[FYI] Alexis Petridis - Artists who demand freedom from record labels go on to produce rubbish

["Axel H Horns" <axel.h.horns@gmx.net>]

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/critic/feature/0,1169,1140574,00.html 
?=rss>  

The day the music dies

Artists who demand freedom from record labels go on to produce rubbish

Alexis Petridis

Wednesday February 4, 2004

The Guardian

A new union was launched last week. However, before you rise to 
applaud the plucky souls giving a voice to the exploited workers of 
Britain, it's probably worth pointing out that it is aimed at 
furthering the rights of that legendarily downtrodden member of 
society - the rock star.  

Founded by Peter Gabriel, the Magnificent Union Of Digitally 
Downloading Artists - Mudda - is dedicated to "transforming the music 
business" in the age of the internet. "If artists are willing to act 
together, there are extraordinary opportunities both creatively and 
commercially," says its website.  

Leaving aside the question of how Mudda intends to force its demands 
home (imagine the headlines if it calls a strike - "Country grinds to 
a halt as Dido downs tools: cabinet in emergency session to discuss 
crippling shortage of wistful ballads"), there's something deeply 
troubling about many of its aims. Gabriel is the kind of cerebrally 
inclined rock star who seems to come up with ridiculous ideas on a 
regular basis; last year he announced he was setting up an 
organisation that would enable apes to communicate using the 
internet.  

While a new musicians' union seems infinitely less daft, it is 
potentially far more damaging. Mudda could hobble rock and pop music 
for good. The problem lies not with its attempt to secure more money 
for artists from album sales, but its call for "no constraint, 
editing or external control over what is released".  

The issue of artists taking complete control over their music is a 
long standing and extremely thorny one. Most acts want to free 
themselves from the malign interference of money-obsessed record 
companies and follow their muse where'er it may lead. A nice idea in 
theory, but a vast body of evidence suggests that it is a disaster in 
practice.  

For every album such as the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper or Marvin Gaye's 
What's Goin' On - works of genius created in an environment of 
complete freedom - there are dozens more where successful musicians 
have wrested control and used it to produce self-indulgent nonsense: 
Finley Quaye's Vanguard, Terence Trent D'Arby's Neither Fish Nor 
Flesh or Lauryn Hill's Unplugged V2.0.  

One of the functions of a record company is to curb these excesses, 
to suggest gently that the 15-minute, semi-improvised meditation on 
the multifarious spiritual difficulties in the life of a millionaire 
superstar might best be left in the can. The company might be doing 
this for financial reasons, but it's sparing the listener into the 
bargain.  

If, as Mudda suggests, artists abandon record companies and sell 
their music via their own websites, that curb is entirely removed. 
The internet encourages self-indulgence in the most unassuming 
people, as proven by the vast number of interminable weblogs and 
homepages featuring gripping pictures of pets. When rock stars get 
involved with it, all sense of quality control goes out the window.  

Consider Prince, once the most exciting and creative pop artist in 
the world, who abandoned the music industry for the internet a few 
years ago and literally has not released a single worthwhile note of 
music since.  

On the internet, musicians need to sell far fewer CDs to make a 
profit. So few, in fact, that they stop trying and content themselves 
with pandering to a tiny market of diehard fans, whose obsession with 
an artist has caused them to abandon any sense of what constitutes 
good or bad music.  

The music industry is not an easy beast to love. If it's not trying 
to sue 12-year-old girls for downloading nursery rhymes, it's 
releasing records by Daniel Bedingfield. For once, however, I'm 
firmly on the industry's side. It might be painful to admit, but if 
you take its influence away, as Mudda suggests, and "give music back 
to musicians", you might well end up with nothing worth listening to. 
 

· Alexis Petridis is the Guardian's rock and pop critic  

alexispetridis@hotmail.com  



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