Read Steve Albini's famous essay on the music industry's problems

[anon15258403]

@anon61221983

Streaming has really just reinforced the primacy of the control of the mainstream culture industries over artists, in that it offers even less than the contracts he was describing at the time, far less than a penny per stream in many cases. Yes, you can certainly get shit to a broader audience, but if you’re not getting the streams to even make up a penny, then you’re making less than someone who is selling CDs and getting, say a quarter of the sales

No, you are absolutely right of course - I was probably being too deadpan in my half ironic use of “glorious” there. (thinking of its historical hyperbolic uses). Streaming is a total disaster for artists and should not even be considered (as a viable option income for artists). An example of the disintermediation that I do think has been facilitated by the web though is that of Bandcamp (hopefully they remain intact post-aquisition) with their direct to artist merch linking and all the various other indie labels that can now exist with broader access.

@anon61221983

@audaxaxon

or a field

conceptualization of how the culture industries actually function, which is more of a field rather than a top-down binary of corporation vs. exploited artist

Yes - of course, I was indeed referencing your words there.

@anon61221983

I guess I’m sort of questioning that old punk binary of either being truly independent or being a poser sell-out? I like Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptualization of how the culture industries actually function, which is more of a field rather than a top-down binary of corporation vs. exploited artist. There is most certainly exploitation in the recording industry, but it operates on a kind of different level than just corporation drones being greedy exploiters.

eta - Did read the Wikipedia link to Bourdieu - I’m interested in learning more about that viewpoint. Where I feel like I’m diverging is that his view seems to focus only on the industrial and mass-cultural aspects - and feels like it could be a somewhat narrow take in terms of focusing on all creative activity in purely external/transactional terms.