Otherwise you will not be privy to the full scope of what I�m going to say and you will also be �out of the loop� as far as what�s �really going down� in the cyber-world of music at this point in history.

Moses Avalon is not his real name of course. Moses is a self appointed music industry missionary who is intent on spreading the gospel of truth from an insider�s point of view. First with his book �Confessions of a Record Producer� (which I have not read, but plan to order asap!) and now with his music-industry-exposing e-newsletters. Jack Endino recommended that I subscribe to Mr. Avalon�s newsletter, which I have done and now I�m recommending that you do so as well. Stay informed � Stay powerful! I would also suggest that you subscribe to Jack Endino�s e-newsletter � he always has something thought provoking to say on music biz related topics. But I digress�

For the most part I agree with everything that Moses is saying in this latest newsletter and I sincerely commend him for his gumption and thank him for presenting this invaluable information in an accessible and easy to understand manner. However, I would like to disagree with, no �expand on�, his unequivocal statement: �The Digital Revolution declared officially �over�. Majors Win! Dot-coms lose.� So here goes�

Is �The Digital Music Revolution� over? Absolutely not! Don�t believe the hype and don�t let the recent victories of the Big 5 fool you or discourage you. Sure some over-zealous dot-coms have sold their souls to the Big 5 but that was a foregone conclusion. I�ve been preaching, right from the start, that supporting Napster and/or MP3.com and/or Farmclub.com is equally as sinister an evil as supporting the Big 5 and/or MTV/MuchMusic. Very few people have agreed with me on that one though. Maybe now that Napster and MP3.com have sold-out to the Big 5 at the drop of a hat you will see that they were never doing what they were/are doing �for the music� or �for the starving artists� or �for world peace�. I would guess that �selling out� was actually part of both companies� business plans right from the beginning! If not, it�s pretty clear that they never planned to put up much of a fight when the major�s came knocking.

So.. Yes! This pathetic and contrived �Digital Music Revolution� headed by MP3.com and Napster and fueled by dreams of IPOs and world domination and big fat dollar signs is over. Who fucking cares man? They were just a bunch of corporate whore posers with ulterior motives anyways. Didn�t you see that? Couldn�t you see through the thin fa�ade of bullshit? Did you really want or need a MP3.Storage.Locker on MP3.com to store your MP3s so you could listen to them anywhere? Were they fighting for your rights by fighting to make that My.MP3.com service available to you or were they simply positioning themselves where they had the most likelyhood of merging with the Big 5 in one of those suspicious �strategic alliances�. Was Napster really fighting for your right to swap digital music files over the internet or were they just stirring up the shit so much that the majors couldn�t ignore them anymore? Will you still be praising Napster�s revolutionary purpose when you have to start paying $15 per month for their free service?

FUCK THAT SHIT MAN!! None of these companies were ever part of any Digital Music Revolution. They don�t understand music and they don�t give a shit about musicians! They are simply exploiting their users and the bands that are using their services for their own monetary benefit. I believe that the �Digital Music Revolution� has barely even begun. I believe that the �Digital Music Revolution� is about �the love of music�, �passion to create�, �bands making a living from live touring and merchandise alone, without the need for major record label backing� and �giving two big middle fingers to the Big 5, Napster, MP3.com and Farmclub.com�. That�s what StonerRock.com is all about. We don�t have any strategic alliances, we don�t have any stupid useless services, we aren�t recklessly disregarding copyrights, we didn�t start out with 200 employees and an impossible goal and we don�t have corporate funding! (or hardly any money at all for that matter! Hehehe) Our intention is not to fight the �powers that be� in court, by their own rules. We do not see �winning the Digital Music Revolution� as making more money than the majors! We see �winning� in the forms of �democratization of information�, �free promotion and exposure for talented bands and musicians that transfers into larger fan-bases and profitable tours� and �the de-hyping of popular media�.

Can they stop a �Digital Music Revolution� based on these simple principles just because they�ve got billions of dollars and we�ve got nothing at all but a website? Fuck no! Fuck them! Essentially they really don�t have much to do with what we�re doing, in the end, anyways. I am willing to concede that winning the �Digital Music Revolution� may not put the Big 5 out of business � which is a change in my stance from a few months ago - and maybe we�ll have only a miniscule effect on their domination over the mindless, nameless, soulless, faceless masses. Maybe we�ll have to accept the fact that there will always be more sheep that are willing to follow the brightest lights that burn the shortest rather than depart from the pack to search out the dimmer lights that burn the longest. If that dodgy metaphor makes any sense to you at all.. hehe

So don�t worry your pretty little heads! The �Digital Music Revolution� is not over. StonerRock.com is not going to be another dot-com going bankrupt! We�ll be here FOREVER MOTHERFUCKERS! That�s as long as we can afford hosting and �the powers that be� don�t levy some huge tax on websites or whatever. But we do appreciate any support you can give us by way of spreading the word of StonerRock.com to your friends and/or buying merchandise from our store (shameless plug!). You know, it�s not like we don�t want to make lots of money and be rich as much as the next guy � a happy life for myself will include extensive travelling, lots of live shows and partying and eventually a family and a home, those things cost money! It�s a fact of life! � but any money we do make will be legitamate and we will always run StonerRock.com with a strong sense of integrity as well as a strong sense of respect for the bands and musicians we support and promote.

So what role can you play in the �Digital Music Revolution� battle? You can support live music! You can spread the word of StonerRock.com and honest, passionate music to your friends and get them involved! You can stop using Napster, MP3.com and Farmclub.com and stop supporting the Big 5! You can stop watching MTV and MuchMusic! You can speak out against these companies at every chance you get! If you feel the need to trade MP3s then you should learn how to run your own FTP server and trade MP3s with others who have FTP servers. You can teach your friends how to use FTP servers and they can teach their friends! It�s really not that hard! You can get a high bandwidth internet connection so you can trade more MP3s and find out about more new music so you can check out more live bands! (Although you should use some discretion when trading MP3s like this � trade with friends like you�re recording them a tape � don�t just open your FTP server up to the world!) - And buy CDs that you like! But buy them from the small and private good-guy record stores or directly from the small-label sites or when available buy them directly from the band`s site or from the band at their shows! - Most importantly you can stay informed and pass along any important information to everyone you know. And this applies to all underground music scenes that are �for the love of music� � not just Stoner Rock, of course.