Originally Posted by Matthew Tsai

Thanks for the clarification. It definitely makes more sense now in terms of what you were trying to say. I don't agree with everything you said, namely that religion's societal utility has become more limited. Ultimately, I think that's an illusion, as there are facets of morality and religion that are inseparable. A religion-less society is possible, but the pull of morality will never be as strong in such a society as if religion was present, if for no other reason than that scientifically speaking, our brains seem to be wired for religion and that a lot of humanity responds best to the need to "be moral" when religion is present.

But I'm going on a huge tangent from the topic at hand here, so I'm going to stop haha. I'm definitely open to discussing this with you elsewhere though!

Always open to a healthy philosophical debate and having my mind changed; feel free to PM with a dismantling of my position! It'll provide a healthy distraction from all the dry legal work I'm otherwise doing.

Originally Posted by DandonTRJ

Always open to a healthy philosophical debate and having my mind changed; feel free to PM with a dismantling of my position! It'll provide a healthy distraction from all the dry legal work I'm otherwise doing.

Will do! Just saw you're a law student, which is awesome. That's the direction people in my life have been trying to push me down, I just don't know if I have what it takes to go through with it haha.

Joy Williams was signed to a major label as a solo artist before she was in The Civil Wars. She's also written songs for other artists. I don't think an artist with no prior exposure from a label (major or indie) could have pulled this off. I feel like that's the only reason labels are necessary, to get exposure for new artists, once you have the fan base you can do well without a label as long as you put in the necessary time and continue to release good music.

Originally Posted by TheDeathofParis

This is not a fluke or is it something that is the future of the music industry. A label helps build a unknown artist a fan base and funds an artist. A label also uses its contacts to break the artist further.... When an artist like The Civil Wars has a member in the band who was signed to a label since the age of 17 and had 2 releases which sold 250,000 if not more and developed a fan base. Then went ahead and signed a publishing deal and had american idol winners sing her songs and get paid off that. Joy started her own label which she was able to fund. She already had the fan base. No one noticed the fact that The Civil Wars recorded their first songs with a major producer in an expensive studio. Their 2nd show was opening for a major artist in a popular club. They used all the right contacts to get on good shows and grow quickly and they also used their contacts to get on Grey's Anatomy and other shows. I'm not taking away from the fact that these 2 are super talented but they were already established in the industry and funded their own new project.

Its the same reason bands like Less Than Jake don't need a label. They were developed by a major label and grew a fan base over the years through all the marketing and awesome tours the major label put them on. People might forget but Less Than Jake toured with BonJovi playing stadiums. Now they are able to record cheap and sell their music and merch to the die hard fan base that stayed with them over the last few years. Yeah bands like that don't need a label to do what they do, play good shows, release music and tour. Bands who don't have money though or a large fan base from a previous project and are starting out from scratch will have a lot of trouble getting to the position that Less Than Jake and The Civil Wars are finding themselves in right now..... Just something to think about.

Basically. Didn't read your post before I wrote mine, haha.

Originally Posted by Matthew Tsai

Will do! Just saw you're a law student, which is awesome. That's the direction people in my life have been trying to push me down, I just don't know if I have what it takes to go through with it haha.

Another subject I'm happy to discuss if you're inclined to hear from someone "on the inside," haha.

I love this band and that album.