitar Center (this is what my lead singer did) and see all the new high tech toys and go “OMG, I’m never gonna master this stuff” (since I’m a tech guy, go Linux, I got nominated). And the process stops there. They stop thinking about it and start thinking about outsourcing.
Myself, I went out and bought a US-144mkII from TASCAM. It cost around $175 and came with a copy of Cubase 4 LE. But I’ve had it working with Reaper and Acid. My next project is to get it working with Linux and the Open Source recording software that I really prefer to use.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
I thought I was logged in when I made the previous RW. Sorry.
February 28th, 2010 at 5:35 am
@jamillard
Your statement, “the best investment I have ever made in my music career was the time spent to learn the necessary equipment and software to produce my own cd’s” says it all.
I think perhaps more musicians should consider doing exactly what you did, which is to invest in learning about the new technologies in order to give themselves independence. And, if not, at the least they can consider going to a specialist outside of the big recording labels. There are many geeks out there – go find one with an ear for music. My point is that new technical advances do often lower costs in a given business and the music business is well overdue for such cost reductions.
As for middle men, I am a good gardener but I buy tomato seedlings from a garden centre because it’s cheap enough and easier than raising them myself. But if they started charging outrageous prices, or telling me they own the tomatoes that mature on the plants, I would be stupid to go to them.
July 18th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
mmmmmmm . looks like the future is beige