-Online Opportunity
-The rapidly changing music biz has become a digital battleground,
and everyone from record companies, bands and even fans,
are dueling it out for a slice of the cyberspace pie

Been hearing a lot lately about how fast the music biz is changing. Not just on TV news or in the local fish wrap, but from people who are directly involved in what's going on - record companies, musicians, and fans. Talk about a hot topic. Most of the scuttlebutt bouncing around the backstage coffee dripper centers on record companies scrambling to preserve their vested interests, and artists eager to take advantage of unprecedented opportunities in the brave new world of online music distribution.

Everybody's got an angle. Yet very few, if any of these people claim to know where the recording industry is headed. Right now it's a crap shoot. One thing -is- clear though - there's a revolution being waged in cyberspace. Thanks to wildly popular, and equally controversial websites like Mp3.com and Napster, the music industry's long-standing business model is rapidly becoming obsolete. Change is in the air, and as we know, change brings opportunity.

Sure, the favorable ruling in a recent, precedent setting case against Mp3.com brought by the Recording Industry Association of America weakens the threat posed by online competition. The RIAA contends that the website engages in blatant copyright infringement. Apparently, the courts agree. At least for the moment. As we go to press, another ruling is expected at any time on different lawsuit, this time against Napster, a more recent, and potentially devastating software program the RIAA claims is also in violation of copyright laws.

Regardless of the outcome of that case, it's too late for the RIAA to maintain exclusive control over online music distribution. Like it or not, the tools to sidestep the recording industry's monopoly on the distribution of music are available to anyone with a computer and modem. The courts can pass all the laws they want, but enforcement is another matter entirely. Some programs enable people to share music with each other over the Internet with no middle man or central server. In other words, record companies will have to crack down on individual fans themselves as opposed to shutting down a competitive business.

Few industry types see prosecuting fans as a viable solution, but that hasn't stopped Metallica from trying. The band submitted names of over 300,000 people who have downloaded Metallica songs using Napster software to Napster itself, asking that these folks be blocked from further use of the software. The wisdom of attacking your own fans is dubious, and the backlash has already begun. Lots of Metallica fans now see them as greedy bastards.

That's not to say that the RIAA and Metallica's move to shut down what they perceive to be stealing doesn't make sense. It does. And to a degree, the tactic is working. But it's a Band-Aid. The long-term solution for record companies who fear being left out of the lucrative game of online music distribution is to -participate- in the process of change, rather than go to war in an effort to eliminate it.

Face it, the Internet is here to stay. Record companies know that. While their teams of legal talking heads argue the case in court, music industry bean counters are working feverishly to stack the deck in their favor.

Next month, we'll take a look at one record company that is working on a 'win/win' way of doing business. We'll also expose the great untruth that has traditionally stood in the way of 'non blockbuster' musicians from achieving financial success, and discuss how jambands can realize their dreams in this environment of change, without paying the price of independence lost.

Lee Abraham is a freelance music journalist currently on the road, enroute to the All Good festival in West Virginia. As we go to press, he's working out of a semi-dingy motel room in Flagstaff, and looking forward to shaking his bones under the sun with a few thousand like minded groovemeisters at the festival. Check out http://mrlee.com for recent photos of Wise Monkey Orchestra, the David Nelson Band and a whole lot more, or contact him directly at mrlee@jambands.com.