[Infowarrior] - A note (plea) for the indie music community

[Richard Forno]

(c/o Anonymous)

The following is part of a well-written farewell note penned the owner of an
indie music store (Strangeland) in the DC area that's closing down later
this spring.  His heartfelt comments present a disturbing picture of the
current state (and likely future) of the indie music scene and I thought
them worthy enough to repost to the list.....sadly, it's not the first such
note I've seen like this in recent years, either.  :(     --rick

< - >

The independent music scene is dying a very painful death right now and it¹s
dying at the hands of its alleged fans. Downloading/piracy from major labels
may strike a blow against ³the man², but doing the same for
independent/underground music is KILLING those that make and make available
that type of music, from the bands to the labels, the promoters to the shop
& venue owners. Right now downloading is at the ³fall of Rome² stage, with
people ravenously downloading anything they can get their hands on,
downloading stuff that they don¹t even get around to listening to just so
that they can brag about how many songs they have. At the same time fewer
people are pulling themselves away from their computers (Tivos, Nintendo
Wiis, online gaming, etc.) to see, support and buy merch from bands who are
struggling to tour at all before going back to their day jobs.

The effects of this detrimental behavior won¹t be truly felt until a couple
years from now. As the support structure for underground music continues to
erode at an exponential rate, indie labels/shops/magazines will continue to
fold. As show attendance continues to decline, fewer bands will tour and
venues will shut down. As club attendance continues to decline, once popular
club events will cease to be. And certainly the effects will be TRULY FELT
when all that remains on the desolate musical landscape is local level
MySpace band demos and major label pop fodderŠ with nothing in between, thus
robbing us of the next generation VNV Nation, Jesu, Rancid, Dimmu Borgir,
etc. You can only rape independent music for so long before nothing is left.

Without support, art ceases to exist. So I urge you from the bottom of my
heart, please support the bands you like. Buy their albums. See them live.
Buy merch at their shows (very often this means dinner and gas money to
them). In the end this is a very small price to pay in order to keep good
independent music going.

(NOTE: The store owner's complete letter is at:
http://strangelandrecs.livejournal.com/11979.html -- please note that while
his letter includes notice of upcoming events and sales, I receive no
compensation by mentioning them here......--rf)