SOPA

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/19/anonymous-hackers-claim-to-take-down-justice-department-website-in-retaliation/

So it's the Stop Online Piracy Act... Perhaps you've heard of it? It's basically everyone up in arms like how it was with Napster back in the day.

And as I'm sitting here typing this, crazy stuff is going down. See, a preemptive strike was made, shutting down megaupload.com. It's a site where you could upload music, videos, etc. Basically, it was "legally" used for piracy, like half a million other sites are, where you get others' uploaded content. Like Napster, but less blatantly illegal. But after word got around that that happened, that brought Anonymous, a global collective of hackers, out of the woodwork. Now they're going on a hacking spree. Here's the count so far:

1. justice.gov
2. universalmusic.com
3. riaa.org
4. mpaa.org
5. copyright.gov
6. hadopi.fr
7. wmg.com
8. usdoj.gov
9. bmi.com
10. fbi.gov

But what's the big deal with piracy?

Piracy is "theft." It's people stealing things they don't believe they should have to pay for. We live in a day and age where you can have anything and everything at your fingertips. It's no surprise. It's an age where it's harder to "make it" not only because of there being less money in recorded media, but there's also so many more people fighting for the same taste of the limelight.

The old way is done. You won't make money selling cassettes the same way that CDs are on their way out. I still like CDs, but it's all digital now. And digital, people believe, should be free.

As an artist, I'm actually all for sharing media. If you want to "steal" my music, please, do. Today, you need people listening to you. No one is willing to spend money on something they don't believe in, so first you've gotta make them believe in you. At that point, you've got fans, not just people spending money blindly. You actually have people vested in you. And that's how it should be.

I have no problem "stealing" music online from sites like megaupload. I limit my buying to two cases: artists I know or see/have seen live and artists that absolutely blow me away. The second accounts for hardly any of my music. But after downloading something, if I like it, I'll tell people about them, I'll see them live, and buy merch when I see them live.

Those complaining about piracy haven't caught on. Money isn't in the media, but in the experience. Make people want to support you and come up with new ways for that to happen. Innovate or be left behind ...or, as the case is today, HACKED :)

Get Back Up

I just got back from a weekend in New York with Kelly and her family. We were taking her sister, Jamie, back up to school and, while we were in the area, took a couple days to snowboard. It was a lot of fun and, since I haven't posted anything in a while, I feel like I should somehow relate snowboarding to music...

So here's what I've got:

The most important thing you can learn from snowboarding is to get back up. When you fall, you can either quit or you can get back up. Those are your only two choices and, as the case is with snowboarding, you are faced with that choice often.

See, snowboarding has one of the highest learning curves of any sport. If you didn't learn to snowboard when you learned to walk, tough luck. You WILL fall and you WILL get hurt. And it will take a long time until you are "good" at it. Through all of that, most people give up. You get a taste of snowboarding that is associated with catching your edge and having your head slammed into the ground. It's not a good feeling, but it is part of the learning process.

Me, being the adrenaline junkie that I am, have gone through all sorts of injuries in my learning process. I like to say that I was "raised" by skiers, as most of the guys I hung out with while I was learning were all experienced skiers. Experienced, meaning that I was constantly being pushed to go faster, steeper, and bigger than I would have liked. This led to injuries on all parts of my body - a fractured tailbone, unknown injuries to my knees and wrists, a mild concussion or two, etc.

When you're laying on the ground, wondering if you can move your legs and arms, you feel like quitting; like it's not worth it. Then you get up and do it again (sometimes after days or weeks of recovery). It's either because you've got masochistic tendencies or because you're passionate about what you do.

The first day we were out, Kelly and I took Jamie. Maybe she only got in 4 or 5 runs over the course of the day, but she ended with some accomplishments. Being able to link a few carves together is impressive, regardless of the swollen knees and sore appendages that it took to get there.

So this is where it ties to music. You WILL write crappy songs. You WILL play crappy shows. You'll hear people that can play circles around you. And you can either push on or you can give up. But if you're going to push on, do so intentionally. Bounce ideas off of friends, study your recordings, watch video of your performances. Go out with some intention on getting better. If you settle for what you're failing at, you'll just fall again and again.

And seriously, we don't need people who put out the same sound and the same performance over and over again. Know that it's okay to fall. You just have to get back up and keep moving forward.

Video - Ice Mountain

Kids! I did youtube! Finally!

See, I snowboard. Like, hardcore. I'm not the best. No backflips or huge jumps (though I think I hit a 45' once ...which is pretty big), but fast and steep. That's what I do. So when helmet cams came out a few years ago I was thinking that'd be pretty awesome to document some trips and whatnot. Well, originally, they were like $1000  ...which is a bit unattainable, seeing as how I also have other hobbies and, at the time, didn't have that kind of money to spend.

Fast forward a few years and you can get a helmet cam that shoots 1080p for under $200. Find it on steepandcheep and it's even better! So that's what I got for Christmas, just in time for the Vermont trip.

Unfortunately, the conditions weren't too great when we had the cams out on the mountain, so we didn't get any great footage. What I did get was used to adjust settings and whatnot.

But after getting back from Vermont and not having any more snow, I figured out how I could still make use of the cam w/out the snow - guitar stuff!

So here's the first installment - Ice Mountain.

Hello, 2012.

...and I'm pretty new to this youtube thing, but I think you can subscribe to my channel or something like that? Check it - www.youtube.com/alexbrubakerguitar 

2011 - Year in Review

I debated a lengthy review of everything that happened this past year, but decided that there was just too much that happened.

Instead, here are a few brief highlights of 2011:

• Played a ton of awesome shows, including a bunch of open mic's
• Released a website
• Graduated from Messiah College, got a job, and moved
• Played my first podcast on the NSFWShow
• Ranked #5 on amazon mp3 "easy listening" charts
• Began extensive work on the next album
• Got more amazing fans

And some things to look forward to in 2012:

• Bigger, better shows
• More looping, delays, etc.
• There are plans for more merch (i.e. t-shirts and stuff)
• Album #2
• Youtube

Details to come.

But in the meantime... check out my good friend, Caleb Hawley, bringing in the New Year!