NEW YORK -- At the New York Music & Internet Expo, Chuck D's keynote, or rather, his "keying on some fucking notes" on Saturday epitomized the camp of attendees and speakers that were into record industry bashing.
The two-day conference, held in the Grand Ballroom of the New Yorker Hotel, was a wild mix of unsigned musicians hoping to learn more about the Net and the audio format MP3, together with entertainment lawyers, producers, jaded artists, and music-based Net business representatives.
During the weekend, speakers were both skeptical and evangelical of the controversial MP3 format, but everyone was discussing just how to make money with downloadable music on the Net.
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However, Chuck D, of the rap group Public Enemy, has become a highly quotable advocate of the MP3 audio format, but he qualified his views just a bit.
MP3 "won't destroy the record companies. [It] just will split the market" into a world with something like "a million artists and 500,000 labels," he said. The Net opens up the way for artistry and entrepreneurs.
MP3 or Motion Picture Experts Group, audio layer three, is a format used for compression of audio to send files at near-CD quality over the Net.
Tons of people use it online, but most big record labels have not embraced it for fear of piracy, since the format also allows for widespread copying of illegal files. The recording industry is working on developing a specification with more security, and hasn't sold much music online to date.
Chuck D's talk was animated as he peppered his lecture with imitations ranging from Casey Kasem and record label lawyers that were cracking up Flavor Flav, also of Public Enemy, who sat next to him.
Lawyers at record labels "are like, 'Sire! Sire! There is an MP3 on the horizon! They are coming quick!'" he said.
Chuck D's appearance on the MP3 scene broke big late last year, when he posted some songs from an unreleased album called Bring the Noise 2000 in the MP3 audio format on his band's web site. Chuck D says he was frustrated that the release date for the BTN 2000 album was repeatedly pushed back, but his distributor at the time -- Polygram -- forced him to take down the tracks, since they owned the rights to the songs.
Chuck D compared posting MP3 files to sending out a promotional CD to a DJ at a radio station. "At least our MP3s went to the motherfuckers who wanted them."
"New technology [in] present day contracts [is an] oxymoron... your contract holds your ass back" from trying out different online ways to hype your music, he said. "If I get on a shuttle and go to Venus with my CD, those motherfuckers [the labels] have the rights."
Chuck D said the recording industry similarly feared the dawn of FM radio, but today the big labels "can't pay a radio station enough to play their shit," he said.
Chuck D echoed other Expo panelists, charging that the big labels cause artists to remain broke at the end of their recording contracts.
The Internet offers the promise that consumers won't pay for so many middlemen that drive up CD prices, he said. Chuck D got tired of hearing that "millions were being spent" on artists' "behalf." "Well how about giving me a million-dollar check, motherfucker?"
The biggest pirates are the accountants, lawyers, record companies and retail stores, he said.
As for the future, Chuck D said the recording industry has to change. He suggested that record labels could become the "modern day record clubs" of the Internet, where people pay for a subscription to their "wealth of material." He also suggested that artists' material should be sold in smaller units, such as a five-track album for five dollars online, or promoted by giving away certain songs to sell others.
The buzz at the conference was that Chuck D is looking to get involved with more music-based Internet ventures. But he was tight lipped about his more immediate Net plans, only saying, "everything I do is Internet first," and that he's looking into "different deals with different things."
According to his Web site, Chuck D is in the process of launching a Web based rap radio station called Bring the Noise, and is starting new music projects like the band Confrontation Camp, an "aggressive funk-rock combo band."
Flavor Flav has been working on his own solo album, and said he needs to discuss Internet and label options with Chuck D. "We'll sit down, open a couple of lobsters" and talk, he said.
