The cB Newspaper 2nd issue, July, 2005 Options

[cBNewsStaff]

Members, please do not post any comments in this thread. Any questions/comments/suggestions, may be PMed to one of our editors listed in the editors' notes for both your convenience and ours; we will answer your comments accordingly. Again, please do not post any comments in this thread; they will be deleted and you will either receive a verbal warning or a raise in your warning level - you may even face suspension.

Editors’ Notes

First, the cB News team would like to thank our readers, especially those who took the time to give us encouraging comments and suggestions as to how we can improve in the future. Those messages provided us a sense of accomplishment and pride in our works. Again, we thank you, and we will always look forward to serve the cB community to the best of our abilities.

As with any service, ours has the potential to excel or stagnate, and while we aim for the former, we welcome any constructive criticism as much as we welcome praise. Any thoughts about the newsletter can be sent to a member of staff, and rest assured that your ideas will be discussed and, where possible and practical, gelled into our current routine.

Also, please note that we are still interested on taking on more staff, so if you enjoy journalism and want to become more involved in the CreateBlog community, please PM an application form (which can be found here) to either Fae (uninspiredfae) or James (Marchhare2UrAlice). We welcome all serious applicants!

Now, enjoy the read!

- The cB News Team (sans reporters, who are listed next to their articles)

Administrators: Fae [uninspiredfae], James [MarchHare2UrAlice]
Editors: Anna [Azarel], Justin [CrackedRearView], Meli[ChasingLife87], Nicki [tweeak]
Runners: Kiera[mzkandi]

(Note: Recent additions to the cB News Team are not listed.)

Table of Contents

01 Editor's Notes
02 Unveiling: xquizit - cB News Staff
03 The createBlog Health Forum - cB News Staff
04 createBlog Superlatives Results, Issue #2 - cB News Staff
05 It's Getting Controversial - Radhika [not_your_average], Kiera [mzkandi]
06 Flamboyant Rockstars and World Leaders End Poverty - Carolina [ichigofan]
07 File Sharing: Taking a Placemat from a Garage Band - Justin [CrackedRearView]
08 An iPod Society - Justin [Sadolakced Acid]
09 Losing Close Friends: Inevitable or Impossible? - Carolina [ichigofan]
10 The Offspring's Greatest Hits Album Review - Brie [Despise]
11 Today's Films - Sammi [Headphones]
12 Featured Poems - cB News Staff
13 The Ramblings of a Server - Justin [Sadolakced Acid]
14 Advice Abby - "Abby"

Discuss and reply at this thread, if you must.

This post has been edited by xquizit: Jul 18 2005, 12:56 PM

[cBNewsStaff]

File sharing: Taking a Placemat from a Garage Band
by Justin Abbott [CrackedRearView]
July 2005

With a glint in his eye, and a dream in his heart, Phoenix, Arizona’s Brad Barr dropped out of college after his freshman year to join his brother, Andrew, and his best friend, Marc in pursuing the impossible. Barr strapped on a tattered Stratocaster, took the helm at the microphone, and thus, The Slip was born. With an idiosyncratic, pop-style approach to rock and roll, The Slip (like the majority of newborn garage bands) was limited to performing at downscale local bars, and unpublicized venues throughout the late 90s. In 2000, the band received a morale-boosting invitation to perform a 25-minute set at one of the nation’s most populated venues, Bonnaroo (approximately 100,000 attendants). With this massive stepping stone to success, The Slip advanced to playing world class acts, including opening for The Allman Brothers, and playing the Austin City Limits stage.

Unfortunately, a buoyant success story such as The Slip’s is a rare instance. Though it would be an unreasonably difficult task to measure the fraction of underground bands that fall short of stardom, it would be acceptable to assume that the fraction is minute. Superstar bands such as Coldplay and Snow Patrol, for lack of a better example, can be compared to the slim fraction of infected people who survive the AIDS virus. Modern times have taken a different course than the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

In 1969, Led Zeppelin launched its debut album, and took the world by surprise. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, now rock and roll icons, devised what would grow to be the most successful band of the 1970s, and, perhaps, the greatest rock band ever. However, their success in the 70s is hardly comparable to the utter lack of wild success of a single group in the new millennium. In fact, a quick look at the Top 100 Albums of All-Time list, compiled by the RIAA, will prove the difference:

1. The Eagles – Greatest Hits (28,000,000+ copies sold)
2. Michael Jackson – Thriller (27,000,000+ copies sold)
3. Pink Floyd – The Wall (23,000,000+ copies sold)
4. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (22,000,000+ copies sold)
5. AC/DC - Back in Black (21,000,000+ copies sold)

In truth, the vast majority of all-time albums were created in the 90s era and below. Much of the blame for this massive decrease in album sales (4% from 2002 to 2003 alone) can be placed on the advent of the internet. With the arrival of Bit Torrent, and other peer-to-peer services, internet users (a crowd quite heavily interested in music) found a completely free outlet for listening to songs that would once be unattainable without a price.

We’re essentially posed with the question: ‘Should file sharing be illegal?’

The answer is a necessary ‘yes’. The arguments stand as follows:

• “The artists make enough money as it is.”

One must be careful when using such a broad statement. Which artists, The Slip or Coldplay? This statement, though mild, is a stereotype nonetheless. In all honesty, how many bands are making enough money to have several thousand people bounce their music around the ‘net, instead of buying it?

Sadly, the world is not perfect. Not everyone can tour, sign a mega-deal with Pepsi, and be well known. There are several musicians that are making good music, but remain poor. With such an approach, we will essentially eliminate them and be left with Madonna, Prince, and Britney Spears. While this may appeal to some, it would be deplorable for millions of others.

• “I don’t want to buy an entire album if I just like one song.”

This problem has already been solved. The internet, amazingly enough, can be turned into a blessing for bands, rather than a bane. The online music store (iTunes, and Rhapsody, for example), an invention created following the famous Napster court cases, offers users a chance to download their favorite songs for $.99, as opposed to paying $20.00 for a complete album. Not only do these sites provide relief from free P2P programs, they allow for less manufacturing and shipping costs, and they offer an easy way to tally up data to aid in marketing. The success of these online stores has already been proven by Coldplay’s new release “X & Y”. The Los Angeles Times reported that over 8% of the band’s first-week sales came from the internet.

It’s all a question of ethics; a question of whether we respect music artists enough to not steal from them. It’s all a question of whether we like hearing about rags-to-riches success stories; a question of whether Coldplay takes precedence over The Slip. It’s all a question of whether we can appreciate the fact that these people make their living in music, and that by breaking code, and snatching it away from them, we’re essentially stealing a placemat at their dinner table.