Mp3.com was supposed to change everything. That's what we believed. That's what we as artists hoped for. The idea was simple - a central location for worldwide music distribution on the Internet. It was an open invitation to anyone and everyone. From some guy with a tape recorder in his basement, to fully signed and successful acts who's names are household items. There were no auditions, no prerequisites, no agents, no lawyers, and most importantly, no charge. The artist recorded their work, mp3.com made it accessible to the world.

Wouldn't that have been nice if it were true? Wouldn't it be fantastic to take all the basement and garage bands of the world, and place their music right next to the most successful and globally established bands? No preferential treatment, everyone equal; let the music speak for itself, once and for all. It sounded too good to be true, and that's because it was.

It didn't take long for the signs to show. The original agreement was that they would host your music, give you your own artist page, and if that resulted in a sale, the profits were split 50/50. To the outsider, that might seem kind of unfair. But the reality of it is that major record labels only give the artist about 6 to 7 percent of the profits. The classic cliché is that the artist receives about 7 cents per album. It gets uglier if and when you learn just how little it actually costs the record companies to manufacture that $15 CD you just purchased. But that is beyond the scope of this essay. The important thing is that 50/50 is a very fair amount. But that wasn't the first crack to appear.

The first sign that mp3.com had grown corrupt was when they began to offer preferential treatment for a price. Now, all of the artists involved knew that the automated ranking systems were flawed beyond imagination. All the artist had to do was use a broadband connection and download his own songs all day, until he hit number one. So those of us who were beyond such childish behaviors simply ignored their "charts" altogether. We were still on the site, and it will always be the responsibility of the artist to promote themselves. But now, the artist was given the opportunity to pay for additional attention. This would include higher rankings in the already bogus charts, as well as appearing in banner ads at the top of other artists' pages. The very day that mp3.com decided to offer this, they fell from grace, and jumped in bed with the major record labels and music industry giants.

Why does this matter? Power and money. The two things that the industry thrives on. The two greatest obstacles that every artist will face. When the artist is placed on an uneven playing field where advantages can be purchased, he/she is completely unempowered.

Most true and honest artists have the same very basic dream: To create music, and generate an honest income to put food on a table and a roof over our heads. When those two basic needs are taken care of, we are free to devote more time to doing what we love the most - making more music.

This goes against the ideals founded by the music industry. You have heard of a one hit wonder, but have you ever wondered why they would be so desirable to the industry? It's desirable because for a very small investment, they will have control of that one song, from which they will earn profits long after that band has faded away. That's just one of many ideals that drive the industry.

But industry ideals have long been in place. Nothing changed within the industry. However, something was changing outside of the industry. Artists were gaining attention without them. Artists that numbered in the thousands, and later hundreds of thousands. And the record companies had nothing to do with it, and worse, no control over it.

It was the beginning of a Music Revolution.

Mp3.com had started a war. The fighting ground was the global Internet. The weapons were content and delivery. These weapons were also the stakes, over which both sides would battle for a long time.

At first, the industry didn't know how to feel about it. On one side, this could be a very powerful new resource from which to find new talent. On the other hand, if the resource turned out to be successful enough, that new talent would never need the industry in the first place.

To understand this, you have to have a basic understanding of why the industry exists in the first place. To summarize very quickly: It costs money to record a record, manufacture that record, and distribute that record to the consumers. That is where the industry comes in. A record label will "sign" an artist. The contract is essentially a loan, which is called an "advance" in an effort to disguise the true nature of the contract. The loan pays for the recording, manufacture, and distribution of the final CD (or other medium). The contract states that the artist will receive roughly 6% of the profit from sales. However, the artist first has to pay back the loan. The payments for that load come from the 6% of the profit that would have gone to the artist. This makes the repayment take a very long time, and that's only if it's ever fully repaid at all. Meanwhile, the artist has given up the rights to his/her works. During that time, the artist struggles merely to survive. Sometimes they simply don't make it. No matter how it turns out, the record label only stands to profit from the entire situation. They will clear their investment right off the bat, because of the sales profits; their bank is taking the other 94%. They are in the clear, while the artist is falling further and further into debt. If the artist prevails and becomes successful, it's good for everyone. If the artist fails, it's still good for the record label.

But what if the artist could get around that? What if the artist could record their own album, market and distribute it on the Internet. What if the consumer could purchase and download the new album directly from the artist? If neither the artists nor the consumers needed the record companies, how would the industry survive? It's simple. They wouldn't.

Thus, the lines were drawn. How could the industry gain control of this new threat? Especially when their own talent pool was suddenly taking a huge interest in this new revolution?

Their first act was to offer selections of material to the enemy, in a weak effort to show that everyone could benefit if they worked together. The front page at mp3.com suddenly featured name brand talent, shoving the independent artists into the closet. Certainly this would look good to the visitors, the chance to download the new single they heard on the radio earlier.

But something else happened that changed the battlefield even more. When Napster hit the net, everyone went into a panic. This wasn't just a revolution of artists against the labels anymore; this was all out war waged by the consumers themselves. Using Napster, the consumers removed the artists, the labels, and the retailers from the picture altogether. It was a free-for-all, a seemingly unstoppable act of total anarchy. In the history of the world, never before had the consumers' personal music collection expanded so quickly. The reaction of the labels and the retailers was expected. But where a new division occurred was within the artists themselves. Mostly it was a division between the artists safely gaining profit, vs. the smaller, mostly independent artists who could only benefit from the sudden frenzy of free exposure. But even some of the successful artists supported the Napster side. In fact, a handful of well-established artists went behind their label's backs, and released advance copies of their future releases on Napster themselves.

Eventually, the RIAA effectively took Napster down. While Napster clones have emerged in the shadows, none of them have the effective strength of the original, and many people simply lost interest. The RIAA is still conducting their witch-hunts, but the results are not nearly as spectacular, because they no longer have such a clear target anymore.

After some time passed, the frenzy died down. The true independent artists, having lost the potential of Napster, turned their attention back to mp3.com, and the small crop of similar services. Only upon their return, something else had become clear.

MP3.COM started a revolution, built its armies, and placed them on the battlefield, ready to fight. But as the mayhem started and blood was drawn, they slipped around behind the legions of artists, and quietly walked into the enemy camp, effectively signed a treaty and joined forces.

Tired and weary, the artists returned to their previous homes, only to be met by the same face that met them outside the offices of the industry giants. The grinning, leering money hungry face of indifference; one hand barring admittance, the other hand graciously welcoming the existing rock star.

"Welcome Madonna, please come right in. Oh, but I'm sorry, you guys are going to have to stay out here. I'm terribly sorry".

Yeah, I'm sorry too.

Tortured has been with mp3.com since nearly the beginning. Visions Of Passion & Torture were one of the first few thousand artists that signed up. Their artist number is 1760. Consider that over 30,000 artists would sign on as well during the first year and a half. Tortured does not participate in any of the new programs offered by mp3.com, and nor does he support them. He is also no longer an active voice in the artist forums. He does believe that with the advent of broadband connectivity becoming common in households, that a music revolution may still take place, and if it does, he will be right on the front lines. In the meantime, mp3.com still offers a simple method of storage and delivery at no cost to the artist.

DISCLAIMER: Tortured is a huge Madonna fan, and the use of her name is only to make a simple reference to a well known celebrity. In no way is this meant to represent or indicate Madonna's views or behavior regarding any of the situations described in this article, or her support of new and independent artists.