My future of music.

(in response to the news that Allan Holdsworth is retiring and Scott Henderson hates downloading).

OK, about this whole downloading thing, this is what I would do. I am speaking as someone who has downloaded about 100,000 tracks in his time. I painfully and sadly admit that. Scott's opinions are right on the money. Downloaders ARE the gangbangers of the Internet. If I wasn't a brokeass I don't think I would do this. Getting things for free devalues the end experience. Look at where we are today, surrounded by utterly useless (and by that I mean joyless) media - in a sea of it.

If it's not beautiful or useful, forget it.
If you can't define it or act upon it, forget it.
If it doesn't bring you joy - you WILL forget it.

I have questions.

Is downloading music stealing?

What is fair reimbursment?

Is it worth reimbursing people who get 4 hours sleep, 2 plane flights, a bus ride, and then get in just in time for soundcheck, and then do that up to 20 nights in a row, just because they work hard? No spite intended, this is a question of causality.

Do CDs really need to cost 20 dollars when you can get them for about 5?

Should people like me - where the only money I get is from disability allowance from the government for my illness (which goes straight back into medicine to keep me going) - be vilified for trying to enjoy themselves with free music? (Not to pull your strings, I look at this with little in the way of misery)

How are you going to control downloading?

Are those attempts to control downloading giving a good ROI? Isn't this going to carry on indefinitely? Aren't current attempts by the US government to shut down any site they please just fascism by any other name?

How do you legislate morality?

Is current mainstream music, with all it's horrible creative/mental limitations, worth paying anything for?

Isn't it about time that people started acting a bit more unrestrained when it comes to creativity, since it feels like everyone is drawing from a very narrow slice of their own spiritual and sonic potential? Aren't you bored with this shit?

Why do people make music - is it just texture, or something to dance to? Spiritual experience? Shouldn't the artist set their intent VERY clearly from the start?

Hasn't the Internet shot the bar SO high, that anyone who is not a Guthrie/Holdsworth/Shawn is immediately discredited? What effect does that have on the mind of the composer? Stress?

Isn't the core of the issue here 'survival of the fittest', that musicians (and everyone) is almost at the point where they are struggling to survive? Isn't it important for the government to ensure everyone gets basic survival needs taken care of? (I would argue the only feasible way to do this would be to create a one world government and dissolve all national borders, but that's another debate). Isn't rising energy costs going to make things like touring potentially unbearable in the not too distant future?

How do you future proof your musical career when you get older and your health comes more and more into question?

Is music worth anything at all?

Why don't people make more heartfelt, sincere product that we can all agree is worth reimbursement? Isn't dealing in 'style' being replaced by 'texture' and 'feeling'?

Where exactly are we going as musicians if we intend to be (and this is going to sound wacky but in so many ways it's the truth) the foremost outpicturing of the excitement and passion of our species? Isn't the current mainstream cultural climate just laughable in that respect - and isn't it also a glorious thing that there is so much room for improvement?


Here's what I would do. Go entirely digital, and build an e-mail list of 1000 or so true fans for my material. If you know about how to target Internet traffic, this shouldn't be too hard. People want the experience you offer. If you think it's worth offering with your heart and soul, then it most certaintly is. If you have the awareness to know that, you're already there. You can become twice as productive if you cut out all technological distractions; that should free up the time to learn this as a skill.

( If you are a musician, the best job in the universe is internet marketing. You get to learn all the ins and outs of customer relations and building an actual trustworthy relationship with strangers, it's very lucrative, you can do it anywhere, especially on tour, and it's as close to a guaranteed income as you can get in a job in this economy. Of course, there are a HORDE of snake oil salesmen in this regard, so I can only recommend to you Chris Farrell's membership site or Eben Pagan as the most trustworthy examples of this today. I am a true fan of Eben Pagan, for example, because he provides true value that is on the cutting edge of where human communication and awareness is at, plus he never spams me...!)

I would make sure it's GOOD material. I would look at it and ask, 'is that the best I could do, given all I was exposed to in my environment, and given all that I know is in my heart and soul?'
I would practice and develop my material in relative secrecy, and then a few months prior (or however long it took to reach critical mass), send out promotion on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and to my list. I would send out interviews to all the major internet zines, I would build natural search results in Google for my top keywords so that I was NOTICED by my audience. If this took too long I would outsource my efforts to the Phillipines. I would record it in a home studio. I've heard material that is fantastic quality and done from people's bedrooms. With some financial sense and over time, I could afford a mixing desk and good quality instruments - NO problem. I would have to plan over the years - actually getting the equipment, and a house etc, that was big enough to record, would easily be the biggest problem. But chances are you could do it in your basement.

So, the actual product:
Package 1 - MP3s (free)
Package 2 - FLAC plus MP3s - 8 dollars. It'll get leaked but I'll take what I can get.
Package 3 - Limited 12 inch picture vinyl plus all of the above sent out a week beforehand and unique material, books, graphic design and artwork that you can't get anywhere else, hell, maybe some 7 inches! - 40 dollars, or whatever. I actually get very visually inspired by music, I consider this a spiritual thing, and want to tie in other sensual areas towards the listener's experience. One of the best examples I ever saw of that was Diamanda Galas' 'Defixiones' CD. Very well done indeed.
Package 4 - Limited CD with drumsticks, picks, pictures, booklets etc, plus a thumb drive with remixes, guitar and drum tracks, and tabulature for remix purposes.

But let's get clear - no one really wants CDs anymore. You can download the music and the packaging is neglible at that size. if I wanted the physical experience, I would go vinyl. Nothing compares. It's a gift from God.

The cash I get from that IS the tour advance, and with the exception of the last, there's no physical overhead at all. Pure profit, and thanks to the people who were honest enough to pay for it. On the last one, the perceived value could be so high, I could charge very well for it. There are enough people out there who are interested in that to make it lucrative. I would then to drum up interest in tour dates. Where there was the MOST interest, I would set up myself, no agent, no more than about 10 VERY special live gigs, where I could absorb the audience fully into the concept I was trying to put forward.
I would set it up so far in advance that I would minimize stress. I would look at each venue's stage and setup ability. I would make setting up as quick and painless and automatic as possible. Being clear in your mind before hand takes the stress off...hugely. It might mean being less prolific because you are being selective, but it could also mean being MORE prolific, as everything that has been systematized HAS been.
In the meantime, i would practice backstage, and offer instructional material and personalized private lessons for the most select devotees.

So Allan - don't retire! Just become strategic!