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Life is short, you only live once. Why not live free?
“Plastic has wings to fly out of wallets and purses and mannequins in a store front window get more looks than artwork in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” – John from NYC
Consume – to use up or destroy as in fire. Cancer.
Q: If you could change one thing about money, what would it be?
A: Eliminate interest charged in lending.
Give us a call on our voicemail feedback hotline at 615-200-7189 or drop Greg an email at:
greg [at] debtshepherd [dot] com
There is no need to copyright truth
I just discovered this website/podcast today, and I already really appreciate the perspectives that I am hearing, so THANK YOU! I am hearing a human side to money and life management that is refreshing.
So, I would like to ask that you read this understanding that I mean it in humility not hostility.
There was one aspect of this episode that did make me sad, and I just want to offer some food for thought. Recording artists are some of the only workers who give you an opportunity to consume their product for free without forcing you to trade your experience for money beforehand or even afterward. You do not have the option to eat a candy bar, decide that, yeah, you liked it, but just not enough to pay for it, and leave. The attitude that we can do that to music (and a song is only the price of a candy bar) and praise it as not giving in to consumerism was disappointing.
Now, I know that iTunes doesn’t pay musicians properly either, so I am not here to say that we should fund iTunes if we like music. I just wish that we could acknowledge that there are hardworking humans creating those songs that we are consuming and enjoying (and that they are paying a lot for recording costs), and that perhaps we could consider finding ways to support them, or at the very least, acknowledge that we are indeed choosing to consume their product for free. Musicians are not served well by our economic model.
As far as the idea that we only like a song because of the feeling it gives us or the memories that we attached to them, I agree—that is indeed the currency of music: emotion. That is why we are attracted to this art form. I consider music a source of spiritual medicine, and those songs create the release of chemicals in your brain that can help you process pain, relieve stress, or crank up some energy. This is of real value, yet it seemed to be compared to the feeling of instant gratification of buying things that really just cover our deeper feelings. I do not think these are the same things.
OK, I know this all sounds like a lecture, and I am sorry. I don’t mean it to be. I really liked so many of the things you discussed, and the truth is that I am a hypocrite. For one, I like this podcast, and I am listening to it for free, and I really, really like that it is free. Second, I have very little disposable income, and I listen to music on YouTube frequently. (I pay for music, too, but I also do consume it for free. I acknowledge that that is the way things are these days.) Third, I have no solutions—there is a real problem in how our market system attaches value to services, and how messy the idea of “money” is in the first place, and I am just as annoyed as anyone that people who make money purely by manipulating money are allowed to feel superior to and more worthy than those people who break their backs to clean giant mansions, teach kids, or help those in need.
Many people want to give valuable things for free—like you/your podcast for example. It is a beautiful and human thing to do. I think many musicians feel this way about their music. They just want to create, and they want to spread beauty. I like this about the world, and I think the world would be such a beautiful place if everyone felt free to give of him/herself and could be taken care of in return. I was simply disappointed that not paying for music was praised in the context of the conversation in this podcast.
Again, I hope that you understand this as just a humble observation, and not an argument. I totally understand that this is how music distribution works now, and I understand the desire for frugality and self-restraint regarding money. I appreciate you and all that you do.
Hey Greg,
It’s great to see the interview posted. For anyone who listened to the interview hopefully you won’t need this guys sunglasses to see what we discussed in great length and detail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVgl1HOxpj8