Comment on Yesterday's Post Regarding Pete Berwick

I had copied and pasted yesterdays blog on Myspace. My good friend Rob Mazurek made a very good comment on it, and I wanted to share it as well as my response for the benefit of those who read my blogs on here.

Nothing offence about Pete's picture that I can see here Jack,pair of handcuffs..-so what ? . I've seen women on myspace post almost completely nude shots of themselves and never get them yanked from their pages (then again who would complain... I guess thats a bad example...lol) Seriously though, Pete's picture here is completely harmless- I think you may be onto somthing Jack, it's not the pictures at all-but the music that the major labels find to be a threat to their existance-so yeah,they nit-pick away at the indie guys for creating music just as good (and in some cases better-then some of their major artists)

What I find sad and pathetic is...the world of music is digitalized now,downloads are the norm as opposed to buying CD's- the market is huge for everyone to make a buck, there's no need for childlike greed on anyones part. I wont mention any major label artists names here but if certain female artists can make half-naked videos and sell music based on "Sex" and have their videos freely posted on myspace for the world to see (including impressionable 13 year old girls) , than Pete's pic is very harmless compared to that !! , Ive also seen womens websites with pics depicting/suggesting bondage- so the handcuffs obviously cannot be the "Real issue" here.

- Just my Two Cents people.

Posted by Rob Mazurek on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 6:13 AM

I think he hit the nail right on the head. Reposting my response here for the benefit of my blogger readers.

Rob I think you make a very good point. We've all seen some pretty suggestive pictures here on Myspace, generally from legit users of the site. As the world of music has become more digitized social networking sites like Myspace are the perfect tool for independent musicians to promote themselves, get their work heard and do all this without being with a major label. The majors meanwhile want to promote THEIR people, and the music that THEY think people should be listening to, never mind that there are a lot of people who have gotten tired of the cookie-cutter crap that the majors keep churning out. Keeping in mind that the major recording studios (or the companies that own THEM) have bought up the majority of the radio stations here in the states, they control who gets heard, its not like it was before where a locally owned station would give the "little guy" airplay.

So, with all this in mind, the only real avenues that the independents have are live shows, and the internet. The internet is a powerful tool as we all know. Independents have used and embraced Myspace because of the potential to promote yourself to thousands (some cases tens of thousands) of people, and create a fan base. All this being done without any help from the majors whatsoever and I really think that this is where the problem lies. The major labels continue to insist that musicians NEED THEM. Well, no, you don't. I really think that because of this the majors feel threatened, and pull below the belt crap like this.

When you consider that the 4 major labels all have bought stakes into Myspace, it's easy to read between the lines and see what's really going on.

Just thought I'd share the conversation for the benefit of my blogger readers.