It’s The End Of REM As We Know It?

Even though I may be too young to remember first hand when they released their first official album or still care when they released their last one, is it the end of REM as we know it?

By: Ringo Bones

When I first heard the “amicable” REM breakup announced on the BBC - on the morning 7:21 AM of September 22, 20011 local time here in the Philippines – I first thought that it was just a mere “publicity stunt” to improve the band’s somewhat sagging popularity. After all, I didn’t even knew that their last major label album was released in March of 2011.

In subsequent interviews, REM frontman Michael Stipe and the rest of the band reassured their loyal cadre of fans that the decision to disband, though not an easy one, is amicable. The band reached a unanimous decision of not wanting REM to become a self-parodying nostalgia act. In their 30-year long career that started back in 1981, it wasn’t until 1987 that REM started to gain mainstream success with the release of the album Document and the regular airplay of The One I Love and It’s the End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) on mainstream FM. Even then, the band had to wait till the advent of th2e Seattle Grunge era of the early 1990s in order for REM to become truly synonymous with “alternative rock”.

Will REM’s retirement from the music scene eventually usher in a new generation of artist who are as good – if not better – than them? Sadly, after the multi-billion dollar global music industry was ruined by illegal file-sharing schemes like NAPSTER and its ilk in the very tail end of the 20th Century, it seems like “rock stars” that used to make millions of their musical talent is fast becoming an economic dinosaur. It may be the end of REM as we know it, but I’m still worried about the future of the global music industry and its ability to reward young and talented musicians who truly deserve fame and fortune.

The Post-Napster Music Industry: Still Economically Viable?

Given that stadium-filling rock concerts are still a reality, did the global music industry faired well since Napster made free downloading of music a reality?

By: Ringo Bones

If you want any proof that the global music industry have faired well against the Bolshevist Napsterization of how we get new music - as in free on the Internet - just look at Bruce Dickinson ferrying his Iron Maiden bandmates and gear via an Astraeus 757 designated as Ed Force One. And given that Iron Maiden and related fanbases has been designated by the multinational music industry fatcats as the scapegoat du jour for illegally downloading their copyrighted wares for over a decade, is this proof positive that the music industry have faired well against Napsterization?

Short of finding enough funds for Iron Maiden performing the first heavy metal rock concert in weightless conditions on board the International Space Station, the music industry fatcats had been showing us facts and figures on how Napster and its ilk had devastated their bottom line. But it did allow some deservingly talented acts access to a worldwide audience without going through the record industry fatcat middlemen. All you have to do now is to find these great stuff on the web - and its free. Copyright infringement be damned - though I just hope they can solve the perennial problem of not so pristine sound quality, someday.