(This originally appeared in The Rag, a monthly A&E publication that serves the Jersey Shore region)


We are extremely fortunate to live in an area with a rich and diverse cultural community. (Believe me, I know.. At one point I drove from coast to coast six times within a span of four years and observed many places in America where Walmart, a truck stop and Cracker Barrel were the only games in town. Homogenized is far too kind a term.)

Fortunately, here at the Jersey Shore, we actually have abundant, original, live music every night of the week! How many parts of this country can actually claim that? We have art galleries, independent publications, great public radio, hip boutiques, eclectic eateries, etc.. We in fact live within a vivid kaleidoscope of creative expression. This is a fragile and precious gift, yet how do we support each other in thought, word, and deed?

Its tough. Many of us adhering to our creative calling suffer for our art. We rarely make as much money as "normal" folks do and its financially challenging to patronize all the deserving and wonderful things around us. Conversely, and perhaps perversely, too many of those so called "normal" folks are more preoccupied and interested in taking their kids to see Miley Cyrus lip sync than thinking globally and acting locally by seeing an amazing local talent like Rick Barry at the Saint.

Simultaneously we are enduring an era (or error as the case may be) where we live in a world that values style over substance and where art is to often regarded as cheap, disposable, and free. So how does an authentic aspiring artist compete with free? How does a struggling news paper compete with a free web site covering the same ground? How does a musician inspire someone to pay for a download when there are a hundred thousand or more available for nothing?

In other words, how do artists inspire conscious compassion from consumers? It can be ironic. As a guitar player, if I'm playing in a club and someone digs my playing, its not uncommon to be offered a free round worth at least 3-5 bucks, yet if someone hears and enjoys one of my tunes online via an internet radio station or a podcast, it rarely compels someone to make a purchase at iTunes. Itruly believe that the only way the music business will survive is by individual artists cultivating meaningful, personal connections with their audience through live performance, an exceptional, constantly updated new media presence, and oh yeah talent!

But what do I know? Apparently nothing because the music business has collapsed as I knew it. Over 20 years in a career and now nothing I know seems to have economic value anymore. Ah the sweet sound of progress! Alas, I'm calling upon Rag Readers to inform me as to what it takes to inspire patronage for recording artists in 2008. Send me an email at: colie.brice@aeriarecords.com and let me know what you think. Tell me what takes to persuade you that the local talent of this region is genuinely worth supporting..

(Colie Brice is the Creative Entertainment Organizer (CEO) of AERIA Records in Asbury Park. AERIA Records has released recordings by popular local legends such as Agency, Brian Amsterdam, Rick Barry, James Dalton, Joe Harvard, Juggling Suns, Phantom's Opera, Mark Prescott, Brian Saint and the Sinners, and St. Christopher among others. Colie is also an active recording artist himself with over 200 tracks available at iTunes and other leading digital distribution retailers. For additional information please visit: coliebrice.com or www.aeriarecords.com

A new report released to day by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), reveals that theft of copyright-protected products, including motion pictures, video games, sound recordings and business and entertainment software, has cost the U.S. $58 billion in annual economic output, 373,375 jobs, $16.3 billion in lost wages annually and $2.6 billion in tax revenue annually.

Perhaps the only thing I can hope to do as an individual artist is produce works of sufficient substance, merit or appeal that inspire patronage. Music is everywhere and is an essential component to many for a life worth living, but it is all too often taken for granted by many people - like fresh air or water. I believe that the government should be making educational and vocational training available to music business professionals who have been utterly displaced by these profound changes that have occured.

A lot of people express such contempt for labels without ever even knowing the full score or reality of life at a record label. Major labels employ more than fat cat lawyers and accountants. There are engineers, archivists, shipping clerks, warehouse pickers, etc. - all good, regular people who are also suffering from this radical transformation. There will always be people willing to pay for live music, but not all studio work or composition is intended for live performance. These people deserve compensation for their efforts too. Its endemic of a contemporary society that frequently values style over substance and is ruled by selfish greed and apathy towards the plight of others.

I'm 39 years old, I support a wife and two children. I have been in the music business for over twenty years. I have been a major label artist and I have swept studio floors - most of the time I've been somewhere in between. I have often worked twice as hard for half as much as people in comparable positions in other industries because I know I have been fortunate to work in the area of my heart's desire.

Now as I approach my fortieth birthday I am eeking out a living in the fragments and scraps of an industry where at this stage of the game I should have been enjoying some of the fruits of my labor. I earned the right to health care and financial security just as much as anyone else in another field. In its stead, survival has become the new success in my area of expertise.

I hope people at least think about people in my position the next time they visit lime wire.

Granted I'm not a young kid in Iraq dodging bulletts over a bullshit war, and I know its all a relative matter of perspective and that I have much more to be grateful for than bitter about.

Yet all the same I believe working artists and musicians deserve to make a living too..