Welcome to my new home!
I hope you enjoy perusing the many pages of the new website! Please let me know what you think, especially if you have ideas on how to make it better or more user friendly. I readily admit to being the Fred Flintstone of 1's and 0's, so there are many features and options I am probably not aware of. If any of you tech-savvy individuals out there note a glaring omission, please email me at donalhinely@comcast.net and I will see what I can do...once I cool my feet off. Stone age cars, you know.
While I'm here I'd like to take a minute to address the issue of file sharing. It is a complicated matter and I have gone back and forth from one side of the issue to the other over the years. Obviously, the music business has changed dramatically in the past two decades. I lament the passing of the old paradigm whereby musicians produced their work and audiences compensated them for the product. But with the dawning of the digital age, a whole generation has literally grown up with philosophy that the recorded works of musicians and songwriters should be available free of charge to everyone 24 hours a day--a nice democratic ideal for the masses, a terrible business model for artists. Here in Music City, I know more than a few artists who have decided to activate their "fall-back" plans in order to make a living. They are no longer actively writing, singing, or playing music. And that's a shame.
But that's just one part of the story. Many more people who would have never embarked on a music career under the old regime can do so now with a computer and an internet connection. Perhaps there is more potential being realized now than ever before in human history? So here's my take: I am just a tiny, tiny feeder fish in this great global ocean of sound. I know that people can always find a way to get my music for free. People sharing my songs works to my advantage. The more people that know the songs, the bigger audience at the next show. I've come to embrace the thinking of Matthew Ebel. I stumbled upon his website (www.matthewebel.com) and found the following well stated principles. I concur wholeheartedly:
"File sharing can be anything from torrents to mix tapes, digital or analog. The RIAA tells us file sharing is always wrong, but they assume you’re a thieving bastard. What matters here is your intention, something no lawyer can put into words. If you’re just being lazy or thinking “I can’t afford the 99¢ to grab this track from iTunes,” you’re stealing. If you’re trying to introduce new people to my music, that’s something I strongly encourage. If you’re going to torrent, burn, rip, or share something I made, please make sure there are plenty of links to www.matthewebel.com all over the place. After all, you’re doing it so I can sell some albums and earn a living, right?"
So, make those mixtapes, produce those podcasts, send an mp3 to your Aunt Thelma, but please always help your audience find the artists who produce the songs. Seems fair to me. By the way, I can always be found at www.donalhinely.com.
Be well!
dh