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I should start by saying I'm a music lover, in case there was any doubt. It's a big reason why I publish this magazine. I want to spread the love of music to other people who might have the same penchant for discovering new music. I've stated many times before that, in my younger days, I would seek out new music based on lots of variables such as the label the newly discovered band was on, a live show, the artwork on a record (yes, in those days it was actually vinyl!), something I heard from a friend, or something I read in some Ôzine like Guillotine or Bullshit Monthly. I guess those mags were my start. At some point in life I decided writing about music was a good way to channel my enthusiasm in a means that would also help me discover new music. I mean, if you're writing about new music, naturally people who have new music will get you their music for you to hopefully write about it.
Having said all that, I realize other music enthusiasts, for better or worse, sometimes seek out new tunes in ways less than desirable to the artists or labels. That is, they pirate it. But as kids, we traded tapes. It was an early form of music promotion. You like Gorilla Biscuits and I like Bl'ast; here are some tapes we can trade of live shows or rare EPs or whatever. It seemed harmless enough. Then a decade or so later, the Internet kicked into full gear and people began rampantly trading music files. I worked at one of the big (but legal) websites that ironically got caught in some massive legal battles over music sharing and subsequently paid out millions in damages, eventually shutting down. Both sides have lots of arguments, and I won't get into them here. But I digress.
As members of the press, our job is to seek out music that we think our readers will enjoy knowing about - good and bad. To this end, we receive lots of advance music or music that has yet to be delivered to the general public, all with the idea that we'll comment on it in Chord. Sounds easy enough, right? However, due to all the ÒdownloadingÓ and fear of such, we are constantly getting discs that don't play in our computers or even at times in our car stereos. Most often these CDs are greeted with some sort of expletive, especially when it's a band I want to hear.
The latest promotional frustration is a newer wave of not sending out advances at all. Instead, we sometimes get invitations to go to an office at a scheduled time and listen to a glass-encased iPod with the band's newest recording on it so that we may review it. I have yet to do that. In my opinion, we, as fans, should be listening to music in the way that is most natural. I listen to music on my home stereo through my computer via the magic of wireless technology. I am one of those people who will listen to a song or CD over and over and over. To me, that sterile environment of some strange office or unnaturally driving destination-less in my car just to listen to a CD is perverted on some levels. Then again, so is stealing music off the Internet - on some levels.
I guess my point is that, despite all of these setbacks, if you will, I still really love music and discovering new music to tell other people about. I don't mind jumping through some hoops. Chord will always do our best to deliver the goods as promptly and timely as we can. However, what is next? I know there are not any simple answers to the piracy issue. I am not sure who actually suffers most, musicians, fans, labels, or us - the press. The one thing we have in common is that we all feel the pinch. Another thing this results in is that, of all the music we get, the discs we can actually play run a much higher chance of being covered here. So keep turning the pages and read about what we've heard!
Downloaded,
Gus
gus@chordmagazine.com
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