You’ll see variations on this theme all over the internet. Radiohead have had the backing of a major label, have built up a considerable fan base as a consequence, and are leveraging this advantage when offering us the opportunity to name our own price when buying their new album. No one without this advantage could afford to market themselves in this way.

Let’s leave aside the fact that this process isn’t a new thing, and that the myspace phenomenon quite clearly contradicts this notion.

I think that what lies at the heart of this argument is the supposition that the old structure could miraculously transport a band / composer from their current unknown status to globally recognised status overnight. This notion is a perfect reflection of our instant gratification culture, of our unwillingness to put in the hours and work necessary to create something lasting, the reluctance to undertake a journey for the sake of the journey alone. It also belies ignorance of the reality of this particular way of getting yourself heard.

We are not born with an innate right to be listened to. If you are willing to organise a platform to air your thoughts you might find that some people take notice, that if you air those thoughts with relative frequency, people might start to listen, to tell others about what they have heard.

It might be that enough people listen in order for you to start to make some money, maybe even enough to pay all the bills and then some, but the reality is that for most people, the payoff lies somewhere between being able to buy some toothpaste once in a while and paying the monthly electric bill.

Getting to the position where you have the luxury of believing that all the world loves you, and that your every fart matters, takes more than an accountant simply saying “Yes, we’ll pay for the video and the private jets”, it requires that your shoes be resoled numerous times, and for luck to play a considerable part. This is true regardless of whether or not you have the backing of a huge corporation.

The relatively recent phenomenon of global superstardom financed by suits, which was representative of only a tiny sliver of musical activity anyway, is becoming less valid by the day. This is not a backward step. It is a realigning with how things had been done before. It means that in order to benefit from the soup of humanity you have to communicate with it and act in a way that acknowledges your own part within it.