Internet killed the pop star

"Does anyone really buy albums anymore?"

A wonderful musician, and good friend of mine, posed this question to me yesterday. We all know how the RIAA and MPAA feel about 'peer to peer' file sharing- a very hot trend with the younger generation. The RIAA Website is quick to point out the immorality behind downloading music on the internet. They characterize recording artists as the main victims; If everyone can download music for free, nobody will buy CDs, recording artists can't make money, and all hell will break loose. So is the recording industry doomed?

Here's something you may not have considered: The recording industry is relatively young. Perhaps you jazz fans know what I'm talking about here- The Original Dixieland Jazz Band had the first album ever recorded for commercial sale back in 1917, just a little over 90 years ago. So what does this mean to musical artists? Well, for one thing, it means that for all the thousands of years humans have been making music, shrink wrapped pop music represents a tiny sliver of time. Working in a recording studio is simply not as practical as it was in the days before Apple's Garage Band. Serious amateur musicians can record high quality audio with programs like Propellerhead's Reason software and virtually mimic hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of instruments. This severely levels the playing field between independent artists and bloated pop album producers like Columbia Records. With websites like myspace, it's easy to independently bring your music to the masses.

So is this the end of music as we know it? Hardly. In addition to overlooking the fact that many artists are making money providing their fans with direct and affordable MP3 downloads (which is far more profitable for the artist, who could potentially reap 100 percent of the profits), the RIAA has overlooked the fact that a great number of musicians are primarily performing artists, not recording artists. Will people stop seeing their favorite bands live because they can get recordings for free? Most definitely not. The end of fat cat recording companies does not spell the end of profit for musicians.

I, for one, welcome the death of the record industry. After the countless Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys clones of the 90s-- faux musicians created by corporate America and spoon fed to kids via MTV and top 40 radio-- aren't we ready to bring back hard working performing musicians with class and talent?