Thanks folks. That's exactly the kind of debate I was hoping for. Look, I am here to bring what I'm doing to an open forum to see what people make of it. I don't know yet what anybody but my own friends think.
I'm not a promoter. Part of the reason I'm doing this is to send a message to the music industry that I'm not interested in making money, I'm interested in making music and giving something back to the community. I KNOW that other musicians feel the same way. Everybody I've ever worked with is resentful of the fact that music has become an industry. That's why forums like this exist –*precisely because music has a life of its own and will continue to progress despite the confines imposed by industry.
Conan: I agree with what you said –*I dig music that is socially conscious and not necessarily pushing a political agenda. I do believe that everything social is also political but as soon as you get into alignments with parties and specific policies it becomes sinister. That is not what I'm about. I'm just trying find expression for how we all feel as any artist would. I mean every word I said in the original post.
LoathsomePete: (I have to say your avatar makes me feel at home) in one of the JFK samples I'm using the man says that "the artist – however faithful to his personal vision of reality – becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state." I strongly believe that this is the role that we as artists must take seriously in order to contribute something sane and useful to the increasingly desperate situation that society finds itself in. I'm committed to doing just that.
I'm hoping to find other like-minded music heads here who can tell me whether they think this is a good idea, whether anybody else has already done it better or anything else that could contribute to enriching my understanding of music and its role in society.
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