Ethics and The Music Business

I went to my first concert when I was 13 years old. I remember everything about it: the wait in line, the rush to get inside the venue, the butterflies in my stomach and the stars in my eyes, and everything in between. That night the Hush Sound, From First To Last, Hawthorne Heights, The All-American Rejects, and Fall Out Boy played in that exact order. I reveled in the beauty of their music. I screamed every word to every song, knew every crescendo and decrescendo hidden in each melody. I was lost in a vast sea of 15,000 people, and although they were strangers to me I felt so connected to them. It was like I had finally found my place in the world. I felt free there, I felt like I belonged in that moment, and I try to never let that feeling go. I fell in love with the music industry that night and have been fascinated in its workings every since.

Fast forward eight years to the 21 year old sitting here typing this blog piece. At this point I've been to hundreds of shows, I've had the pleasure of seeing some of the most highly revered artists in the world, and I have had the pleasure of working in the music industry myself. I have developed a lot of skills, not just in the professional sense but also in the social sense, and have gained a lot of knowledge by working with some of the finest people I'll ever meet. I know a lot more now about the business than I did a few years ago, but I'll admit that there are so many things that are still mysterious to me. I have seen some of the most luminous parts of this job but know that there has always been a subtle darkness within it. I have heard stories of bribery, fraud, theft, links back to the mob or to other shadowy figures, and executives resorting to desperate measures to save their own career or to sabotage the careers of others. The question that immediately comes to mind is: Are these stories true? And if they are, are they just reminiscent of another time or do these "crimes" still occur today? I hope to examine some of these charges to determine the current ethical state of the music industry, or to determine whether there are ethical values within the music industry at all.

You may be wondering why understanding the ethics of the music business is important at all. Honestly, this research is a bit of a selfish endeavor. I want to understand what kind of ethical values might govern the way I react to various work circumstances in my future career. I want to know what I'm getting into. I also want to share this information with folks like me who are trying to break in to the music industry so they can better understand the way the biz functions. So what do you say, are you ready to take this journey with me?