Having produced music now for some 9 years I have often felt like a very small fish in a very, very large pond.  It was purely the love of the sounds I created that kept me from giving up and conceding to the populous, for the demand of instantly produced media fastfood music and just becoming a listener again. When I first started recording music, synth driven electro, I was surprised to find the pure volume of this kind of genre available to listen to and download from various places around the internet.  It also wasn't lost on me, that most, if not all, of this music had been promoted as being available on iTunes.  I must say at this point also that it wasn't just my genre of music in an overload position.  Anyway I digress, having released a few ep's to quite a warm reception from friends and family, I myself was driven to get my music on iTunes.  I spent days and the odd week recording to get an album together, only to find that once completed I had to get signed to a label to get my music to the same heady heights that other musicians had managed.  That holy grail, that light at the end of the hell of people never hearing what I percieved to be the best music in the world , iTunes !!

Now don't get me wrong, I wanted people to hear my music, I wanted people to love it !  But I didn't want to be controlled in the style and output of my music, which if I'm honest, is the first thing a label tries to do.
'But if I don't get on iTunes how can I really have any credibility in what I'm doing?' was the continuous thread of thought,  Well to cut a long story short, I was fortunate enought to get signed up to an internet label ' Magnatune.com ', which was, more so than it is now, primarily a label which would market and distribute my mp3's around the internet globe, including, wait for it, yep, thats right  iTunes!  I had it, an album out, selling quite well, not breaking any sales records, but selling all the same and I could say I had music on iTunes. You may well ask, so what's my point?  Well, the point is, I didn't actually generate any sales through  iTunes, infact I would go as far to say that most of the revenue I recieved was down to the music licensing model used by Magnatune.  iTunes was nothing more than an mp3 warehouse for music no-one wanted. To access its music you had to basically give up control of your computer to the slug that is the iTunes software. Then it occured to me, iPod, iTunes on windows machines, Apple incroaching.

Now I must say, some indepedents do rather well from iTunes, but most of that is generated through advertising. To get on iTunes you still have to pay a middle man who no doubt passes this on to iTunes in someway or another.  For my money Amazonmp3 is the best outlet for any aspiring band or musician, but again you still have to pay the man!  There I go again, rambling off, back to my point, the music industry is in turmoil, labels are losing millions and iTunes is the biggest thing on the planet.  iTunes, a new superlabel that will control all before it and demand money from everyone signed to all the labels in the world, or, your music is rubbish. That was Apple's business plan, well that bit worked ok didnt it?  What about the next stage? This the point we arrived at 2 years ago, the new plan.  Having gained control of the music industry we now need to take over the mobile phone industry and merge the two and incorperate our slug, the iTunes software, into an App.  We will create a phone that is a mac pc, that will have access to all the top social networking sites and get people away from thier pc's and laptops and just start using Apps.  This way we can control all the other mp3 download sites aswell because if they dont have an App they won't be seen on our new superphone.  People will start using their phone more to update their profiles, we will let them tweet on the move, we will be in everyones pocket.  Literally, everytime you take it out it'll cost you money.

My whole big point thing is that progress will always be made but for all progress there is always a loser.  This loser happens to be the musician using his networking sites to promote his music that he didnt want to have to pay people to listen to.  With the advent of the App comes the 'can't hear that properly on my phone' attitude and 'skip that message and delete that update' mentality.  A mentality the independant musician can well do without.  Myspace was a revelation for the independant but against the power of the giants of our time, Facebook, Twitter and Apple in all its guises, music is the only loser and with it, the fresh sound of new ideas.  This will surely herald a turn back to instantly produced media fastfood music!

So, to now.  I have started my own label, a label where I give the artist control over what they want to do with their music.  Well thats the plan.  A label that doesn't take money from the artist which the label doesn't need to operate.  A label that gives its artists a webhome, a place where people can listen for free to good music and if they desire a label that will offer distribution to all the top mp3 download sites including the holy of all holy's iTunes !!!!

Everyone has the ability, having more money or a louder voice doesn't mean you have more ability.  Never give up on your music because your never the only one that likes it.  When more people like what you do, more people dislike what you do, it's the way of the way of the world.  Always have faith in your musical ability.

You gotta fight for the right...well, yeh, you know the rest...

mission by proxy