For my final post I really just wanted to vent......... I think todays big music is dragging us down it really makes no sense and really has very slim connectivity! I hope by doing the research that I am doing for this final paper and with my degree I can help the music industry turn around and help not only the artistry that singer/songwriters display but also the integrity and realness of music to come back again! I believe this world has lost its meaningfulness, its heart and needs to get it back and I don't think that anything brings back love and takes away pain and is more real than a good song!!

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1013819218792#page-2 - This article on peer to peer file sharing has great information that can help me with my research showing just what the music industry is going through with all the file sharing.

With all of this information and battling within the music industry what exactly is my position and what will eventually be my argument?? Will it be that the integrity of the music industry is gone and is too much about the money which in turn has left the great artists getting nothing for their artistic talent?? Or maybe it will be that most artists have lost their own integrity which in turn has helped the music industry collapse?? Or will I focus more on the streaming of music on the internet and how that may just be the problem?? Either way I see that I have my hands full and can go many many ways which I suppose cant be a terrible thing!

http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/will-hoge-never-giving-in?xg_source=activity - "When you stare death in the face, fit in in the Texas Music scene, write a song that Taylor Swift never sees, have a Number 1 song on the Country charts, have a major automaker from Detroit want your song, and are about to release a new album(Never Give In/Thirty Tigers) you are not only busy but also  also a breath of fresh air in the singer/songwriter world. That’s Will Hoge". - Will Hoge has great music and a seemingly honorable approach to the music world. His integrity is something I look up to and I hope to use Will as a role model of my research.

In this post I really wanted to thank Lauren for her add to my blog. She has opened up my eyes to how I may go about writing my final paper and gives way to more. I believe with the information on how much an artist has to go through it will help my argument and give great support when my readers read my paper that it matters that we change how the industry is rolling right now.

Lauren's Ideas

You could go more into the artistry behind the music. You said that really interesests you, but you could really expand on that and go through the whole process of writing a song, recording it, getting it produced, getting it out into the world, and promoting it. All of the work it takes to make theses songs a reality is what desreves the credit and the money. These artists spend weeks upon weeks pouring over one single song, and then people just stream it or look it up on youtube, and the artist never feels their appreciation, which would be most felt in a monetary value. But really go through the whole process of what it takes to make a song happen. Otherwise you have a lot of great arguable topics. This is a good topic because of how current it is, and it is something people are really struggling with and trying to fix.

http://www.economist.com/node/9443082 - This new Article I found has new information for myself and seems to focus on the question: what are record companies trying to do to fight back against the changing technology and piracy? What seems to be their answer is what is called a "360 contract" which gives them a percentage of live show sales, merchandise, and promotion. The question that arises from me is I understand that with the changing industry the record companies must do something but is this too much for the artists? With the already tough road for artists and their earnings is this still a terrible position for them?