LYRICS
Talent will receive no award
Talent will receive no reward
No participation trophy
For your participation
In your creation
They are trying to define this distribution
They are trying to control this distribution
They are trying to rule this distribution
They are trying to define our distribution
That can not be defined
Far from “fine”
More like “fined”
[Call] Find
Justice for us
[Response] (We know it’s yours,
But now it’s ours)
ABOUT THE SONG
This is a song about the Music Modernization Act and the industry’s attempt to define what they want to control — “streaming music”.
Ever since the 1920’s when the mafia would shakedown speakeasies for royalties, the music industry has attempted to control the distribution of music. In the 70’s, they tried to control the “taping” of music. In the 2000’s, they tried to control music downloads with lawsuits against NAPSTER and little old ladies.
“On September 8, 2003, the recording industry sued 261 American music fans for sharing songs on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks, kicking off an unprecedented legal campaign against the people that should be the recording industry’s best customers: music fans. Five years later, the recording industry has filed, settled, or threatened legal actions against at least 30,000 individuals. These individuals have included children, grandparents, unemployed single mothers, college professors….” (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
Now, they are trying to control “streaming” music. What does this mean? Radio stations that stream their programming? Musicians that stream their music to videos?
The ongoing problems and lawsuits of trying to define what they control will likely be detrimental to musicians and music for decades to come.
Style: Alternative Rock / Progressive Reggae
Chords: Eb / Bb Ab Gb Eb / Ebsus4; 107 BPM Reggae #2
Recording: original take / live digital 1-track stereo
Instrumentation: Vocals, Keyboards (MicroKorg, Korg, Casio)
From the album Unbelievable