Dear Music Industry:

I read the recent news about the your latest music tax with great disappointment. Once again, you’re missing the point. Rather than accepting that the industry is changing, you are driving your bandwagon of self-importance straight into what I can only describe as a digital prairie filled with knifes, arrows, and people who will hurt you.

I’d like to share a point about my experience.

I am a music fan and I enjoy most types of music. Actually, I am a huge music fan. I read about music, I talk about music, I studied music in college and I am an amateur musician. I play guitar.

Like many guitar players, I started emulating my favorite players and I quickly discovered Stevie Ray Vaughan (SRV). Once the discover was made, I was hooked. Using the word ‘fan’ to describe my passion isn’t appropriate. Not only did I listen to his records, I absorbed everything I could about him.

At that moment, I morphed into the exact type of fan you should be targeting. I became – in all it’s glory – a SuperFan.

What exactly does that mean? To be a super-fan?

For starters, I went out and bought every single SRV album I could afford and started listening to them everyday. I couldn’t get enough.

[Sidebar: I can already hear your lawyers saying - "Exactly, you went out and bought more music, which is being pirated today. We're just trying to prevent future piracy."

My response: Don't interrupt me. ]

While I was listening to the albums, I did several things simultaneously. When I had money, I bought books, posters, and every piece of sheet music associated with SRV. Not only that, I told all of my friends, many of whom were also musicians and music lovers, about SRV. And I required them to become fans.

Later, after SRV’s death, I bought 2 Fender SRV signature model guitars.

Let’s re-cap those industries – the publishers (book and sheet music), photographers, and Fender all made money off my transactions. During my travels, I would go to Austin and spent my nights watching music at Antones, the famous club where SRV honed his craft. So, Antone’s, Miller Lite, and Jose Cuervo also made money from me.

What else? I started exploring every influence on SRV. I bought things related to Jimmy Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Buddy Guy, and Robert Johnson and any other reference I could find. Any, then, I bought books and posters of those guys.

What’s my point?
The issue today with the music industry should be about infringement. It’s not about alleged piracy. I respect artists and they need to be paid.

The point here is that there are millions of SuperFans. And they are being underserved. In my case, I knew what I wanted and I made it happen. There are millions more who would welcome a little effort on your part.

You, as an industry, should no longer consider yourself in the music business. You need to be in the “Music Fan” business. More importantly, you need to be in the SuperFan business.

The technology exists to enable you to find and help these SuperFans. And you can figure that out how to make it financially feasible for everyone – you, the artists, songwriters, publishers, and the lawyers. If you can’t figure it out, I can recommend some very smart people to help unravel the mystery.

You can’t win with this tax thing. The entire industry knows you are struggling. With all due respect, you need to pull a seat up to the table, admit that you took a misstep, and figure out to create a new business model that doesn’t involve extortion.

May I recommend you track down Chris Anderson. Read this first.

Sincerely,

Kyle Craig

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article may or may not be true.

Disclaimer to Disclaimer: I make this public disclaimer not to take away credibility or soften it’s tone, but as a pre-emptive tactic for the apparently overworked lawyers at the RIAA and music labels.

Person Chris Anderson

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