MADE

There were several comments on an article I wrote last week about why file sharing will lead to a better music industry that expressed dismay with the conclusion of the piece.

One guy mentioned that he discovered that some of his tracks were being ripped from legitimate sites and offered up on scam sites; some were even offered up in ring tone packages without his consent.

It’s a disingenuous thing to do, but the world is full of people who do things like that. I commented back that there’s really not much anybody can do about that. You just can’t police the Web. It’s way too big. And anything that can be easily copied and distributed like articles or music has little value as a product online.

I said that the way to deal with the lack of control is to change your worldview. I can see how that kind of comment could come across to people as “Tough luck,buddy!”

But changing your worldview vis a vis music distribution is a serious matter because what’s at stake isn’t just your business model, but also your time and peace of mind. Why spend precious time and mental energy on things you can’t control? Some of my articles get ripped from this site and show up in other places. But I don’t really care. I don’t care because there’s not much I can really do about it. How many cease and desist emails can you really send? Cease and desist letters would have made perfect sense if it was 1995 and I was a writer for Vibe Magazine. But it isn’t, so I have to live by different rules. I have to live by the rules of abundance, not the rules of scarcity.

One of the ways you can tell that huge and permanent changes are taking place in industries is by looking at how the powerful are being affected. When we look at media and content creators (newspapers, record labels, magazines, etc) we see that they’re being forced to reform.

The major labels and the RIAA threw billions of dollars at trying to control music distribution. They dismantled Napster, they sued their own customers and they still lost.

If the force is bigger than them, what makes you or anybody think that you can beat it? And I know you know you can’t beat it. But you have to act, think and feel like it by changing your worldview.

I think that one element of the free open world of the Web that’s seriously under appreciated is serendipity. That’s the effort by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else. It’s when you do something intentionally and other good things happen which wouldn’t have happened had you not done that thing. You can call it luck or fortune or whatever. But it’s a bit different from pure blind luck in that you make it fall your way as a result of things you intentionally do.

Serendipity is harder for ambitious individuals to come by when industries are restricted. I can give you a personal example. Back a few years ago, when we were running a label, we were contacted by reggae star Junior Reid because one of our artists did a collabo with a reggae artist in Jamaica who found us on MySpace. He liked our music so much that he cut a track with our artist, Stacey Marie and then Junior Reid learned about it. MySpace is what made it possible. What if we had decided to shelter our music?

Think of all the similar types of situations that could happen to anybody as a result of their music being in as many places as possible. And the thing about serendipity is you just never know. Six degrees of separation is now six pixels of separation.

When you adopt the attitude that says that you should forget trying to control everything it opens up the door wide for luck. It also opens it up for scams, but you have to ask yourself if the benefits outweigh the costs. I think they do for most people.

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Goethe. It’s about luck:

“Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elemental truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans – that the moment that one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves all.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.”

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