Cellphones are the new lighters: How music fans became music consumers and killed the artist.

(Photo-manipulation created from images by jatakuck and smitea)

Once upon a time, you used to be able to gaze out into a crowd during a popular ballad and see dozens, if not hundreds, of lighters. That was back when fans were fans - they loved the music and the artist, and were showing their support in a common way.

Now, the artist can rarely expect to see such love; the glow of cellphones and recording devices litter their view during what they might consider the pinnacle of their creative endeavors. The majority of music "fans" can no longer be described as such - they are deal hunters. Exploitative capitalists. Consumers looking for a product on the cheap.

Recently, Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame) produced Saul Williams' new album (which is very good, I might add). They opted for an online release, free of any record label, and gave fans the option of paying $5 - or paying nothing - in order to obtain it. Their confidence in music fans was sorely misplaced, it would seem, as only 18.3% of downloaders chose to pay.

I've chatted with a number of people - fans of my own music, friends, and even people involved in a creative profession - and discovered that an overwhelming number of people feel that you shouldn't have to pay for music anymore. Many feel no remorse about downloading the latest and greatest using various illicit means, and never sending the artist a penny for their work.

What causes this apathy? What causes people to care less for the livelihood of the artists? I thought it was hard enough convincing people to stop buying CDs from RIAA-affiliated record labels (due to their oft unethical, or even illegal means of controlling artists and the industry), but now that fans have an out, it seems that few are willing to take it. Major music providers are finally offering DRM-less downloads, which means fans will finally be able to listen to their music when they want to, and how they want to, without obnoxious restrictions.

It gets even worse. If you take a quick gander at YouTube, MySpace, and other video providers, you will find numerous bootlegged live concert videos. Of course, thanks to the slow advance of audio recording tech in cell phones, the quality is so abominable that most people would balk at using such content as a legitimate replacement for purchasing genuine live DVDs, but given time, I'm sure that artists will need to find a new way to earn a living.

At least producing music is getting cheaper, otherwise most musicians wouldn't be able to afford to create the product that consumers want.

The artist is dead. The fan is dead. Long live the industry, and the consumer.

-WFL