Taylor Swift On the Music Business...

[ArtDecade]

"Music is art, and art is important and rare," she wrote. "Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It's my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album's price point is. I hope they don't underestimate themselves or undervalue their art."

https://music.yahoo.com/news/taylor-swift-music-art-art-paid-220543197-rolling-stone.html

I guess it is easy for her to say this from her perch when a label spends millions of dollars to promote her. Major labels are still able to gross enormous amounts of money with their chosen few, whereas most bands today are finding alternative outlets to promote, finance, and profit from their art. I think she is a bit out of touch with what the music business is like for the rest of the planet... Its time to figure out how to profit in the new music age because the old ways are a dead path for most acts. Art doesn't have to be free, but there are other ways to get your music out there and other ways to live off of what you do, because it probably won't be from record sales alone.

 

[asher]

I saw the title and just went: "Why would I think she has anything of any insight or value to say?"

 

[ArtDecade]

I saw the title and just went: "Why would I think she has anything of any insight or value to say?"

I like her logical steps...

• Music is art.
  [*]Art is important and rare.
  [*]Rare things are valuable.
  [*]Valuable things should be paid for.

It reminds me of...

• 
  God is love.
  [*]Love is blind.
  [*]Ray Charles is blind.
  [*]God is Ray Charles.

 

[AndruwX]

Being honest she's saying something kind of reasonable. Is this new age of music we have to create a new way to make more profit, and I'm agree with her, music is a valuable art, and making money of it is a gigantic pleasure.

So remember kids, make your bands logos cool so people would love it in a T-Shirt!

 

[ArtDecade]

Being honest she's saying something kind of reasonable. Is this new age of music we have to create a new way to make more profit, and I'm agree with her, music is a valuable art, and making money of it is a gigantic pleasure.

So remember kids, make your bands logos cool so people would love it in a T-Shirt!

Sure... but her assertion that labels and musicians will dictate what an album sells for seems a bit naive. Theoretically, you can charge whatever you want, but the market will determine what does and doesn't sell at that price point. The distributors have more control over the prices than the labels do nowadays.

 

[asher]

If it were really about the art she would treat the label much more as a (somewhat) necessary evil than an equal partner.

 

[ArtDecade]

If it were really about the art she would treat the label much more as a (somewhat) necessary evil than an equal partner.

Agree. And, that's exactly the point. HA. She knows where her bread is buttered. Her experience (and opinion) is much different than the average person in the current music industry.

 

[nostealbucket]

Her parents paid for her fame. She knows nothing about this ....ing business.

 

[Vhyle]

She doesn't know shit, to be quite frank. She should just stick to looking pretty.

 

[TRENCHLORD]

This is the only time I've liked her at all .
Mostly for her "dancing" on Pour Some Sugar.

 

[Nats]

Oh Taylor, that was so precious.

 

[goherpsNderp]

so where do i send the check for all the works of art that are publicly displayed all around Houston?

also: where do i find these rare works of art that come in the form of arranged musical pieces? do they per chance come on optical discs, or contained within audio file containers for playback through a PC or mobile device? should i hire an agent to help me become a collector?

 

[Konfyouzd]

I understand the ideal, but I think the way she put it was a bit too simple... And it sounded more like "Please keep buying my albums because that's how I feed myself." Meh...

The beauty and/or value of something--whether it be art or anything else--is determined by what people are willing to pay. And just because you create it doesn't make it art in the eyes of the beholder, nor does it become inherently "valuable" either.

 

[goherpsNderp]

I understand the ideal, but I think the way she put it was a bit too simple... And it sounded more like "Please keep buying my albums because that's how I feed myself." Meh...

The beauty and/or value of something--whether it be art or anything else--is determined by what people are willing to pay. And just because you create it doesn't make it art in the eyes of the beholder, nor does it become inherently "valuable" either.

i agree, and as i kind of poked fun at above, art isn't as "rare" as she says it is, so i wouldn't even try justifying that as a reason art *SHOULD ALWAYS* be paid for. by her logic, it would make her music extremely un-valuable considering pop singers are a dime and a penny a dozen.

 

[Konfyouzd]

I wish it WERE true, though. I have ass loads of drawings at home. I'd love to get a little somethin' for each of those. And I was told in school that drawing constitutes art!!!

 

[cjms1997]

Rare things shouldn't exactly valuable to those who don't give a shit. Just my two cents.

 

[Konfyouzd]

Common sense is rare and no one pays for that...

EDIT: It's pretty valuable too...

 

[electriceye]

"Music is art, and art is important and rare," she wrote. "Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It's my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album's price point is. I hope they don't underestimate themselves or undervalue their art."

https://music.yahoo.com/news/taylor-swift-music-art-art-paid-220543197-rolling-stone.html

I guess it is easy for her to say this from her perch when a label spends millions of dollars to promote her. Major labels are still able to gross enormous amounts of money with their chosen few, whereas most bands today are finding alternative outlets to promote, finance, and profit from their art. I think she is a bit out of touch with what the music business is like for the rest of the planet... Its time to figure out how to profit in the new music age because the old ways are a dead path for most acts. Art doesn't have to be free, but there are other ways to get your music out there and other ways to live off of what you do, because it probably won't be from record sales alone.

So you're essentially justifying stealing people's music? Give me a break. She's exactly right. This fu<ked up attitude that people shouldn't have to pay for music ever since the Napster days, is a bunch of excuses to justify stealing. You can't give me one reasonable answer why a band or musician shouldn't be paid for the songs they release. It has nothing to do if they have major label support or not. Yeah, there are several ways to get music out. But But I fail to see anywhere in that article where she's off base. The reason things had to change is because millions of people decided stealing was ok.

 

[stevexc]

So you're essentially justifying stealing people's music? Give me a break. She's exactly right. This fu<ked up attitude that people shouldn't have to pay for music ever since the Napster days, is a bunch of excuses to justify stealing. You can't give me one reasonable answer why a band or musician shouldn't be paid for the songs they release. It has nothing to do if they have major label support or not. Yeah, there are several ways to get music out. But But I fail to see anywhere in that article where she's off base. The reason things had to change is because millions of people decided stealing was ok.

Thank god, I was seriously losing any and all faith in this community. Remind me to +rep you when I get to a computer that actually lets me do so.

 

[Konfyouzd]

I don't see where he justified stealing in any way... I can see how it could be twisted to say that, though. If I were to take issue with his post I'd say that he might be nitpicking at how idealistic the post sounds rather than giving her the benefit of the doubt and going off what she "probably meant". What she says--at least in the excerpt--does sound highly idealistic despite what she more than likely meant by it.

And no one holds a gun to anyone else's head and makes them choose a career. If I felt that I had to constantly jusify why people should pay me, I'd find another way to get paid, but that's just me.