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| I'm always interested in your opinions about my music or this website. Please send feeback to waltsongs@lycos.com |
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Walter Farmer is an independent Musician from Tucson Arizona whose style ranges from traditional folk to modern electronic. If you really must know what I look like, Click Here. I warn ya though, I aint no pretty sight. Walt's influences include Johnny Cash, Gordon Lightfoot, and Jean Michel Jarre. Walt's Take on the Music Business 10/2000Never in history has the independent musician had access to the broad market made available by the internet. The internet provides an avenue for the independent musician to reach the masses without the fear of being dropped for not conforming to the industries' ideas about what people want to hear. In the past, in order to get music out to the masses, one had to develop a local following, do local shows, try to get signed to a label and pray that the music succeeded. If the music was not a commercial success, the artist was dropped. In my opinion, the internet will continue to shine as a place for ingenuity, creativity and information, but will fall short as a means of direct marketing. Music and Software distribution by electronic means will be the exception here. The controversy over the Napster/MP3.com services will be bad for consumers, and good for the "top out of site" artists whose primary income is from record/cd sales. It is my belief that the days of downloading any song one wants from the internet for free will come to an end. It has been allowed to go on this long to prove out the technology. This will leave a void that will be filled by people like myself whose income is derived from other sources, and whose love of music is the primary reason for making music. Thanks to all who have taken the time to download and listen to what I have recorded. Only time and the justice system will determine the outcome of the music industry in this age of electronic wonders. Happy listening. Walt's Take on the Music Business 7/2003Well things have progressed pretty much as I predicted 3 years ago. Napster is now a thing of the past, MP3.com is still around, but no one is making the kind of money they use to. In fact most folks I know loose money at MP3.com. The RIAA is starting legal proceedings against several suspected online music traders, and it appears that the days of swapping copyright protected music over the Internet are gone. The major labels have been crippled, not so much by file swappers, but by arrogance, greed, and the inability to accept change. Gone for the Major Labels are the days of releasing a CD with one good song, and the rest album filler. The majors are crippled, and the days of 7 figure record deals and recording contracts are fading fast. The new I-pod service announced by Apple Computer is starting to get a lot of people's attention. I believe this is what the record distributor of the future will look like. You no longer have to shell out money for songs that you do not like. You listen to tracks, and if you like them you pay for them. Apple has indicated that it will open up its services to independent labels, making this huge market available to thousands of Artists. For the first time, independent Artists have access to the mass distribution that was once controlled by the major labels. Of course, if your going to play in this game, you had better have professionally recorded commercial sounding material on the table, because the competition certainly will. Folks are not going to shell out money for recordings that are not top notch. So where does that leave me? I will continue to record music that I think is good. I do not have professional equipment, so I'm pretty much out of the pay for play game. One thing you can count on though, as long as I can still pluck a guitar and whale into a microphone you will be able to find my music here for free. I like making music and that is the primary reason that I make music. Again, thanks to all who have taken the time to download and listen to what I have recorded. Happy listening from Walt's Songwriting Web Site. |
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