Dear Paul,

Don’t you get it? Music is meant to be shared. Not a new concept but apparently, a forgotten one.

Let’s examine the basics. Acclaimed neuroscientist Daniel Levitin writes that “the goal of the… musical composition is [to convey] an aspect of universal truth that if successful, will continue to move and to touch people even as contexts, societies, and cultures change.”

Translation: great music is not only transcendent but highly emotional and, as I’ve mentioned before, is much more than just something that goes on between your ears.

Remember hearing, for the first time, a mind-blower-of-a-song and then… that mad, feverish rush to play it for someone else — subpar, recorded-off-the-radio-onto-cassette-sound-quality be-damned?

Remember emphatically dragging a pal out to see a band that they’d never heard of before — in a dank and dirty little club neither of you would normally set foot in — undeterred by the fetid smells and the sparse (at best) turnout?

What you wanted was for that music to make someone else feel the same way it made you feel.

It’s all about the shared experience.

When Mr. Guinness says, “… it’s about the whole relationship between the music and the technology business” and “access” and “ownership,” I say: um, no Paul, it’s about the relationship between the music and the fan (a.k.a. “the thief,” in your words).

It’s about maximizing the shared experience between fans and fans and artists and fans.

It’s about creating contagious emotion; the kind of emotion that people are willing to pay for.

And in your case Paul, at the moment, it’s about embracing the technology.  Kind of like that “Vertigo” iPod commercial which made nearly everyone feel impossibly cool/sexy/hip just watching it? Talk about contagious.

Which makes me wonder why on earth Mr. Guinness would even ask, “Shouldn’t we be catering to people who want to hear music through big speakers rather than earbuds?” Maybe… audiophiles are always a worthwhile target… but dissing the iPod?  Is he OUT OF HIS MIND? Those little white earbuds were largely responsible for U2’s success with what was widely critiqued as not their best effort.

Anyways.  Earbuds, schmearbuds.  The point is that at the very root of things, it’s not about the speakers, it’s not about the ISPs, and it’s not even about the money… it’s all about HOW FANS CONNECT WITH THE MUSIC itself and, consequently, the talent behind it.

Hell, even Bono gets this, seemingly contradicting Mr. Guinness by proclaiming, “I’ve not been famously profit-oriented…. I believe… that brilliance rings a better bottom line. Always.”

Absolutely. And, while we certainly can’t ignore profit, the inherent bottom line is brilliant talent.  Brilliant talent connects.  Connection is power.  Power begets profit.

So Paul, I’m thinking that as the tables have turned, the more prudent thing is to call upon that very powerful talent.  Here goes.

Calling all artists…

It’s up to you to harness the power of your music and to evoke emotion among your fans.

It’s up to you to create brilliant, transcendent, relatable, emotional songs and to then think of the imminent death of the music industry as a little gift: it’s a new world where one-on-one connection is everything and middlemen are virtually obsolete.

Because the truth is, you no longer need a label-driven machine behind you to get your music heard and, more importantly, sold. The key is to remember, first and foremost, that you are, inherently, the CEO of your own business, the business of your music.

It’s up to you to protect yourself from the “shoddy, careless, and downright dishonest” treatment of musicians that Mr. Guinness (misguidedly accusing the “digital age”) points out; the very treatment which, ironically, seems to sum up the music industry’s historical MO — an MO that, in spite of all the buzz of a new paradigm, 360 deals, etc. — remains constant.

With love,

A Fan

PS If you happen to have a manager who doesn’t get this, I suggest firing them.

© Outlandos Music^TM2008