Shelby's Life and Whatnot

It's Friday Five Time!

Phew, I almost forgot this week! Here's the Friday Five:

1. Who is your favorite singer/musician? Why?
I'm torn between my old favorite, Indigo Girls, and my new favorite, Dar Williams. Both of them have awesome lyrics. Lyrics to me are very important. Both of them are very sing-along-able, which is also a must. The Indigo Girls do great harmony too.

2. What one singer/musician can you not stand? Why?
Rod Stewart, because his voice sucks AND he's NOT sexy.

3. If your favorite singer wasn't in the music business, do you think you would still like him/her as a person?
Yes for both of my favorite singers. Well, the three of them (there are two Indigo Girls). Dar Williams is very funny in her concerts and seems to be a really nice person. The Indigo Girls are very active in social causes (anti-death penalty, gay rights) and I really respect that.

4. Have you been to any concerts? If yes, who put on the best show?
I love concerts and have been to three this year alone (that I can think of). Dar puts on a great show, especially when she talks about the songs in between them, but my heart still belongs to the Indigo Girls when it comes to concerts. They're awesome, and the fans and audience participation is out of this world. Everyone sings along at the top of their lungs. Kevin jokes that they don't actually do any singing in concerts and just let the fans take over (which in some song is true for things like the chorus).

5. What are your thoughts on downloading free music online vs. purchasing albums? Do you feel the RIAA is right in its pursuit to stop people from dowloading free music?
Now there's a question. The short answer is no, I think the RIAA is wrong and suing 12 year olds is ridiculous. The long answer is this. I fully support artist's rights and feel they should definitely be adequately compensated for their songs. The problem is, when it comes to CD sales, out of your $20 only a tiny percentage of that goes to the artist themselves, and the rest goes to the big music companies. The big music companies and the companies who run the radio stations (like Clear Channel) are in cahoots to get a buddy-buddy system of mutual compensation at the expense of artists. Not to mention that they completely shut out the small, independent artists (like my beloved Dar Williams) who end up getting no air time. They have a monopoly on the system and are making ridiculous profits. Personally I would much rather send $20 directly to the artist and bypass the record companies all together. I don't feel bad about downloading music because it is this free air time that gets me to discover new artists and buy more albums. I don't see any difference between taping a song on the radio, which is free and which people have done legally for years, and downloading a song off of the Internet, which is also acquiring a song for free.

Plus I think in the long run you're not going to be able to beat the technology. People will continue to come up with new file sharing programs and they will always be able to download music. Look at all of the time and effort spent in shutting down Napster. What a waste! Now with Kazaa people are just as easily downloading music. I think suing people after the fact is just closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. What the industry needs to do is think outside the box and come up with new ways for everyone involved to be fairly compensated.