Lulz, school paper.

I expect a poor grade on this but I'm going to post it anyway so that nobody will read it.

Ten years into the wired generation the music industry can be barely be recognized from the monstrous major label conglomerations of the late nineties. Renowned Chicago music critic, Greg Kot’s, book Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music chronicles the saga of a fledgling age of an increasingly internet based music industry in which the customers, and even music artists themselves, are reminding the record labels that customers are always right. By tuning out corporate managed radio, disregarding outdated copyright laws, and expanding into the limitless boundaries of the internet, the generation of music consumers is turning what had been viewed as a product to many back into an art form for all.
   Kot opens Ripped by discussing the state of the music industry at the end of the twentieth industry and why its condition caused it to act so tyrannical in the coming decade. About five major labels conglomerations dominated the recording industry at the end of the nineties, and they signed artists based on immediate success. By going through independent promoters, radio play depended on how much the artist could pay, while at the same time consumers were overcharged for the music they were purchasing and artists were underpaid for the music they were selling. Young listeners who did not like what they heard on the radio embraced the internet as a place to find new music, and when Napster began the file-sharing craze, the recording industry reacted in the wrong way: by punishing their customers. Over the next several years, the music business attempted to quash file sharing with cease and desist notices, forced settlements, and even full court litigation. Online music traffic only increased though, and after distribution of music moved to the internet, marketing, reviews, and everything else involved in the industry soon followed. Fan authored review sites and personal music blogs insured the success of bands that the offline world never would have heard of, and sample based mash-up artists and this era’s protest music found playtime on the internet. Kot concludes that the final blow of the revolution was the release of Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want album in 2007, marking it as an example of how the face of music had been changed forever.
   Ripped is a book about how the consumers of music media have taken the role of gatekeeper upon themselves, and they took that role by expressing their displeasure with the record industry and their subsidiaries who held it before them. Radio caused people to take their first steps out the door because it was unappealing and obsolete. The only songs that played over the stations were by bands who could afford to have their songs played, and based on what people heard, it seemed “successful” bands made bad music. Furthermore, listening to the radio offers listeners no control except the choice between muddled genres on varying stations. So the wired generation stepped away from radio in search of something better. In the beginning of this new age people went online, downloaded music, and then burned it on CDs to play. Now, iPods are the radio thanks to FM transmitters and even built in audio jacks. I felt sorry for my father, who asked me a couple of months ago after a long drive from Virginia, “What do you listen to the radio these days? I couldn’t find anything and ended up listening to Car Talk for half the trip.” He doesn’t have any CDs, or an MP3 player, or even the new digital radio services that offer a somewhat better variety. I will not be surprised if the next generation skips the radio phase of listening altogether. They will have the wired generation to teach them how to find good music to listen to.
   Once the music industry realized that it was losing the audience for its promotion, and that that audience was turning around and downloading untold amounts of music for free, it took the worst possible course of action to salvage what they perceived as a floundering business: they sued their customers. Essentially accusing file-sharers of shoplifting, the RIAA issued warnings to the biggest offenders of distributing music files to either settle or be taken to court. The recording industry relies on copyright laws to protect the intellectual property of its artists, though what it really cares about is the revenue it thinks it is losing with every file downloaded illegally. Stories of stern cease and desist warnings caused some people to think twice, but did nothing in the long run to stop the flow of the digital music network. Even the rise of Steve Jobs and iTunes could not decrease download rates because it was the same as physical record stores: purchases are only made once the consumer knows what he is getting for his money. Musical copyright law only serves to impede creativity and the flow of ideas in this particular realm of art. The fact that mash-up artists like Danger Mouse or Girl Talk struggled with legal issues over their sample based music only further demonstrates how the previous generation corrupted an art form into a mere product to be sold. The dawn of the wired age has allowed anyone to give music a try. Once again, anyone can be an artist.
   The music industry only has itself to blame for the proliferation of the wired generation. By charging almost $20 for a product that cost approximately $2 to manufacture, it effectively cornered the market for music. Consumers moved to the only place with a more acceptable price: the internet, where music costs nothing. Online there are no independent promoters or copyright laws, and nobody can tell you how or when to do things. It was unexplored territory, so music fans did whatever they wanted. Aside from music sharing, the internet is now used to review, critique, and promote music. Smart bands followed their fans into cyberspace and set up websites to communicate with them. Now artists have blogs, Twitters, MySpace, and Facebook pages. MTV does not play music videos anymore, so fans simply log on to YouTube to watch music videos and concert footage in addition to posting their own original material. Anything is possible with the internet because the people, the customers are in control and the customers are always right. Bands and perhaps even the record labels are only now starting to realize and accept this, and with everyone plugged into this revitalized concept, the future is bright for the wired generation.
   Greg Kot’s Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music discusses the meltdown of the music industry over how they focused too much on what they stood to lose on from the digitization of music and not on what they could gain. A decade later, no one is trying to stop the spread of music across the internet. It is already too late anyway, and it is only a matter of time before the stragglers embrace the unlimited potential of the internet. The wired generation is about more than consumers taking back their product. We are patrons who are taking back our art.