Evolve or die

Saw yet another article posted on music piracy by yet another music guru. I am so tired of arguments from both sides of this issue. For good or ill, it's the way of life now. I think of it as evolution. Species die off due to climate change, scarcity of food, etc., and that is what's happening to musicians now.

Am I OK with this? Of course not! But we're not going to stop piracy by appealing to the masses, or explaining that musicians need to eat, aiming for the sympathy angle, or worse, punishing them. Most people don't think beyond their immediate surroundings, beyond what happens to them. The plight of the indie musician isn't high on their agenda. They would rather plunk down $10 for drinks than buy a CD.

The people that claim musicians make money touring likely have never toured themselves, or perhaps they refer to acts that are already successful - thanks to a now dead industry. Artists that are utilizing social media to make a living, have mostly benefited from the said dead industry at some point in their career, catapulting them to the visible zone.

How do we survive? How do we keep making music? Becoming a music industry guru seems a lucrative career now. No matter what happens to the industry, the indie musician would still fork over cash from their day jobs to keep their dreams alive.

I am not admitting defeat. I am merely accepting what is and trying to survive in the new paradigm. We, artists, must learn to maneuver these murky, uncharted waters. We must evolve or become extinct.