Deryk Barker:

>Surely there is an opportunity for the adventurous record companies who
>*do* record contemporary music: given that the compression ratio for
>MP3s is adjustable, why not make available MP3s of new issues but with a
>(deliberate) reduction in the quality of the sound? (I'm not getting into
>the "MP3 as good as CD sopund" debate thank you very much).
>
>This way you could sample the *music* while still feeling the need to
>purchase the CD for the sake of the sound, if you liked the music.

There is a chance for anyone to distribute music by way of mp3 files.  But
let us remember something about music which speaks a different idiom from
the past - often the first performances or renderings are disadvantages
rather than advantages.  The simple truth is that most people who are
making recordings are doing it so they can earn their living at making
recordings.  True of the pianist playing Liszt or Stockhausen as much as
Jewel playing her own material.

Until people who make music, of whatever type, are convinced that mp3
distribution helps them, they won't go to.  Now consider Deryk's argument.
He wants mp3's to *reduce* the chance he will buy something.  No artist in
their right mind is going to give up the position of "if you are a fan, you
have to pay just to find out whether you like it" - that is "buy before you
try" - for "you could not buy it based on what you hear".  The only artist
who will take the deal of getting presented is one who feels they have a
better chance of the consumer buying their recording.  As long as the state
of contemporary music is that the works virginity is worth more than the
work, and I submit that the objective facts show that this is so - they are
not going to bargain it away so cheaply simply because the consumer wants
it easy.

Right now, this very instant, an enthusiast could set up an mp3 station
at live365.com, get broadcast permissions on works from the appropriate
performing rights organisations - create mp3 files - and have at it.

The tools are out there, the question is whether people have the drive to
use them.  Ultimately all of the genres of classical music - from the most
popular to the most arcane rest on people being willing to use the tools
available to get the word out.

Stirling S Newberry
Mp3s: http://www.mp3.com/ssn
War and Romance Radio: http://stations.mp3s.com/stations/8/war_and_romance.html