>Look, this is part of my ongoing interest in how
the hell we're going to pay for journalism and
popular art in a world where everyone wants stuff
on the Internet for free.
We are not. I have been asked to write pieces on film, but do not get paid for them since they will be made available on the Internet (where most good film criticism happens today). There are many, many articles that are not getting written because people can only produce them in the time outside of their other paying job(s).
Dwayne:
> Digital music became popular because it gives us the
ability to create play lists *built from singles*.
I happen to like cd's. I like experiencing the songs in the order that the artist presented them (just as I prefer a film's reels (or data) to be projected in the order determined by the filmmaker [excepting CHELSEA GIRLS]). I scrambled Ella Fitzgerald's Ellington Songbook on my cd player and it was nice, but when I went back to the original ordering, I noticed that some connections that became apparent when the album was played that way. Maybe albums are no longer made this way (I stopped with Sarah Vaughan), but this hyper-dividing seems to present some serious aesthetic issues.
> But maybe one or two songs stand out for you.
Which is the good part of being able to buy just one song. But there can be the loss of a larger understanding of the art work when it is carved up: "I'll have the first movement of Brahms' 3rd plus the last movement of Beethoveen's 9th, and hold the Bach."
Dennis:
> The advantage with digital is everything is a single.
That is an advantage? Is the single the basic unit or is it the album? (Much like in baseball: is it the individual pitch/swing that is the basic unit or the at-bat?)
shag:
> Everyone thought it was going to be cheaper to produce
web-based versions of print. Well, surprise, it's not a
tenth or less of the cost of producing print.
Exactly. A recent article I completed for the web took just as long as one that has been submitted to a journal and for which I might receive a small sum.
Brian