Mix tapes caught a small amount of flack from record companies, though not to the extent of burning CDs or file sharing/swapping. Mix tapes were not meant for mass production, but more as works of art. The music industry, however, has viewed these outlets as a threat. Chris Pirillo recently wrote an excellent article on the subject for CNN, targeting DRM: Digital Rights Management.

Many artists have taken aim at the recording industry by offering their music online for free, or cutting ties with their labels to be independent. Other artists, who shall remain needlessly nameless, have fought the digital music revolution tooth and nail, as if their very livelihood depended on it.

Since the 80′s, the recording industry has been waging war against the mix tape, but how exactly are mix tapes killing music? It seems the only folks not benefiting from mix tapes are the industry executives who made money on CDs and digital music purchases. Perhaps the only thing this will spell an end to is over-produced, stylized, and largely commericial acts created to make money for music executives.

It is well known that most artists, particularly new artists, do not profit from album releases but rather tours and merchandising. If anything, consumer-driven outlets like mix tapes seem to benefit artists: the more people are involved in the music, the more likely they are to attend concerts or purchase other products, including future albums.

Maybe instead of staking claim to digital music rights and limiting licenses to the consumers, music executives can think of a way to make music more accessible and increase the diversity of artists available. The landscape of music is changing, and increasing industry salaries on the backs of consumers is Bitter. Give the consumer something worth buying, and we are more than willing to pay.

And I know that you’re a sucker for anything acoustic.
But when I say let’s keep in touch,
I really mean I wish that you’d grow up.
This is the first song for your mixtape.
And it’s short just like your temper,
but somewhat golden like the afternoons we used to spend before you got too cool…
“Mix Tape” from Brand New

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 5:05 am and is filed under Bitter/Sweet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.