Summary of an article that raises issues about the way in which I might construct my product next year

Article = Why Piracy is Perpetuating Plastic Pop, By Helienne Lindvall

"Rather than helping to create a rock'n'roll revolution, the unwillingness to pay for music means more assembly-line artists" 

• This article discusses how the problem of piracy affects the way music is presented by institutions nowadays to attract a mass audience rather than producing niche artists that attract certain audiences.  
• A quote from Lily Allen's argument on the matter, "most younger artists would never get the chance to even make a living from music" is a perfect example of how new technology has changed the way audiences appreciate and respect music.  Clearly, audiences do not appreciate opposition to piracy as it is easier and evidently cheaper for them and therefore it is hard for artists to speak out on their opinions.  For example, after Lily Allen put her opinion across, the article claims how "this made her the target of thousands of incredibly abusive messages - even death threats".
• The article describes how Massive Attack's 3D (part of British DJ/trip hop duo) explained to the BBC "how frightening it was to see the total amount of downloads on unlicensed sites".  The fact is this will cause music to cheapen, eventually compromising artists as it will force the business to take more drastic action, resulting in listeners being compromised in the music that will be available for them to listen to.  Less 'alternative' artists will produce music and it's possible that "piracy and the unwillingness to pay for music" will create a "self-perpetuating conveyer belt of cookie-cutter pop stars" that a lot of people will not appreciate, regardless of the mass audience that listen to the 'plastic pop stars', such as artists from the X factor.  
• Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins is a perfect example of an artist who is expected to fit in with the new culture that technology has pushed music into, "the fact that technology now allows  people to choose to not pay for music has turned music culture into a service culture".  He claims how artists now have to "beg for attention" to earn money and that nowadays, if someone like him could be manufactured they'd pick someone with "Straight teeth, a better attitude and music that was much more palatable to a wider audience".  
• If I based my promotional package for my artist/band next year purely on this article alone, I would be forced to create a false 'plastic' character that fits in with the characteristics and genre that society expects artists to be nowadays as a sort of false role-model.  However, I do not agree that because of the difficulty of piracy and new technology today that artists have to fit in with this "conveyer belt of cookie-cutter pop stars"and that the right marketing strategy and business model can be successful and earn money by still giving that interesting and alternative edge.  This article seems to force me to challenge these views and use an artist or band that is individual and exciting and use those characteristic to interest and engage fans.  This idea was also influenced by the another article 'Trent Reznor and the Formula for Future Music Business Models, by Mike Masnick' (shown in my next blog)
• Because of piracy, artists and institutions are forced into changing their actions considerably to earn money.  For example, Noel Gallagher claims in the article "That's why tours are becoming so long" "Records don't get any cheaper to make"
• I believe that when producing my own products, I am obliged to attract a wide audience even if my artist isn't 'plastic' by interesting advertisement.  Jamal Edwards, Founder of online music channel SBTV is a very influential character for me when considering how I will create a promotional package for the launch of a band or artist's first album:

Short summary of 'A biog of Jamal Edwards, The Guardian'

• When reading about Jamal Edwards, I find what was so successful about his actions were that he discovered something that was open in the market, "the space for an online channel dedicated to grime music was wide open".  This pushes me to think of something different and new when creating a promotional package so audiences are engaged and interested to see what it is.  
• Jamal's music videos are "raw and often thrilling", which proves that you don't have to produce 'plastic' advertisement to create a successful piece of work that is popular because it is exciting.  
• Instead of making money through the artist, the channel makes money from advertising and does this because Edward's attitude towards his work as "racked up 50,000 subscribers and a total of 39 million video views".  
• Jamal advises people to "chase your dream, not the competition, because looking at the competition will cloud your vision and mess you up in the long run".  I hope to make use of this notion when producing my own products by creating 'rebel' like advertisement that is fun rather than following the normal conventions of music videos that attract a mass audience that are false and plastic.