Caught in a Mosh

Anthrax’s seminal hit rings true, these days, as I – and metal musicians, it would seem – have noticed that what was once a pit of frivolity and “good, friendly, violent fun,” as Exodus phrased it, has become a land of bullies and thugs.  The most recent artist to speak about it is Slipknot’s Chris Fehn, who puts it, rightly, when he says,

“I think, especially in America, moshing has turned into a form of bullying. The big guy stands in the middle and just trucks any small kid that comes near him. They don’t mosh properly anymore. It sucks because that’s not what it’s about. Those guys need to be kicked out."

He’s right, you know.  It’s changed.  The pit, that is, has become some kind of supercharged gladiator ring rather than a place to bounce off of people and have a good time.  It's an interesting dynamic, these days.  "In my day" (to sound 80 years old), which is to say back in the late 80s early 90s, pits were a bunch of folks skipping around in circles -- rapidly.  You may catch an elbow in the mush, occasionally, but you kept skipping and laughing it off because you knew there was no "intent to injure" or anything other than just a good "mosh." 

At the most recent concerts I've attended, it's some jackball who weighs 300 pounds lining up on one side of the pit and just going bowling across the middle and plowing into a bunch of folks on the other side who weren't expecting it.   Add in a bunch of other Neanderthal-acting folks who are just throwing elbows, over-head fist swings and feet with no intent, it would seem, to do anything BUT injure, and that's the state of things, it seems.  It sounds stupid as hell to say, but there's no decorum, anymore, in a pit. 

A notable exception, and a “pit” I could get on board with, occurred at the Týr show where it was a large group of people, arms locked at the shoulders, in a circle, facing inward, simply head-banging in rhythm.  Very interesting to watch and allowed the people right up at the front to enjoy the show without fear of being obliterated from behind by some ill-mannered moron.  That show was epic.  We also got to witness a “wall off death” executed perfectly, but in a way where, if you didn’t want to be part of it, you weren’t included in the mayhem irrespective of your opinion.

I've NEVER had to throw a good solid check in a pit, before, but I got to a point where I was just trying to keep the people who were on the outside from getting run over by the folks on the inside who don't respect the boundary of the pit.   It used to be you would see someone get accidentally (or even intentionally) knocked down, you'd help them up and keep the pit moving.  Now, it just looks like the goal is to knock everyone down and be the last one standing. 

I don't know when this change occurred, but it is going to kill the concert experience for the fan who would LOVE to get close and SEE the musicians up close, but doesn't want to get wrecked by someone who, in my opinion, doesn't respect the musician or the music, let alone the other fans.  I spent half of the Conquering Dystopia show squaring off behind some kid who looked to be maybe 13, was obviously attending his first show, and was not only star-struck by being right up there with Jeff and Keith, but also rightly terrified by the morons who were just plowing into him.  It’s funny, though, because I gave Keith a “BAD KEITH!!” when he did the finger circle indicating, “mosh it up!” but not because I don’t want these bands to have a pit, but because I knew the people in this particular pit were not equipped, mentally, to do a pit “right.”  I tried to make it so this kid could watch the show looking forward, at the musicians, and not behind him, bracing for impact.  No one wants this kid, or anyone else, to think poorly of the band, the venue, or the whole magical LIVE experience because some folks can’t conduct themselves in and orderly, respectfully violent manner.  If the pit had contained itself to its circle and had limited itself to ping-ponging, skipping, hopping, rhythmic “slam-dancing,” it wouldn’t be an issue.  As it stands, when a show comes to town with band I enjoy, I have to ask myself if it’s worth the effort.  Maybe it's just getting old and having back issues, and knee issues and thinking, "Strange...I'm actually here to see the band I paid money to see..."

Why Taylor Swift is Right and Why She is Wrong, But Why I Agree With Her

So, while not a whole lot of hoo-hah has been made about this, Taylor Swift made a move a few Thursdays ago that made a lot of people scratch their heads, a lot of people lash out at her and quite a few simply shrug and not care in a different way than they didn’t care before.  I went through all three stages, but also had another stage – I started to agree with her, in principle.  I don’t really agree with how she’s gone about it, but, let’s look at this, shall we…

Taylor has had Spotify – the cpu hogging music streaming app that supports about every platform out there – remove her entire back catalog from their rotation.  That’s a big deal because it’s a lot like calling every radio station in *the world* and telling them not to play your music, anymore.  Her quote on why, “And I'm not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music. And I just don't agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free.”

