Teenage Wasteland
Music is something pretty important to me. I like it a lot. That's why it makes me so mad when I see it twisted into a humiliating impression of its former self. Unfortunately, that's something I see a lot of these days & sometimes I just can't take any more.
Metallica, HMV and Interscope demand that I keep buying CDs instead of downloading them for free, but I'm being given no incentive to do so. Ideally, everybody buys music from bands I want to continue making music, and the good bands make money while the crappy ones don't. Except, whe I buy my new Hives CD, I know that my hard earned dollar isn't just going to The Hives. It's also going to 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks, who I'm sure are the two highest paid "artists" (that was hard) on Interscope. I'll go out and buy my Kings of Leon CD, but I know that simply buying my favorite band's music isn't enough, because unless you're on MTV you don't get those big bucks from your record company. The big get bigger while the small stay small.
I know that when I steal music, I'm actually stealing from Interscope and Bubba Sparxxx, not from the bands I like. And I just can't put into words how much it angers me that I'd be supporting 50 Cent in any way. Forget about whether I've got to pay for my music or not, I'll pay double as long as I don't have to support bullshit rap stars.
I can see that this sounds like the old broken record: "it's not about the music anymore". Maybe it never was because I'm sure people have been saying that for years.... but it's really not about the music anymore! I listen to people like Springsteen and Tom Waits, and their music is so honest, and then I turn on The Ashlee Simpson Show (I saw it last night, that's what incited this whole post) and I see how dishonest and contrived it all is and I just can't understand how we've gotten here. I think I need a cold shower.
Metallica, HMV and Interscope demand that I keep buying CDs instead of downloading them for free, but I'm being given no incentive to do so. Ideally, everybody buys music from bands I want to continue making music, and the good bands make money while the crappy ones don't. Except, whe I buy my new Hives CD, I know that my hard earned dollar isn't just going to The Hives. It's also going to 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks, who I'm sure are the two highest paid "artists" (that was hard) on Interscope. I'll go out and buy my Kings of Leon CD, but I know that simply buying my favorite band's music isn't enough, because unless you're on MTV you don't get those big bucks from your record company. The big get bigger while the small stay small.
I know that when I steal music, I'm actually stealing from Interscope and Bubba Sparxxx, not from the bands I like. And I just can't put into words how much it angers me that I'd be supporting 50 Cent in any way. Forget about whether I've got to pay for my music or not, I'll pay double as long as I don't have to support bullshit rap stars.
I can see that this sounds like the old broken record: "it's not about the music anymore". Maybe it never was because I'm sure people have been saying that for years.... but it's really not about the music anymore! I listen to people like Springsteen and Tom Waits, and their music is so honest, and then I turn on The Ashlee Simpson Show (I saw it last night, that's what incited this whole post) and I see how dishonest and contrived it all is and I just can't understand how we've gotten here. I think I need a cold shower.
