ARIA this week has put out a request from the Federal Government to crack down on piracy.  When talking about digital singles track sales not covering the loss of physical unit sales, the CEO of PPCA and ARIA told the Daily SPA "Clearly it's not entirely replacing the reduction in physical, so that's something we need to continue to work on and will come down to working with the Government to make it harder for people to do the wrong thing."  The numbers do show that the digital sells of singals and albums aren't making up for the loss of the physical single and album sales.  But what has me intrigued is that clearly Dan Rosen, CEO of PPCA and ARIA believes the loss is due to piracy.

I'm not going to say here either, that piracy doesn't exist and that it doesn't hurt artists.  Clearly it does.  But honestly, piracy has been around since at least the cassette tapes but honestly I'd put my money on since the phonograph was invented.  How many people do you know copied LPs to cassette, and then later, CDs to cassettes??  Or even LP to 4 or 8 track??  Piracy has been around since the beginning.  Yet there were years of growth and prosperity.   So really, I have two questions.

First, would be this.  What exactly does Dan Rosen think, the Australian Federal Government, or any Governement, can do?  How does he propose stoping piracy?  You can't stop it through technology.  That has been tried more than once and failed miseribly.  And you can't just stop it through legislation.  Sure you can do what was done in the US by RIAA, which is sue infringers to within an inch of their ficial lives.  But who won that war?  Did RIAA win?? Did the artist win?  The fans sure didn't win. 

Again, not saying that piracy is something right to do.  But how does a governement stop people from doing anything?

My second question is more to the heart of the problem in my opinion.  Could it not be that sales have declined simply because people don't like the music they currently hear?  With the shinking industry, what is left can't service the number of artists that it used to market.  So that means fewer artists, and fewer new songs.  Means less radio airplay of new material.  And it means less risk as the fewer and smaller (relatively speaking) companies can afford to take.  Less risk means more songs that are likely to make a return on the money based on past perfomrance of similar songs.  Which means less original material.

I honestly believe that more governement in this is the last thing we need.  What we really need is a redeveloped industry which can support artists and their market.  A new industry which can handle the new Internet and its global reach while still protecting the local artist.  A new industry that can market the artist that has paid the dues, learned all the important lessons and take them to the next level when they're ready.  Australian Idol can only do so much.  And there are only so many Susan Boyle's in the world (yes, I know she's British,.. I'm making a point.), and only so many Guy Sebastians.  Can you actually name more than two Australian Idol winners (not runner ups, or placed)??? 

I'm not claiming to have all the answers.  But I'd like to think I'm asking the right questions.  What does governement have to do with anything in this situation?  What good can they bring to the table?  Isn't the better question, how can we lift up great artists and expose them to larger audiences?  And how can we make good artists better, and great artists the best?

Interested in your feedback.

Bryan

Five Loaves and Two Small Fish

I want to share with you some things that I recently shared with my personal prayer support team. As a result of my sharing and their prayers God has revealed to me some answers which I think are profound, and I hope you will find they are profound for you too.

Lately my life has been filled with a lot of distractions and setbacks. Family and friends dying, uncertainty about my future housing, some health challenges, and more. I began to feel very disheartened and discouraged by all that was happening.

At the same time the Musicians Prayer Network has been growing, and it seems that opportunities for ministry are abundant. But in combining those two circumstances, I have found myself starting to feel very inadequate. I have felt like I am not doing well enough at carrying out this calling, that I am letting you down, that I am not able to serve you all in the way that I would like to be able to.

God’s answer was to remind of the parable of the loaves and fishes in Luke 9:10-17. He showed me that for me to try to do this would be a lot like me trying to feed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 small fish. Truth is, I just can’t do it. I am inadequate.

BUT HE CAN DO IT. God reminded me that from the start this has been His work. The MPN is not something I have built. It is not something I could ever build. It is what God has done because one weak and foolish guy said yes, and kept on turning up with his 5 loaves and 2 small fish.

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