Please comment
2003.07, Roger Wood.
Before the development of recording technology, performers were bound to patrons or performance to make their living. The evolution of the recording industry has slowly made recording the centerpiece of the music industry, and performance secondary. Eclipse is a "back to the future" concept where performance once again becomes the raison d'ˆtre for the performer. Freed from the recording industry with its "standard practices," performers can now retain control of and reap rewards from their full body of work.
The Internet and other available technologies (web communities, highly compressed audio, high-speed data connections, inexpensive and easy to use wireless networking, affordable high-quality studio equipment) address most of the needs of performers. No one has yet leveraged these technologies with a coherent strategy to supplant the existing music industry from the ground up.
Legal battles rage over the body of music already recorded, but the battle with the existing recording industry cannot be won. Music industry contracts are structured to grant almost total control to record labels, with the full support of existing, well-established copyright law and court precedent. What has been recorded and signed away to record companies is lost to the musicians that created it. Only the record companies can decide how and under what terms this music reaches an audience, and record labels respond to an economic downturn by further limiting consumer choice.
In the past, this lopsided arrangement was critical because the record labels provided the only way a musician could obtain the services necessary for success: discrimination, direction, production, distribution and marketing. It can cost $250,000 or more to "develop" a band with a record label. Lawyers must be paid. Session musicians and engineers must be paid. Studios and equipment must be rented. Pizza must be delivered. Executives must have high-backed leather chairs. The music business, like any other business, exists to make money, but the cost of that first step is astronomical in the old business model, so risks have to be minimized (how many $250,000 mistakes can you afford?), and the rewards must be tremendous (million-unit sales).
In the 21st century, the economics have changed. The cost of doing business simply doesn't have to be that high. Today, functional recording equipment (certainly nicer than anything the Beatles ever worked with) is readily available to buy (not rent) for a few thousand dollars. The cost of producing a CD has fallen to pennies in large quantities, and even a one-of-a-kind CD can be created with a $500 computer and a 30-cent blank disc. With the cost of entering the market brought down to thousands instead of hundreds of thousands, no longer do performers need to find a massive million-unit-sales market to be successful. Performers with drive, talent and focus can literally bootstrap their way out of their day jobs and into a full-time career making their art.
Today, hundreds of thousands of performers tour the world, finding small audiences and making their music. For some, the lure of being a big rock star, or even just being able to quit their day job keeps them motivated. For others, it is only about finding an audience for their music. Most of it is garbage. Some of it is good, and a tiny fraction of it is truly amazing work. Since they only have to find a few thousand people that like their music enough to buy it, their chances of success have never been better, but to succeed, they must retain the full spectrum of rights to their work, and they must make their music available so its audience (and customers) can find it.
Working musicians can, with modern technology and a new set of "standard practices," provide their own recording, production, distribution and marketing. Each performer can be their own record label, seeking outside resources only as they need them. They can record every sound they ever produce, from awkward guitar tuning noises to sophisticated multitrack productions sourced from venues and studios around the globe. They can collaborate and create with partners half a world away. They can find an audience, and make a living. This is a brave, new world, and Eclipse brings the tools.
To find an audience
Generally speaking, performers do what they do for an audience. This can be an audience of one, or an audience of millions, but the essence of performance is the pairing of artist and audience. Eclipse provides independent artists with a set of tools and services that makes it easier and cheaper to reach an audience.
To make a living
Artists eat too. Eclipse products and services enable independent performers to realize more revenue, from more sources, with less overhead than traditional music industry mechanisms.
"Protective Technology" is no solution
Digital Rights Management (DRM) concepts, copy protection/prevention and other restrictive technologies bring with them several issues that are too large for the independent performer to address. Independent performers cannot afford to maintain a "tech support" infrastructure. There are millions of CD players in the world, so it is important to make products that work with these CD players.
Generally speaking, consumers are willing to pay less for restricted products than for unrestricted products. Consumers are becoming more interactive and collaborative, and less passive. As consumers become more active, the ties that bind performer to audience grow stronger and broader. This is a good thing.
A major concern for independent performers condidering technologies to protect their work must be that their chosen protection technology will not be supported in future generations. If your entire catalog is encoded in a proprietary format, and that format is discarded with time and advancing technology, you are left with a library of unusable, but "protected" data. This is a bad thing.
Eclipse is committed to supporting existing standards, such as recording "by the book" CDs, and extending those standards, where needed, in an open environment.
Legislation is no solution
Legislation usually follows technological innovation by some years, and most often is crafted to support the entrenched, established players in any industry that is affected by the new technology. In the music and entertainment industry, it is vitally important that performers be allowed to take advantage of the technologies now available. Eclipse intends to demonstrate that participation in an open network can be a viable choice for independent performers, before these technologies are taken away or restricted by legislation.
Legal action is no solution
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has taken the approach that strict enforcement of copyright law is the best way to return value to their industry. The merits of this approach are the subject of much debate, but the only parties sure to gain (economically) from this tactic are the lawyers and firms bringing the suits.
One size does not fit all
No single economic model can adequately support all performers. The audience, expectations, products, and dynamics of the market of a city symphony are very different from those of a touring folk artist. Eclipse is designed to provide access to production and distribution technologies, but not to impose specific models on the performers. Eclipse brings the tools, but the performers must decide how best to use and combine those tools to suit their specific circumstances.
Every performer is an enterprise.
[an error occurred while processing this directive] Sunday, 02-Sep-2007 06:00:00 PDT