Quote Originally Posted by Mark EQ
F it, take it to grass roots level, we all need to stop being TWATS and be able to make a little bit of cash from our records. Have we not got the intelilligennce to do this or are MP3's gonna make us bow down and submit. F That.
BTW, Mark. You need to keep in mind that not everyone is submitting to MP3. I've always been a huge supporter of audio compression tools to facilitate the transfer of music and started doing it with my own as soon as I had the means. Just about anything I've ever touched, finished or not, has been put up on my webspace or soulseek at some point. So, with some artists, there might be a bit of an ideological difference. With the way I view MP3, I'm sure I could be viewed as that annoying kid like the DJ who will play for free and undercut all those hard working DJs who are so much better and need to make a living. The free exchange of information has been an ideal of held sacred now for a majority of the time I've been on this earth. Now, I certainly don't care and can respect if an artist does not want their work spread around for free. But, what I find frustrating, particularly in the techno scene, is the "with us or against us" attitude that seems to go along with it. And considering I can't think of 1 techno artist who hasn't, at some point in time, illegally sampled copyrighted material, the stance against MP3 and filesharing is often borderline hypocritical. The way people can stop being twats is through trying to find a means to work with advancing technology rather than fighting it. Working with it will encourage people to be fluid and possibly discover someting completely new and beneficial in the process. Working against it will inevitably lead to rigidity and eventual frustration when you find that, for the most part, a hugh number of visible people simply are never going to give a **** whether or not you can put food on your table because of your music. Especially if they think they can do the same thing themselves.

On a grassroots level, try starting a space for MP3/WAV/whatever sales. Hell, at this point, I've blabbed about the idea enough that I'd be willing to help set the thing up. Wit the piracy that does occur, what does anyone have to lose?