Liz Larin | Journal

Whose music is it anyway? or "Music, Commerce And Enlightenment In A New World"
May 27th, 2007

As the music business as we know it morphs from provider of different kinds of music to providing music for those who like to buy the same music millions of others like to buy, artists find themselves in an interesting situation. Those with a taste for left of center ideas, alternative thinking, and unusual sound-scapes, are not being catered to and have been left to discover music in new ways.

Weighing in as a recording artist and consumer of interesting music, I'm not bothered when I hear of people burning CD's of my music or file sharing. But I respect and appreciate the people who actually go into their wallets and purchase a CD or pay for a downloaded song. I credit these people with a certain 'awareness' that this act of commerce allows independent labels like ours to keep providing interesting music. I liken this action to people who are willing to pay for ways to not deplete the earth's resources. It's a question of 'enlightenment' when we can see that our actions effect others and create our future.

As a recording artist, for me, once the song is written it is no longer mine, in the philosophical sense. I realise that saying a song is mine is like saying, my sky, or my lake. Music comes through me, it's my passion, to write, produce and perform music. But the music instantly becomes the soundtrack to other people's lives.

I remember the first time two young girls came up to me at a show and said they liked my music and that they take their clothes off to it at the strip club down the street. My initial feeling was that that's not was the music was written for. I felt protective of them and of the music. But I caught myself quickly. The music is there, it exists because people are listening to it. (What is the sound of a tree falling in the forest if no one is there to hear it...)

Therefore, if music I am involved with can be used in anyway in the world, it's done it's job. As the artist, I appreciate being paid when the music us used as part of a marketing campaign, when music adds another level of emotion to a film, TV commercial or presentation, or when someone makes money from the music in anyway. I don't think an artist is selling out, I think the way artists get music to people has changed but the desire to get music out to people has not.