When Celebs Recant Their Statements About Technology

Like any other citizen of the 21st century, I get everything from news to sources from the internet. I even listen to music on Youtube. The battle between the internet and the music industry seems to never end. Especially when proponents of music downloads such as Prince switch sides. Today, I came across this article about Prince recanting his support of the internet. The blog pretty much dismisses the concerns that celebrities and most musicians have when it comes to their work. It's bad enough that the music contracts they are tied to stifle their creation. Prince's quote about the internet is not saying that the internet should be banned. It is basically saying that the internet can be detrimental to the entertainment industry. As an artist, I would have to agree with him.

As most people know, I am a painter. They have places where they can take any picture and turn it into a canvas painting. I remember a long time ago, when I was younger, I wanted to give up art, because it seems like technology dimishes the purposes and meaning of works. My beliefs about this were confirmed when I took a digital media class last semester. I think that if there is beginning to be a lack of appreciation for music, then the visual arts will follow. It seems like anything can be called art these day.

Prince's statement about the internet is about the lack of money being made on downloading music. I still buy CD's, even when I find my favorite musicians on Youtube and other places. I know that there was one musician who advocated downloading music and his songs can be found on his myspace page free for download. However, I heard two of his songs and I was like "Oh, HELL NO! No wonder why it's free". I found his music to be too folksy and too silly.

That brings me to another point. I know that I'm not a musician (sometimes I wish I was), but I know enough to say that like in any other art form, if you want to sell music, you must give your listeners a show and something original. I have a boyfriend who plays music that is closer to folk music on the guitar and another friend at home who plays jazz on the saxaphone. They are from two different cities and they try to go to venues, and the people who visit these places want rock in different forms. To the average person in this day and age, something that is "in your face" such as metal, rock or mainstream rap seem more compelling than soft jazz or modern folk. To draw more audience to any genre, the object is to move the viewers or listeners by entertaining, not bombarding them with subliminal messages about how effed up this society is. People who listen to mainstream music are shallow, they do not care about real issues that are really happening in the here and now. Rap music used to be about racial empowerment in a world of people of color being targeted by the police officers and being ostracized from society due to race (rap is post-Civil Rights Era and Post Modern). Now most of its music is about degrading women, gaining of material goods and the killing of culture and people in it. So, overall, Prince is right and wrong. He's right, because the internet can be a means to obtain so much for so little, and like any other artist, he wants to make money from his work. He is wrong, because music now, in the 21st century  it is about entertaining people. Musicians and other types of artists must understand that they are making their works for people who are not talented in any artform, be it music, drawing and painting or understanding of culture. The people who wrote that blog about Prince's comment about the internet cannot dismiss and mock what he's saying, because it's true. I some times wonder if people who make these statments telling artist not to criticize technology are talented in any artform? It seems as though they are not. Otherwise they would understand the dynamic relationship between artforms and technology.