{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1138\cocoasubrtf510 {\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;} {\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;} \paperw11900\paperh16840\margl1440\margr1440\vieww10800\viewh8400\viewkind0 \pard\tx566\tx1133\tx1700\tx2267\tx2834\tx3401\tx3968\tx4535\tx5102\tx5669\tx6236\tx6803\pardirnatural \f0\fs24 \cf0 Let's destroy the music industry, together!\ \ A little history for those who need it: back in the day, the existence of record companies actually made sense. It was hella expensive and equally difficult to record, mix, master, press, distribute and promote an album, and as such, it was logical for artists to contract all that tricky stuff out to the big guys in exchange for a slice of the proverbial cake.\ \ Cut to the present day. While still pricey, musical instruments and recording equipment are now available at your local music store for considerably less than they would've been decades ago. Anyone can purchase a good DAW for a few hundred dollars - or download one illegally for free - or heck, you can even record your band straight into Audacity! Mastering VSTs won't set you back that much, and if you don't trust yourself, you can email your songs to an ME in another country to be mastered for about $50-100 a song depending on their level of self-proclaimed professionalism. CDs can be pressed and assembled in jewel cases for a surprisingly low fee.\ \ What I'm saying in a long-winded way here is that ANYONE CAN NOW MAKE MUSIC, a fact which the current music industry refuses to accept. They clamp their hands over their ears and shout silly things about DRM and SOPA and copyright laws, determined to hold the modern world back rather than adjust to the rate of change. I think we're all aware that it's only a matter of time before the whole darn thing collapses under the weight of its own redundancy. Technology has put the music industry in the hands of the people. Rejoice!\ \ But just as importantly, it's put \i promotion \i0 in our hands. It really is difficult for independent artists to 'break through' into the traditional world of music videos, promotional tours, interviews, radio ads, etc. We should be done with that, though! We're ready to replace all that with something better: social media, a way of democratising culture that leaves promotion not to those with the biggest budgets, but to you and me and all our friends. It's ridiculously easy to post on your Wall about the latest cool thing you've found, and it's literally free.\ \ We're on the verge of a massive paradigm shift here. Social media is great for letting friends know about the delicious lunch you just ate, but it also has the power to let us shape our culture in a previously unimaginable way, which is what I'm totally all about. Is this rant just a very tortuous way of asking you to share this album? Well, yes, but it's more than that, too. Share ALL the albums. Use social media to support independent artists on Bandcamp, Megabox (soon!), heck, even the iTunes store - because they really are the way of the future, and that's where we've gotta go if we want to get jetpacks.\ \ I wrote this on a train while listening to Noisewaves' "Self titled EP," which is SO GOOD, and is available from\ http://noisewaves.bandcamp.com/album/self-titled-e-p\ See? EASY.\ \ P.S. "Democratising culture" was brought to my attention by Steve Roggenbuck, who sums it up better than I ever could over here:\ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re9jzTDKWF8}