ALWAYS FREE
ISSUE NO.4
EL INDEPENDIENTE IE STUDENT NEWSPAPER /FEBRUARY 2014
WHAT HAPPENED WHILST YOU WERE PROCRASTINATING
LIONEL MESSI: FORWARD IS NOT FOR SALE, SAYS BARCELONA PRESIDENT Four-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi, 26, is reported to be a target for French side Paris St-Germain. In an interview with radio station RAC1,posted on Barcelona’s website Bartomeu said: "The club will sit down and negotiate a new contract.”
UKRAINIAN PRIME-MINISTER AND GOVERNMENT RESIGN
Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych has accepted the resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet amid continuing anti-government protests. The step was taken after the escalating violence in Kiev’s protests against the President’s decision to reject a deal for closer integration with the European Union. Protesters have even seized government administrative buildings in several regional capitals, heightening concerns about where Ukraine's crisis will go.
NSA ‘GET PERSONAL DATA FROM ANGRY BIRDS ‘ US and British spy agencies routinely try to gain access to personal data from Angry Birds and other mobile applications, a report says. It is the latest revelation from documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
HAPPY HANGOVER 2014 •••
Maria Valls
INDEPENDENT ARTISTS, THE INTERNET AND THE MUSIC INDUSTRY •••
Phillippe Hurel Guest Writer
That sums up New Year’s Day, the beginning of a new year. Of course, it starts innocently enough, with two drinks in your hand, but eight more pass into your bloodstream before the night is through. Shame, shame, and shame on you! (I think I’m still tipsy). You open your eyes and the first thing you see is a ceiling that may not be yours. Then you pray that the bed is yours ( though some would wish it weren’t). At least you have ended up somewhere, nevermind that the room smells like a tiger or monkey urinated there. What’s the first thing human beings do after waking up? They go back to sleep. Five more minutes turns into a two-hour delight. When your hibernation period comes to an end, you mentally recap last night. Only the chosen ones complete this task, we all know. For the rest of us mere mortals, only the smell of rum and coke, mixed with gin and tonic, comes back. Continued on Page 2
There is no future in the music industry, there is no money and this field is dying. These are sentences that I heard too many times g rowing up especially af ter the whole Napster scandal. However, I strongly believe that this is increasingly untrue. There have never been so many opportunities. Not only in the artistic field but also with the business side of it, there has never been “The growth of the s o many internet and the business models increasing number and start ups in this industry.
of independent
artists are strictly U n t i l the correlated.” popularisation of the internet, in order to make a living as a musician, a band needed to find a label. By signing the band, the label would agree to finance production, touring and distribution. The cost of production, live performances, promotion and printing of CDs are in some cases still covered by labels that invest in artists’ potential. An independent artist, however, acts by himself; he is his own “label.” He has to finance all of his costs; hopefully he will stop losing money and start earning some when he becomes famous enough. The growth of the internet and the increasing number of independent artists are strictly correlated. Whilst artists find themselves with a new world of opportunities, the labels themselves cannot afford to finance everyone who has potential and talent. The internet offers the possibility of becoming one’s own “label”. Continued on Page 2