The people have the power to either consume or not consume. When we are speaking about music one has to realize that this goes beyond simple product placement and marketing campaigns and into this, life-line, which defines our times for the future generations which will reflect upon us through it.

To think of the power of music as simply a product is quite simplistic minded - as the product which defines our passions, captured and available on demand, this is simply not a product which should be packaged and delivered, controlled and the consumers told how to obtain it. The very thought of this makes me question how people can feel that this is morally right.

I stress again; we the people are passionate about the music. The freedom of information, enabled by technical innovation, shines to us new break through methods of enjoying these very passions which many honestly live and die for. Yet some in positions of power plot on methods of taking control over this, dividing and plotting the conquest of the "future market" before they exist.

Where does this get us - the people passionate and demanding the fair use of our music however we wish to enjoy it? It brings us lawsuits and never ending disputes causing a media blitz and fear in the economics surrounding all of this cutting edge innovation. This stifles innovation, and causes our future to stumble for the moment which we find ourselves all wrapped up in the "legality" of all of it, and what it means.

Lets sit down for one moment and think about this. The musician making the music wants to be heard, and the consumer who desires that music wish to obtain it any means he or she desires too. This is what the people want, and technology allows us to do.

Enter the existing industry, understandably concerned with what this means to them and the future of music in general. Many in the industry are true to music, and to label them all wrong is quite a foolish statement to make. Make no mistake however, there are plenty in the industry which are not of this quality and are in it quite simply to take as much as possible for themselves as an individual.

Keeping in mind that such capitalistic thoughts after all are what makes our country (the US) what it is today, we must pause for a moment and think about this from everyone's perspective who is involved to proceed onto a resolution someday. Only then can all parties involved come to a clear conclusion about how to give the people what they desire, without killing the relationship between the consumer and the supplier any further. The relations are sore and many of the bridges that have been burned are going to be quite difficult to be mended, some are now impossible to be repaired. For these we must focus on which new bridges need to be built to allow flow of music to our passionate ears and souls desiring on-demand access to this feeling available to us through this "product" labeled music.

Call it what you may, proceed on to label all the consumers' pirates and alienate your audience further. The future of music is clear to me, and that is that music will have to be free to innovative delivery, and not attempted to be bottled and packaged as it was solely available previously. Such limitations are impossible for us to accept once we have tasted the freedom of information from the digital music revolution and all the excitement of having it available to us how we choose. I will end this with a final thought - why should evolution of technology redefine the definition of the fair use of music? Why must we all fight consistently when we are all aware of the bright future and worldwide instant distribution options before us waiting to be explored? I assure you, most people will still pay for their music if you provide it to them how they want and desire it.

Mike Darrah

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Web / Digital Media Consulting
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