Data is a concept the markets still haven't figured out. When something can be copied infinitely at no additional production cost it defies the economic nature of physical goods. Ten years ago in a business class the suggested adaption was providing data as a service through subscriptions and a lot of the market has moved in that direction. We absolutely hate that, though.
Art as a market commodity is also an interesting thing since we can't define art. The best we can do is create art for the purpose of motivating purchasing behavior. Some great art has been made like this, but most art industries are horrendously abusive to the producers of art who often have to rely on outside forces to market their work who also happen to have a much easier time making much more money than the artists themselves will ever see.
All this to say that the systems we have in place are inadequete to support artists appropriately to the value they contribute to society. I don't have a solution for anyone who wants to create art as their job. My personal solution is to make my work something else and produce my art only on my own terms. Supporting oneself as an artist in the market is a nightmare.
Paragraph #4: Too long with a lot of flip-flop between the author’s stance on digital format and the need for physical. Be confident here and focus on the important part by eliminating the caveats and the “need to cover all the bases”. Once that’s done, this will be a powerful, concise message.
I like where you’re going with this and heartily agree!
I absolutely love Bandcamp. When I want an album and it’s on Bandcamp, I buy it there. I’ve discovered amazing artists there as well. Unfortunately, I don’t know to what extent Bandcamp has a future. It’s been bought by Epic, then bought again by Songtradr, then half the employees were fired. Bandcamp is fighting a war against the streaming model, about culture as a commodity. It’s an uphill battle. I think this sort of model needs to be supported by some sort of coop or non profit or something. The goal needs to be to bring change, help out and break even, not to profit the stockholders.
There is a lot I should probably read one day but didn’t feel like it yet:
S. King’s stuff (haven’t read anything by him yet), Wheel of Time, Brandon’s Stormlight Archive, some of the Paolini’s newer books (after Inheritance cycle), more of Laundry Files by Stross, more of Pratchett’s Disc World (so much more I haven’t read yet).
Though presently, something by Asimov might be my next pick
Literature
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