Sharing

I really don't want to get all bogged down in this, so let's make this quick and painless. We've probably all read in various places the moral debate started by one Ewan Pearson. If not read here. This thread had not come to my attention until one of my favorite blogs, Birth School Work Death, committed blogger hara-kiri last week (Can't he just pull a Monsieur P?) and cited it for reference. After reading Scott's goodbye I visited Ewan Pearson's (an artist I first heard from various blogs. oh irony.) page to understand what could bring someone to hang it up so suddenly.

Basically this argument started with Ewan's flippant remark about bloggers giving away music, and in the comments, became a fascinating discussion arguing both sides of said issue. After reading both sides (and a lot more at Little White Earbuds) I just found myself confused. The one thing that stuck in my head most was Pearson saying "Wake up now before there’s no one left except the majors". Aargh. Scary.

I started this blog because I thought I could offer something to people like me. Blogs are waypoints on my journey, a song I enjoy will set me off in another direction, into somewhere I didn't know existed. I wanted somewhere to document my trip through music and share pieces of the map with like minded journeymen (and women). I definitely didn't do it to destroy the record industry.

So, in respect to the artists I love, and not just to please Mr. Pearson, I will abide by a few rules. Posting brand new and unreleased material is now a no no without proper artist consent (i.e. the Yelle post below). Honestly, it made me feel a little filthy sometimes anyway. However I will still sometimes post newish older tracks that I think got slept on and could use a little re-promotion (i.e. the Shining post a few down), in hopes that new fans can find and love their music, buy t shirts, take mushrooms at their shows, etc, etc.

I'm not trying to say this is the right or wrong way, and at this early stage of the internet era, who really knows? What I am saying that this feels right to me, so I'm gonna do it.