George Will and Chrispy: Two minds who think alike (okay, just this once)

George Will delivers a soundly centric piece in the latest issue of Newsweek regarding America's whiny consumer driven mindset. He uses the latest gas price hullabaloo to slap around the spoiled American consumption machine, and then takes aim at GOP elected officials for phonying up a “crisis” response to a market driven problem they all are surely well versed in.

I was reminded of it again when Chrispy commented with steely conviction to Fred Wilson and Bob Lefsetz indictment of Flea's condemnation of the theft and subsequent posting of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's upcoming album on the internet. You can read and link through here from A VC.

Chrispy first slays the giant capitalists with this David like rock:

"Flea's essential point was that he wants you to hear the music the way it was intended. This is completely legitimate, and I'm tired of people forgetting that, for the vast majority of musicians (and recording engineers) this career is not about money. It's about creating. Unfortunately, a lot of people have no understanding of this because they aren't creative, they are pure consumers. Now they can add nothing and take everything."

A direct target hit. He then finishes them off with this:

"Consumers are so caught up in having it "their way" that they've forgotten that they have no "right" to this music and no "right" to receive it the way they want. Until not long ago, the only music you could hear was performed live. If you couldn't play or go see someone play, tough. We've become so spoiled, so lazy, so quickly, that we forget that, for some of us, music (and sound) are sacred. It's not just another commodity or way to get rich. It's of an importance far deeper than someone like Bob can comprehend."

Game over.

It's fucking art people. Artists own it. Artists decide how they want it to be displayed and listened to and it has nothing to do with simple convenience. Lefsetz and Fred would have us believe that it's the evil record companies preventing our egocentric iPod generation from getting unfettered access to e-music, when in reality, artists and their labels have found a rare piece of common ground, even if their motives may differ. This is not and has never been solely a copy protection issue.

The album concept is something near and dear to recording artists. They are collections of songs written and recorded in most instances as a complete package. Occasionally, THEY will decide to release a single to be purchased on it's own. Perhaps labels are unilaterally driven by profit motive to keep the album concept as a mainstay. For me, it doesn't matter whether that's true or not. Artists seem to be weighing in and they are saying it will be them who decides how their art is “consumed". If that means you have to listen to an entire album, then so be it. Never killed anybody has it? If it means having to take an extra step to digitize it for all of your various playback devices, so be it. Buy the disc and do with it what you want. If they sit on shelf and are no longer of use to you, call me. I'd be glad to come collect them, open each one, throw it into my CD player, sit back, and listen.

UPDATE: Jackson weighs in here and he's angry my friends.

UPDATE II: It's getting bloody over in the A VC comments!