Some thoughts on free music
By Bobby on Tuesday 24 February 2009, 16:18 - free tunes - Permalink
Now this is really neat. I totally agree with the idea of the free music ethos that Tom Cosm has. I came across this guy via Pitch Black's homepage, where they had an Ableton Live tutorial lecture online which Mr. Cosm was on. So through further link clicking I came to cosm.co.nz, where I found not just the original Ableton tutorial, but loads more, as well as some of his own stuff which is free 320 MP3's but also the Ableton Live project files so you can remix them. Also check out some very useful production tips & tricks & tutorials on his site.
I treat music as a form of communication that completely overpowers that of any other kind of human interaction>
If the process of funding music and artists was swapped around from listen > pay > enjoy > get hooked to listen > enjoy > get hooked > pay, I think this would be a huge step forward with a little amount of effort, and I this is what I am trying to achieve. Yes of course I will gain some promotion from trying to instigate something like this, but overall I think if everyone laid their cards down on the table, all knowledge and music was open there would be huge gaps opening up in the technological advancement of music, increasing the demand for developers, thinkers and new interesting tools. >
My music has always been free, and it always will be! Fuck restricting it just to people who can afford it!>
Sounds right to me! I'm intending to make an enuui album, and of course would love it on a label, but having seeing how Tom Cosm does things, I gotta say I'm gonna follow suit. Maybe I will get a sweet album deal, but until then all music I create will be free, and them 3 quotes above is the reason why.
Anyway, here's a load of Tom Cosm's tunes to check and buy if you want to, if not have them for free. Click here. and here's my favourite one I've heard so far.
Moving on up!
Comments
Artists don't deserve to eat?
Only people working in office jobs get paid for what they do? If it wasn't for artists, where would any of us be? Where is the recognition of the work, sometimes more painful than any job?
"Fuck restricting it to people who can afford it"
Then shouldn't the same be said of our homes? food? the clothes we wear? If anything that should be free because those are neccesities we cannot live without.
Why should an artist not get paid for their work? It is labour, what is it about music that renders it ok to take for free? When I love music, I go support it. I am not pretending to be a hypocrite as I am a download fanatic, but I also go buy records, I go to shows, I put on events and pay artists.
I find it so painful to hear that music has to be free, and that artists should be forced to forever work another job while painters and writers get paid for their work. Why music?
Yep, I get where you're coming from Magda, which is very true, but what I like about Tom Cosm, is that he makes money by gigging & teaching solely. So if you're doing that regularly enough then either you don't have time to look for labels, or you're making enough money to get by.
It's a promotional tool, which is doing well for him, as well as the belief of music is a higher form of internal & external communication. Which touches on my ideology.
So it won't work in all situations, but I do like the idea of non-restrictive music, and should extend to other things not just art. I like free.
Because a lot of music in niche genres and subcultures are very much so fileshared via torrents etc, then why not just give it away yourself. Of course it's always good to have a donation page set up for the people like ourselves who support artists :)
It's pay for it when you can afford to.
"Why should an artist not get paid for their work? It is labour,"
There's no labour involved when I write, at all! I'd find something else to do if I treated it as a job. Fortunately I make enough cash throught donations/gigs/teaching to live a happy and healthy life.
Thanks for the blog! I received a few hits from here... much appreciate the kind words.
-Tom
Hey bro, thanks for stopping by.