This reminded me of a review I did in Goldmine, back in the early days of the doomed CD. On an otherwise terrific Ray Charles compilation, the songwriters were not credited. My words went something like, "I don't care that 'all royalties have been paid'
--I want people to know who wrote these songs!"
So many artists and writers have been ripped off by the music industry as we knew it that perhaps I should feel a sense of joy that it's been running on fumes for the last ten years or more. Songwriter Wendy Waldman noted this week that she's down to a third of her usual income since the age of downloading music arrived.
Seems like ages ago that the music industry was healthy, and so many folks my age were into records and radio. Maybe the passion is still there for the generations who have followed me, only in a different form. Or is it? When I'm done working, I love jumping in the car and flipping on the radio. In my highly non-scientific observations, it looks like others get in their cars and can't wait to make a cell phone call. Who's the shallow person here? Perhaps it's me--after all, I'm the one without an immediate need to connect with somebody. You know, "I'm leaving work now...Just a mile away...Turning into the neighborhood right now...I'm in the driveway!" All that important cell phone jive.
What's important to me is to give music presents (the old-fashioned, manufactured CD) when I can afford it. It's imperative to promote a fabulous album when I'm on the radio--last week, it was Sly & the Family Stone's Stand!--rather than saying that I took the song from a greatest hits collection. Hits anthologies are just about all that are left in corporate stores that still carry CDs.
What do I get for my passion? Often, frustration. Back in the '90s, a class action suit against music companies had them paying back some of the money that they'd been overcharging for the last ten years or more. My dedication to recorded music was huge from the 1960s to the 1990s, so it's safe to say that I'd been taken, though I'd probably blow my paycheck on music to this day if I had the dough. Anyway, I signed up to receive a refund.
Did you get one of those checks? Mine was for $13--not even enough to buy one regularly priced CD.