Don’t They Get It?

Forget politics for a minute – I have a lot of trouble understanding why the notion of applying simple rules and regulations to something already heinously complex will result in anything other than a catastrophe.

Has anybody in Washington ever bothered to study economics?? Even the basic kind?

Has anybody in Washington ever bothered to understand the concept of incentives in government versus incentives as citizens? And why understanding their differences is crucial to understanding the real consequences of the policies executed?

Why would anyone want to give more power and money to these people? What else could they do for the public that the public itself couldn’t do on its own? Has anyone taken a look at government programs and how they are run? Do people enjoy themselves at the DMV or something? What the hell is going on?

Are people just lazy? Do people say “Oh, that sounds like a lot of work and expertise that I don’t have/don’t have time or money to get. Let’s just hand it off to the government and assume it will work out.” I mean, I can sort of understand this, it seems to make sense intuitively, but come on. It also seems intuitive that all girls, everywhere, are insanely attracted to me because I am special and brilliant. Thanks, intuition. You’ve led me to my masturbating alone in the dark night after night.

What I really can’t understand, is a given person’s blind faith in the power of these people. They are there to be liked. Fine, but can we at least CONSIDER that when they are busy “borrowing” a trillion dollars from the next generation of kid/adults that are allegedly on their way to turning into brilliant and high-yielding artists raised in privileged environments with nothing but degrees in “cultural studies” and a ridiculous sense of entitlement? These are the people you will be taxing the shit out of in 30 years, government. Good luck and Godspeed.

It's Sloppy Out There

The coolest thing I find right now about the music industry is that I haven’t yet invested in it. I’m not going to sit back and play armchair general in this round, its complicated and I’m not really in any position to point fingers or call idiocy. However, at the moment it seems like the industry is composed of people primarily motivated to maintain a current profit-seeking model without regard to its  practicalities (or lack of) and have too heavily invested themselves in the current system to want to radicalize and change it.

There is a name for this apparently. It’s called the entrenched player’s dilemma, and a guy I read a lot has talked about this many times – although I’m the kind of person who needs things repeated a lot before I get them. Until I was actually flailing around today trying to think of a concise way to explain what I thought was going on in the industry, this concept and its meaning weren’t really clear. Now they are.

That being said, I can’t really blame the current group of “entrenched players” for behaving the way they do. Especially if they want to milk every last drop out of the current model. To radicalize, they would have to forgo obvious money-making opportunities.Sure they weren’t yielding as much money as before, but still, they’re there. What, not capitalize? Fuck you, go write on your blog.

And as wonderful and beautiful and brilliant as it sounds to suddenly drop everything you’re doing in favor of some insanely attractive and nebulous “no business model is the future!!!” rhetoric – for the existing companies out there that are dealing with this transition – the reality is far more unpleasant than what the rhetoric eludes to. There is a reason the record companies have taken so long to die.

However, I can blame this current group of “entrenched players” for being idiots if they honestly believe that not only  will the current model continue to sustain itself, but ought to, for the alleged sake of everyone involved, artist and all. In other words, its okay to be fucked, as long as you know you’re fucked, because only then can you begin to hope to unfuck yourself.

Rather than get involved in a constantly shifting industry whereby as an artist I become dependent on X group and Y group doing their thing and scurrying to capitalize on new trend after trend in an effort to squeeze every lessening pile of money from increasingly alienated and pissed off fans….I opt to…opt out.

In a way, it seems to make more sense to sit out and focus on making some really good fucking art, and finding small ways to connect with the very people that might love and appreciate it. A “marketing strategy” doesn’t necessarily have to be about inundating people with the message – they’ll get around to it if its good enough. But if you’re a) not patient enough to deal with this reality, and b) don’t make art that is good enough on its own merits, then you’re fucked.

Good. Its about time the prospect of one day making $30,000-40,000 a year working as an artist making possibly marginal art is actually a somewhat plausible scenario. Why not?? Cut out the bullshit and leave me be. I don’t need to be rich, just let me work.

http://www.mediafuturist.com/2008/12/2009-the-year-o.html

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque/2009/01/davos_discussing_a_depression.html