Well firstly hello. I thought I would start musing online about how it feels to be a working/jobbing songwriter. I am a staff writer at Peer Music here in Los Angeles. Born and raised in sunny Britian..well not so sunny but hey loads of really lovely buildings, great landscapes and amazing beer! My intention is to unload a bit here. Talk about music, songwriting, production and whatever else I want to muse about really. It may be pertinent at this point to say that I will probably contradict myself at times, swear a bit (that’s cuss words), leave massive gaping holes in the arguments posed and generally make no sense at all. But you will get the vibe of it as we go along..as will I! So where do I begin. It can only be with the death of Michael Jackson. I along with countless others around the world were shocked at his sudden death. Like all iconic figures there is always a huge vacuum left when they pass. Can it really be possible that this relatively young man has gone? My whole life can be easily documented with his music. I have danced my ass off at clubs and parties to his music. I can barely make it through “Ben” without getting all weepy! Certain tracks remind me of family members who played them ALL the time and who can say that after 6 pints of Stella we haven’t tried to moonwalk, and even worse, thought we were pretty good at it!! I was by the way!! Now this leads me to the questioned posed at the top of this blog. “Is Music Still Worth Antything?”. I am very fortunate in my day to day work to know and talk to music industry people. A&R, managers, publishers and other writers. Some are close personal friends and the subject of how to solve the demise of music comes up all the time. When and where did music become this valueless entity? Was it Napster? Limewire? Or the record labels that misued this precious art form? Probably all of the above and to be honest musicians too. While we still neded a delivery medium like vinyl or CD’s to get the music to people there was always a manageable way of controlling how you purchased and got music. Radio dominated and led us to the artists that we fell in love with. Abused for sure, but in a business model we know that all business are open to abuse in a competitive marketplace. Recent events in all sectors of business lead us to a certain conculsion that everything is corruptible. Sad but true. So the business of music is no exception really. So putting aside blame for a minute can we bring value back to music? Well yes and no. Monetizing music may be a difficult task from now on. We have developed a mind set, certainly with one generation of internet users who think “why pay for it if its free”? Yes its stealing but unless someone can control that, that generation is lost in my humble opinion. Best we leave them be! One day they may see the errors of their ways. Who knows but lets not forget dear Michael. His death for certain makes us realize one very important thing, well two actually..stay with me on this. Firstly, and to add the yes to the value of music question, his death underscores how important music plays in all our lives. How it documents events, plays out love found and lost, how it drives emotions in every one of us, gets us up to dance and lose ourselves and helps us cry when we need to. These are just a few but they are unmistakable and important parts of life and in and of itself this is about as valuable as anything out there. No other art form dominates in so many ways as this. So yes music is valuable, even to those who choose not to pay for it. Its also important to note and my second point about MJ. When we fall in love with an artist we first fall in love with their music. We buy into the persona and star factor later on. And especially with MJ we have seen him lose his status, change his face drastically been involved in very questionable behavior but when all is said and done it’s the music that matters to us. I’m sure if I met half of the rock stars I love I probably would not like them. Does it matter. Sure I wish they didn’t do half the stupid things they do but I cant help but love everything about the music they make and how it makes me feel. The world is now full of distractions and entertainment that apparently are impacting the $ value of music. Cable TV, Playstations, iPhones, Movies and everything in between. But all of them rely on music to make it work. It truly is everywhere you go. And when all is said and done how many will be crying when the developer of an X Box classic title suddenly dies. Respectfully none apart from their family and friends. Michael Jackson leaves a massive hole for many. Me included. Not cuz I loved the guy or admired him as a person, but because the music meant so many things to me. I cried for the music he made. It’s a loss no matter how you look at it. And that defines for me what music means whether you can sell it for a few cents or not. Value on a personal level that is hard to put a price on apart from a much richer life. Not a bad one really and the one that led me on this lifetime path to create as much music as I can. And I will. Cheers until the next time.