Michael Greene at the Grammys
Last night at the Grammy Awards, NARAS director Michael Greene popped up on stage to deliver his annual self-serving speech about how "music is changing the world" and other fluffy, narcissist Hollywood crap. Except this time, acting like a wounded animal backed into a corner, Greene came out swinging against online music file trading.
In a speech that border lined on the bizarre, Greene verbally lashed into the world of Internet music downloading by stating it was the "less-established artists" who were most in danger of losing their livelihood, "one digital file at a time." To prove his point, as if he was expecting us to be shocked, Greene then turned the spotlight on three college kids, politely waving and sitting in the audience, who were hired by the NARAS to sit in a room for two days and download as much "illegal" music as they possibly could.
Trying to express the gravity of the results, Greene turned up the volume, practically yelling that the college kids downloaded "over six THOWWWWWSAND songs" in that time period. He then ranted off a few more numerical statistics that I honestly can't remember, but the point was the same.
Amazingly, Greene couldn't see the irony of his words. If these millions of music files are being exchanged, shared, and experienced by online music listeners everywhere, the record companies were just handed the most powerful, cost-effective (hell, free) marketing distribution channel ever invented. As young people become more media savvy and suspicious of corporate America with each passing generation, the future of artist development is in grassroots promotional efforts like online music distribution. Who is a rock fan going to believe ñ his friend or a record company advertisement ñ that the new Linkin Park record rocks?
But then, in an effort to highlight the people that could help curb online music trading, Greene said the word that sent shivers down my spine - "Washington." In case people forgot, or just didn't notice, the RIAA lobbyists were stopped in late September, 2001 from slipping in an amendment to the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism bill, that would have allowed the RIAA to legally confiscate any machine they suspected of holding mp3s.
In my mind, the moral argument of trading mp3s is so long gone that Greene is just wasting his time, shaking his fist at an inevitable future that includes less power for the record companies, and more for the artists. Consumers could care less what record label a particular artist is distributed on, as long as their CD is readily available in a nearby store or by download. Artists are actually more likely to reap the rewards of the digital technology, not the record companies - and Greene knows it.
Comments
I fond the entire speech/rant to be entirely self serving and tired... I agree that the moral issues of music sharing are one thing... i want art to be appreciated and rewarded... piracy hurts everyones pocket in the end... but green's rant basically amounted to "these damn college kids have killed my Christmas bonus for the past 3 years... feel sorry for me"... the transparency of the recording artist industry's argument is sickening... whatever happened to embracing change and making it work FOR you?
Posted by: Wes at February 28, 2002 10:18 AM
I happened to catch him on Politically Incorrect the day before the grammys and he was giving the same speech.
Just so happened that India.Arie, Nelly (not Furtado) and JaRule also were on the show. They didn't even give a rip about the whole MP3 phenomina, JaRule actually encouraged it and made reference to it being a "hustle" which he has done many times, and respects.
You are so right in the fact that Record companies are so blinded by greed, they are missing out on the one thing they could do to make profit in their situation.
Posted by: Doug at February 28, 2002 11:32 AM
I also have to add -
Did you see the three kids that he had employed? Any idea as to why they were all asians?
Posted by: Doug at February 28, 2002 11:33 AM