My first take on this is that she was NOT a child of the early 80s.  My first copy of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” was a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy that a friend handed me saying, “You HAVE to listen to this band, man!”  So, I got arguably Metallica’s best album for free, right?  Wrong-o!  What I got was a tape that had to be turned up to the full extent of the tape deck in order to get volume that was audible with, literally, no fidelity…and a burning desire for more Metallica!  That week, I purchased what are now kind of collector’s items but were all I could afford at the time, the “Whiplash – Remix EP” and “Creeping Death” picture disc with the original “Garage Days Revisited” on the b-side.  So, yeah, *records.*  At any rate – this “free” MoP tape of horrifying fidelity spawned a purchase rate that, over the past three decades has made Metallica, from just me, close to $500, give or take, in albums sales, concert tickets, and t-shirt sales.

I use this as an example because what Spotify is trying to do is be a sort of half-crazed fan that allows you to try new music based on what you say you like – like the guy with the crappy tape saying “You have to try this!” only through things like “Phil, 9 Suggestions For You” emails that tend to include bands I would never seek out on my own.  So, with that in mind, I find it hard to fathom why anyone wouldn’t want “free publicity,” except that’s the rub, isn’t it?  It’s a pittance these artists are paid every time a song of theirs is played on Spotify.  I had a brief discussion with an artist about this and the sad truth is that an artist gets between $0.001 and $0.005 and said artist must also work through a third-party aggregator which then siphons off profits from this paltry number.  For example, if you have a song that people LOVE and play 1,000 times, today, you will make between $1 and $5.  If you’re working with an aggregator that takes the minimum I’ve seen, you’re looking at 9% or $0.09 taken from what you make for this song off of Spotify, therefore, only leaving you with $0.91 of your own, and that’s if the company takes only the minimum I’ve seen – it could be as much as 30%, which would leave you with $0.70.

So, while this information might be dated, it’s OK for our purposes and that’s because, for what it’s worth, Taylor isn’t having any and I kind of agree.  I don’t like Spotify, really, and have sort of a contrarian relationship with it.  So, when I get a suggested band, my usual first though is, “won’t be listening to them, thanks.”  I know…bad Phil.  Still, if you’re an artist who has paid a LOT of money to record an album and are looking to recoup costs, services like Spotify are not really the way to go, I would think, especially in a world where initial sales are big indicators as to whether your record company will decide to deal with you for a next album.

Some of this is probably also coming on the heels of the U2 hit/miss release of their new album for free to the world via iTunes – whether you wanted it or not.  Personally, I was irritated on two levels by this.  The first is that it’s exceedingly presumptuous.  Music is a personal thing.  Me, I don’t like people screwing with my music collection or putting something in there that I’m not able to remove.  As a side note, I found it sad that Apple had to create a tutorial on how to remove U2 from your iTunes collection…  Secondly, I find it devaluing what U2 did, musically.  I haven’t listened to the album, so I can’t say whether it’s the best album in decades or drek, but what I can say is that it’s like telling the rest of the world one of two things: 1) “We’re so bloody rich, we don’t need the money, so have this album,” or 2) “We’re not sure this is going to sell, so, here, take it and please see us on tour where we actually make money.”

So, my takeaway is this – Taylor Swift was saying to the world, I value my music more than $0.001 to $0.005 a play and I have enough faith in my music that if my fans really want it, they will buy it.  I am OK with that.  I’m also OK with bucking the idea of the half-crazed tape trader that is Spotify.  Honestly, as someone who grew up on metal, it’s never been about the radio airplay, but always about the word of mouth.  Now, Taylor doesn’t have to worry about airplay; you almost can’t take a trip down the FM dial, let alone XM/Sirius spectrum, without tripping over one of her songs, but that exposure is worth more than a penny, here, or a dollar, there.  The hard truth is that it’s about building enough of a fanbase to come out to a concert which is, really, what ends up paying the bills.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that while there’s something to the “any exposure is good exposure” mentality of Spotify, there’s also the idea that your music that you’ve poured your heart and soul into is worth more than what Spotify has valued it.  That’s on Spotify.  That’s on the consumerist mentality.

After pondering on this awhile – and starting off kind of disagreeing with her – I actually have to side with Taylor on this.  The sad part of it is, if an artist who you know makes more than $1 to $5 a day on songs is getting uppity about the artists getting what they deserve via these services, you know that there are hundreds if not thousands of other artists out there who, while needing the pittance they’re getting from Spotify, wish they could do the exact same thing.