My realization on materialism

So the other day I was half awake when riding in a car. I was just daydreaming and thinking, when into my head pops the idea "Music is free." This was a very interesting idea, and after thinking about it for a while I realized something. Music is free, but so is many other thinks like dancing , dreaming , meditating , hiking , and thinking. I thought, " If there are so many things that you can do that are free(in the material sense), why do people spend so much time working for more crap to buy, then throw the same stuff away, or hoard it in there garage or storage unit?"

So the whole thing about living with just the things you need sunk in. Anyways I would like to coin a quote -

"Hoard spirit, not stuff"

 

It drives me nuts people that have the notion that music is free...
Music is not free, it comes from composers, some of whom devote their entire lives. The musicians that play the music also may spend their entire lives mastering an instrument, they didn't get good by practicing a little on the weekends between work weeks at the factory. They have to play music full time to maintain their level of proficiency. They have to eat and keep a roof over their heads, they need payed for their work.
And instruments cost money, the designers and crafters need payed for their work and materials.
Studios cost money and the smarts to run one costs time and money, ect

 

Learning how to play the instrument, the cost of it, and continuing to play is most certainly not worth the millions that the artists make.

In fact, many great artists never payed for lessons. They learned on used or borrowed instruments.

All any of them did was put time into their craft.

Their time is not worth a corrupt socioeconomical society whereby they make millions through greed while more important workers of society make far, far, far, far less.

 

Music eats up lots of $$$ every year for me. CDs, vinyls.. not to mention gigs and tours.

 

Great artists pay with sweat, blood and sometimes their lives my friend...

And very very few of them make millions, and the ones that do? It's the fans paying, and no ones forcing them to. They don't mind paying because thier favorite artist provides them with one of the things that makes life worth living; Art, and the diversion it provides from the dulldroms of day to day life, the inspiration that theres something more to the human experience than scratching at the earth for a living.

And if you don't think art is worth anything, keep it up, the only thing that will be left for you is computer generated noise, there will be no more great musicians and composers because they will all go extinct from futility. It's already happening

 

False dichotomy.

Materialism is someone hoarding wealth in reference to others who cannot make as much, just as much as materialism is buying all the expensive stuff just because.

People who get payed the obscene amounts of money they do for the mere reason of entertainment are the bane of our socioeconomical crisis. There is no reason that anyone should be payed millions of dollars for a record deal or a sports contract due to entertainment value when more productive people of society get payed much less.

Anyone who thinks that famous people deserve their wealth have serious issues in understanding and comprehending the economical issues of the world.

 

Materialize what matters.

We live in a material (physical) world. We do have needs, and rights, to material things. But I know what you mean.

 

Music is only free if it's downloaded illegally. I do it myself but it's cuz I'm too poor to have bought that music in the first place.

I do buy an album if I really like the artist...sometimes even after I downloaded it for "free"

 

Nothing wrong with that. I do the same.

 

Same.
There's a lot of artists I'd never listen to if I hadn't randomly illegally downloaded them and if I like them I always reach for a physical copy of their music.

 

I'm with you in spirit Airy, Moonfox... things are out of balance, too few seem to have more than enough while so many have so little... I wish I could think of a plan to balance things out, but I'm just not that smart. You got anything?

 

Redistribute the wealth, to start.

Then everyone makes the same. There is no one person making more money than anyone else.

 

It's a good concept if you can sell it to the investors, as they say

 

Indeed, greed is the monster no one wants to admit controls them.

 

It's all about this...

 

Looking at FB accounts for people I knew in college who majored in music, only the ones working for public schools or churches are making a living from music. The rest have unrelated jobs to pay the bills, and play music on weekends for free.

When people say they don't pay anything for music, they forget that companies use our money to pay for advertising on radio and music TV.

Anybody who works hard under a system like that is a fool. Nobody would ever attempt anything difficult or risky, like start up a new business.

 

I'm not a professional musician,but I do know that to make megabucks these days in the music industry is pretty hard.Sales of physical music have gone down drastically,and you don't make as much when people pay a few pennies to download one of your tracks etc.Of course there is a fairly sizeable number of popular artists at the top who virtually have a license to print money,but sometimes music careers stall and fail too.For many artists the only way of making money,or even just a reasonable living,is to tour extensively.I bet there are even a few well known artists out there today who probably just about make as much as an accountant does.If you can make a living,any kind of semi-reasonable living,from your music,I think you're doing pretty well.It's an over-saturated market.

 

I think musicians should get good money for good music.
What I object to is the marketing and distribution stranglehold the majors have.

Materialism is a strange thing. Friend of mine has about 25, 000 sq ft of his own houses, in posh areas too. I introduced him to someone, and she said "why's he dress like a tramp"

My view is that resources should be used sensibly, and not squandered.

 

Yes it can feel sickening the way some artists get pumped into the system by the majors.

 

The end result of being able to download things for free has meant the whole music industry has turned to shit