Various Artists - netBloc Volume 8 (I Copyleft!) (BSCOMP0008, 2007)

Copyleft, Creative Commons, GNU, BSD, MIT… whatever name you want apply to open licensing… it’s a beautiful thing... and it’s here to stay. Open licensing has single-handedly made online music distribution a reality for many music artists. Without open-licensing, would we have the Internet Archive or Jamendo, platforms which artists can freely utilize to distribute their music? Without these important resources, many artists would not have the know-how nor the bandwidth/storage to distribute their music freely online. A cost would have to be incurred, forcing the artist to make up for that overhead.

Never before has it been so easy for a music artist to be “discovered” by music lovers all over the world. Never before has it been so easy for a music artist to set up shop and sell music to those very same music lovers. Thanks to this, a growing number of artists are reaching out directly to listeners without the need for a middle man to market, promote and distribute the music. That’s why it baffles me when a forward thinking producer such as Rick Rubin who is able to think “outside of the box” musically cannot do so when it comes to the “future of music”. The “future” of music, according to Rubin, is one in which music lovers no longer “own” their music. They rent it. Rubin thinks that subscription-based music listening will be the way of the future. Does he not realize that this model exists today and has proven to be a hard sell? Perhaps he’s been hanging around with Metallica a bit too much these days while producing their album? How about a future in which 3 or 4 mega-corporations DO NOT make up the whole of the global music-industry? I know Rick, this model shakes up your safe world, but it’s one which is drastically needed.

Thanks again, everyone, for downloading the latest netBloc release! Your consistent support is greatly appreciated, not only by us here at blocSonic, but also by the artists and labels who have participated in all our releases. The netBloc compilations are one more avenue which they can utilize to promote the great things that they’re doing.

This time around we’ve got another fresh batch of music to add to your collection! We’ve got music from France, Germany, Brazil, Spain and the US. Rock has a big presence on this one — though we’ve added a bit of hip-hop and pop for flavor.

We are at the edge of something big with regard to the future of music. We are the future. Join us. Download freely, share freely, check out artists live, buy hard copies of their albums. Help make the direct online distribution model a success by supporting your favorite artists/labels. The time is now to chop down to size the Goliath that is the mainstream music industry. I copyleft… do you?!

Thanks again, everyone, for downloading the latest netBloc release! Your consistent support is greatly appreciated, not only by us here at blocSonic, but also by the artists and labels who have participated in all our releases. The netBloc compilations are one more avenue which they can utilize to promote the great things that they're doing.

Be sure to download the accompanying 34 page PDF booklet for complete liner-notes!