Subscriber's Responses to The Golden Click
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It seems that "The Golden Click," has struck a nerve. While a vast majority of you just wrote things like "right on!" and "great stuff," some chose alternative views. Below are of the more pointed reactions. Note WHO has what position on this.

Names have been changed.

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From "Mark" a indie label owner:

<<<<having read your essay, i can only say: why would you approach this new musical revolution with the same anachronistic, quantify-everything mentality that led the major label record companies to be the greed-mongering, bloated monsters they are.  who the f**k cares if radiohead sales were "successful." the music was successful even if only one person paid.

don't you get it?

people like you don't understand the "achievement" is not "clicks" or "downloads" but in the music itself, in its ability to connect, no matter the number of people. the triumph of art over commerce in music has finally arrived in the long-tail niche accessibility of more great music to more people.
and that should NOT be counted. it should simply be supported and rejoiced.>>>>

MY RESPONSE:

Mark,

I agree with you- the triumph, for the artist, is in the creation, not the sales.  But , consider that there are literally 1000s of people who work behind the scenes, who are not on the creative side, whose livelihood depends on one thing-- sales revenue.  If we have no benchmarks for success, we have no community.  If we have no community we have no industry.

That's fine for those who like to be lone wolfs. But for those who are part of the machinery it's the death knell.

You seem very bright.  Surly you are enlightened enough to understand that many people are supporting families are on the revenue part of the industry.  To have no feelings for them would be taking a very hard core, creative snob, view. 

If you think that these people should starve or find other work because the Internet has made it possible to simply ignore the need for them, then you are probably the kind of person who watched Roger & Me and was routing for General Motors, saying quietly to yourself, GM is doing the right thing—screw Flint Michigan and all it's people; let them find something else to do with their lives, GM must shake off it's dead weight.

Think about it.

Moses

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From "Amy" an artist of note:

<<<< Thanks Moses,

Another excellent article! The Radiohead pay-what-you-want really irks me. Their camp says. "Oh yes, it was successful." But, real stats...? Where are they? What I can see is that their current album sales have gone from #1 to #69 in 16 weeks on the Billboard charts... not good. I can guess what they would say about that, something like, "Well, everyone bought the download." Back to the mystery stats…

Radiohead may have helped themselves with all the press, but they did so at the cost of the music community by devaluing their work. Now, all the struggling musicians, songwriters, engineers, and producers are being pressured to do the same. I hear all the time, "Well, it worked for Radiohead." My response to that is to tell musicians, etc. not to follow the rich musicians who don't care whether or not they make any money.

I just attended ASCAP Expo and was at a panel where Derick Sivers (CD Baby) spoke. I asked a question of the panel as to why his clients can't add a splash page that appears before every download. This page will have the consumer click to acknowledge that they wouldn't [P2P file share] the song. This is the same thing consumers do right now when they download software, so they are use to it. This same page could contain a Soundscan bar code. Sivers response was flip. He says that musicians are too paranoid. They need to relax and not worry about theft. Then he went on to give the most ridiculous analogy I have ever heard a business person give. He said that "pigs kill more people than sharks, yet most people think that they can get killed by sharks."

Thought I'd share that with you.

Best regards,>>>>>

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A Manager:

<<<<Nero fiddled on the harp while Rome burned is what happened...  A closer analogy would be, Bush rides bikes on his ranch while economy slides back toward 1929.>>>>

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From a Tech Guy:

<<<< Personally, the sooner the RIAA is out of the picture, the better.

They used to be somewhat useful - at this point, though, they're way past their expired date and have only been a negative force for the music industry. I say good riddance.>>>>>

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From a Lawyer who represents many multi-platinum artists:

<<< I will be out of the office until Friday, April 18th, 2008.  If you require assistance please contact my assistant. Thank you.>>>>

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Nuff Said,

Mo out