Recently I’ve come to a hard realization: money is the driving
force behind the movement and progression of our world. It is the physical
manifestation and representation of accumulated power. It is the building block
beneath the socio-economic hierarchy that forms the differences of our various
cultures. Even in relation to religion, money is king.
All that said, as an individual citizen and artist living in
a capitalist state, I’ve got to succumb and face facts: what I’m creating is
essentially a product designed to be shared, but for a price. That price not
only represents my ability to house, feed, and support myself, but also a deeper philosophical value that is placed upon my work. It is
important to my own sense of self respect that I value my music according to a
system that 99% of other people can understand.
Furthermore, I am not selling digital rights to my songs,
but merely digital copies. The market, or rather Apple Inc., has deemed copies of
songs to be valued at $1 each. So, in order to associate myself in the same
vein of “value” as other artists, I have to list all my songs for $1, lest they be considered “less
valuable,” in an economic sense. That’s something that wasn’t so important to
me six months ago when I was planning the free release of Peace. While morally it felt good to release my music
for free, and not to reiterate, but I’ve simply had to learn that we as
individuals must use the skills we have to make a living, even if we have idealistic principles that clash with that.
My primary skill to this point has been music production, so
I need to capitalize on that as much as possible. I would love to someday
release all my music for free in digital format, thereby lending to my idealist
world view that everything can be equal and all people and products can coexist
in harmony (See "I'm A Metalhead-Hipster," pg. 496). But until I have millions stashed away to provide for my present
and future needs and desires, that just can’t happen.
Thanks to all those who have supported me up until now and I
hope that you will continue to do so
- Brad (AKA The Dragon)
