http://disqus.com/by/MrMarkAZ/enThu, 23 Dec 2010 01:12:13 -0000http://www.alternet.org/belief/149224/why_religious_people_are_scared_of_atheists/comments/#comment-117511435<p>I believe it was Dinesh D'Souza who once opined that the only conversation you can have with a religious zealot is with live ammunition. If you're right, then the collective disbelief of the atheists in the world should have set off the equivalent of a nuclear bomb right on your rather insane little head, vaporizing you and your paranoid rantings into whiffs of vapor.</p><p>Oh, if only.</p>Mark JonesThu, 23 Dec 2010 01:12:13 -0000http://davidakermanis.com/node/477#comment-14411445<p>This is a very thought-provoking and informative comment about the music business and how it works. Being one of the every day enthusiasts, the professional careers of dance club DJs and artists have been something of a mystery to me.</p><p>I think the poets of our age caught onto this idea a long time ago. Poetry in and of itself doesn't pay. What pays are the teaching positions, readings, workshops, and commissioned works that come from establishing a consistent voice, or identity.</p><p>The more relevant comment I have, other than that I'm really glad to see your podcast back in my iTunes list, is that I wonder if the perception among the artists would change if they could see, directly, just how the podcasts and microblogs and other social networking stuff drive sales at sites like BeatPort. I would estimate that 95% of my Trance/Progressive collection now comes about as a result of having heard a selection on Progressive Aggressive or Rotation, found the name and artist in the track listing, and went searching for exactly that track, along with similar mixes, remixes, other stuff by that same artist, in that same genre, or related to that genre.</p><p>I have no idea how that would be done, I'm just saying that if there WAS some way to generate some hard data, that might cause other people to start looking at the value of their "sound," their voice, as their product.</p><p>Too, I think the role of the audience/everyday music lover is evolving beyond that of a passive recipient (attend/applaud/purchase/go home) to one of a more interactive role. The availalability of free or nearly-free mixing software has allowed rank amateurs like me to start experimenting with how we listen to music. What I do now with creating mixes for my iPod at the gym and at work goes way beyond anything I could ever do when I was younger with Mom and Dad's turntable and a cassette deck. I don't know if there is any direct commercial value in the increasingly creative role the audience takes, but I think it's interesting that professional artists inspire creativity in others. You probably can't collect fees for it, but it enriches all of us just the same.</p><p>Dave, thanks again for a great article. I look forward to the next installment.</p>Mark JonesThu, 06 Aug 2009 22:13:39 -0000