
Lily Allen lobs blog at Wrinkly Rockers - billpg
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/23/lily_allen_vs_freetards/
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dtf
Bemoans Lily, _"You don't start out in music with the Ferraris. Instead you
get a huge debt from your record company, which you spend years working your
arse off to repay. When you manage to get a contract, all those pretty videos
and posters advertising your album have to be paid for and as the artist, you
have to pay for them. I've only just finished paying off all the money I owe
my record company. I'm lucky that I've been successful and managed to pay it
back, but not everyone's so lucky."_

Isn't that the whole problem? That the (rapidly disintegrating) status quo is
more about financing, marketing and controlled distribution than it is about
music? Technology has made most of this redundant. High quality recording
equipment is within anyone's grasp. Marketing and distribution cost nothing
but savvy and persistence. The piracy phenomenon hasn't arisen through tight-
fisted teens not wanting to pay for goods. It has arisen because the
middleman, despite realizing himself redundant, is refusing to let go of the
goose.

~~~
brandnewlow
In theory, I agree with this. In practice...

"High quality recording equipment is within anyone's grasp."

Therefore anyone can make a record that sounds like an 8. If you want to stand
out, you either make it sound like a 4 or raise money somehow to put out a
9-10 sounding record.

"Marketing and distribution cost nothing but savvy and persistence."

This will get you featured on blogs and get you gigs in low-key venues.
Anything bigger than that is corporate and requires relationships, ins, and
access, which is what the record companies still have.

~~~
bpyne
"Therefore anyone can make a record that sounds like an 8. If you want to
stand out, you either make it sound like a 4 or raise money somehow to put out
a 9-10 sounding record."

I agree that good recording sound is important. Gone are the days of Buddy
Rich: 1 mic over Buddy and 1 over the remaining 14 guys. However, the sound
quality difference from 8 to 9 to 10 is well past most listeners' interest and
possibly capability (sensitivity of the ear drums and processing of the
messages they send differs in individuals). To get through the barrage of
songs with looped lines from Top40 (regardless of the chart used) songs, a
band needs to have a truly unique style. What makes a recording stand out is
interesting music elements like song form, rhythm, tonality, etc...

A band stands out to me when they use any polyrhythms and song forms away from
the basic AABA or ABABC. I'd like to hear instrumentation other than the
standard bass/guitar/vocals/drums. Something interesting and polished from
non-Western 5-note scales mixed with our 7-note scales. I'd also like to hear
songs get a little longer. While I don't need Rush Hemispheres length songs I
want something more meaty than 3.5 minutes.

Low-key venues is where every musician should start out. It's where you
develop your skills as an entertainer and learn the business before there's a
lot of money and legalities on the line.

I choose to pay for songs because I want proceeds, however small, to go to the
artists. My qualm is being restricted to a particular medium for the song and
its implications.

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dkersten
She has taken her blog down. Couldn't handle the heat, it seems.

Also, she had no problems infringing on techdirts copyrights when she took an
entire article verbatim, without even referencing it. Its ok to infringe on
other peoples stuff as long as its not music? Good one.

~~~
unalone
I feel bad dissin' her, since the whole Internet's dissed her by now, but let
me throw in the fact that she only became famous when her first album's tracks
leaked online, because that's the killer for me.

~~~
dkersten
Techdirt did a great article on this (well, multiple actually, but this one
seems to be the latest and also most useful):
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090923/1409046297.shtml>

~~~
RyanMcGreal
I thought this comment was well-stated:

> The Danger (with a capital D) is that people use this as a "GOTCHA YOU
> HYPOCRITE!" moment instead of a teaching moment.

> The way we SHOULD let this play out is to say, "Now, Lily, you see how easy
> it is to get caught up in this, even if you're a good person. Should we go
> after the worst and most egregious violators of the law? Sure. But the
> casual fan or artist may accidentally or innocently violate the law with the
> best intentions. And they shouldn't be persecuted."

[http://www.techdirt.com/article.php?sid=20090923/1409046297#...](http://www.techdirt.com/article.php?sid=20090923/1409046297#c160)

