Cashmusic totally agrees with Thom and instead of just talking about the obvious Cashmusic has started an open source foundation that will be providing software, social tools and hosting capabilities to help both young and established artists with solutions for the new digital music industry. Some might ask why open source? We believe that open source software makes Cashmusic solution owned buy by the community which will give the software and services a long life that is controlled by it’s members and users. We have witnessed many start-ups that create software for the musician community, but tend to fail or get acquired by bigger corporate organization. We are dedicate to creating value for musicians in this paradigm shift in the music industry.
In a rare interview, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has warned young musicians not to tie themselves to the “sinking ship” of the music industry, suggesting it will soon collapse. The singer said it is “only a matter of time — months rather than years — before the music business establishment completely folds,” he said in an interview for a school textbook.
He advises musicians to self-release music rather than yearn for a major label contract, suggesting the loss of the mainstream music industry will be “no great loss to the world.”
His group, who were previously signed to EMI, shook the industry after offering a ‘pay what you want’ system for the digital release of ‘In Rainbows’ in 2007. The model has since become a common option for groups selling their music online with stores such as BandCamp.com.
Although the concept of the whole music establishment folding may seem implausible, it could be agreed that the annual deluge of music graduates often find they have few full-time prospects. The RIAA report that music piracy is now costing 71,060 US jobs and $2.7 billion (£1.86 billion) in workers’ earnings every year. However, hard times have encouraged some of the most prolific music movements in history. The modern affordability of recording equipment and global distribution could be the factors that prove Thom Yorke right.
From: Spinner.com
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You mean “owned *by* the community”, right? Almost a
Freudian slip, given the context of community/art vs music industry.
In any case, hooray to Cash music for developing these open-source tools!
Leigh you are correct with my Freudian slip.
Yup, the music industry is working with a totally different set of cards these days. I like how focused Cashmusic is on helping the artists and curious to see what this develops into. I’d like to pass these tools onto our community and I’ll be staying in the loop.