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There once was a time when a musician wasn't able to record their works, the only exposure to be found was by traveling from town to town and playing tavern to tavern. The music was judged by those present at the show, and if they wanted to, they could put the musician up for a couple days or tip them a coin or two, but recording changed that.

In the 50's, record companies began producing music, meaning fabricating it and using mechanical means to improve upon the actual sound of the performance. By producing and later over-producing these albums, the record companies were able to sell tons of mediocre musical acts to people for large amounts of money. This money didn't go to the artists, mind you, but to the record companies themselves. And so the exploitation and mass cheapening of the art of music begins....

In the mid-nineties, bands and artists were given back some of their rights as artists. The Internet allowed anyone capable of making any kind of recording essentially their own promotion and production machine, with the ability to reach all consumers on a personal level. They could make their music available for little or no cost immediately to a fan on the other end. People also realized that the record industry had been overcharging them and not paying the artists a reasonable cut, and justified illegal downloading as getting back something on the gouging they had taken for the last 40-50 years.

Prince has always had an on-again, off-again relationship with his label. If there is something that people want, they will pay for it. The price that people are willing to pay depends on the individual and the music. If people who normally don't read this magazine buy it because of the Prince album, it means it's worth the cover price of the magazine to them.....

This whole thing is reminiscent of the baseball card industry, until the late 80s and early 90s, baseball cards were a niche collector's market, with some cards being worth big dollars to collectors. Then, the industry got greedy, flooded the market with cards, and the bottom fell out of the whole market. Too many products from the industry at too high a price eventually will flat-line the industry.

My father said on many occasions, "Things are only worth something to people willing to pay that for them". I never understood what that meant, until now. He also told me one other truth; he said "Nobody will know the difference 20 years from now." He was on the bullseye with both.

Learn more about this author, Scott Graves.
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