Zeitgeist, produced by Peter Joseph, was created as a nonprofit filmic expression to inspire people to start looking at the world from a more critical perspective and to understand that very often things are not what the population at large think they are.

Now, it’s important to point out that there is a tendency to simply disbelieve things that are counter to our understanding, without the necessary research performed. For example, some information contained in the film is not obtained by simple keyword searches on the Internet. You have to dig deeper. If one takes the time to read the sources provided, they will find that what is being presented is based on documented evidence.

That being said, It is our hope that people will not take what is said in the film as the truth, but find out for themselves, for truth is not told, it is realized.

Rocketline will be hosting a free screening of Zeitgeist on Saturday March, 15 at the Yucca Tap Room in Tempe at 8pm, 10pm, and 12pm.

http://zeitgeistmovie.com/

Go out and change the world! Your experience can show the rest of us that life is beautiful… we just don’t know it yet.

Are you experienced?

Always remember to treat others with respect, honesty and kindness. I know it is something we all learned in Kindergarten, I know this. However, when I cruise the streets, I feel as though no one remembers what they learned at the blissful age of 5. Listen to our universe and spread that necessary positivity we need to make positive impacts for our communities. If we are going to make impacts in this world, its best to know where and how you are going to make the most of your time. Its best to open your wings and allow the wind to move to your destinations.

Start making these changes locally and work towards it globally. Start with yourself - I know that I have started with myself - and spread the highly contagious positive synergy to others. Work like lightning, be the positive charges attracting the negative charges and change them into positive ones. And always have your eye on the prize, a prize of a peaceful existence.

SMILE!!! You are beautiful!!

PS - And for those of you who think its too late to say Happy New Year…the year is still new and fresh for all of us! We should say nice things everyday, not just on Valentine’s Day ;)

What we’ve learned in this decade is the major labels are becoming ever more irrelevant.  Not only do they not create what so many are listening to, they’ve lost their power to dictate the future, progress in the marketplace has been wrested from them.

DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a red herring.  As is sale by track.  Most people with hand-held music players are listening to vast quantities of music sans copy protection.  The fact that it’s taken this long for the major labels to come to grips with this reality is evidence of their sideshow nature.   They just don’t get it, and seemingly never will.

Now that the DRM war is finally over, the labels have got to fight the value war.  Yes, people today think music has no value, they need to be sued into submission, they need to be taught that CDs are worth every dollar of their inflated price, that digital tracks should cost the aliquot share price of a CD.  This is utterly hysterical, because it too goes against reality.

People own a lot of tracks.  It’s not relevant whether they actually listen to them, they want to own them.  And they’re easily acquired.  Not only via Net P2P, but hard drive swapping, CD ripping…techniques that cannot be quashed.  Where is the major labels’ answer to this?   Nonexistent.

The future is already here.  The old CD paradigm, the old scarcity construct, is gone.  If people want to hear music, they’re not forced to sit by their stereos, listening to the radio for an aural glimpse, they just go online and take what they want.  This behavior must be monetized, but the labels won’t even make a reasonable streaming deal.  Their numbers are so heinous that iMeem can’t make money.  Is this a way to guarantee your future?

I’m not sure the major labels have much of a future.  They’ve squandered it.  And although they’ve got deep pockets compared to indie musicians, they’ve got no one working at their labels anymore, they don’t have the manpower to dominate in the coming years.  Winners will develop and market acts.  Whether they be by 360 or conventional deals.  Where is the major label infrastructure that’s going to get people to sign with them?

It’s not like the TV and radio airplay majors may deliver has the impact it used to.  It’s almost impossible to gain a large share of the public’s attention.  Never mind get them to pay for music.

You could say the system is broken, I’d say it broke a long time ago and we’re now in the healing process.  It looks like chaos from afar, kind of like a forest after a fire.  But fires are necessary, to reinvigorate the land, seedlings develop, which grow into new trees.  We’re in this phase now.

You can’t see the acts of the future.  And you can’t see those who are building them.  And when they grow, there might not be a hundred dominant trees, but thousands.  A veritable forest of acts.  This is a game the majors are not prepared for.  In order to dominate the new music sphere majors must sign and develop a PLETHORA of acts at a very cheap price, making pennies at a time.  This, of course, does not support the incredible overhead of today’s companies.  Where the worker bees have been laid off and those left are making a fortune.  You need a zillion worker bees and chiefs with only upside.  But those in power at the majors don’t want to give up their salaries, their old Tommy Mottola lifestyles. But did you notice that Tommy Mottola has never come back?

This is not complicated.  It’s about facing reality and monetizing it.   Selling buckets of tracks cheaply and trying to hook people on credible acts, not evanescent crap.  Lower the price and sell more.  And rental ain’t in the immediate future, this dropping of DRM proves it.   People want freedom, if you’re putting on locks, you’re driving people away.

Sale by track is economic death.  Whether they be wrapped in DRM or not.  You can’t have everybody making a 99 cent decision.  You’ve got to get ten bucks from everyone.  Just like the cable systems won’t sell their channels a la carte.  The science is not new, it’s just that those in the record business have been so busying bullying and paying people off that they’ve neglected to study economics in general.

Mobile phones blew up when the price came down.  Everyone over the age of twelve has now got a device.  Everybody should own music.  The way this happens is to forge reasonable plans, which are cheap, incentivizing people to partake.  Ripping off the DRM is a nice start, but it’s a small part of the equation.  Allow people to hear whatever they want when they want.  Instead of putting up walls, send out invitations.  Get in bed with the customer.  You can’t sell music to people who are not friends.  The war must end, music must be monetized.  So far the majors have only succeeded in making music free.  Their efforts are needed in order to get everyone to pay.  But this requires a reasonable business proposition.  But as seen in the last eight years, this business proposition is not needed for music to survive, just the major labels.   Music’s doing just fine, healthier than ever.  People are writing and playing and the audience is listening.  Meanwhile, the majors are cutting staff and reporting horrific numbers.  This disconnect won’t go on forever.   At some point, the business will be run by people who understand the new world.  Based on how long it’s taken three of the four majors to realize DRM is not the answer, I doubt these companies will be in charge of the game in the future.

The industry’s old model considered the sale of records as a primary source of revenue. Everything else is just a supplement. Tour, merchandising, marketing, were all considered secondary to record sales.

Executives are calculating not the proliferation of the most passionate and talented artists, but the easiest way to make the most money.

All you have to do is take the voice of the sleaziest public image and digitize it to perfection. The music can be bought. But not anymore. Programs like Bit-Torrent and other Peer-2-Peer networks have made file sharing simple and common place. There is no longer a need to give money to corrupt record labels. With musicians freely giving away their music, the only place left to give your money is to the artist, at the show.

More to come.

With this thought in mind, I was trying to remember who I was at the age of six. What I was into? How did I talk? Was I a”Kewl Kid” or not? I have a couple stand out memories, like playing ghostbusters on the kindergarten playground, but basically when I tried to remember specific situations, like sitting in Mrs. York’s first grade classroom and learning how to spell everyday, its more or less a blotchy,selective memory that requires my imagination to be an equal participant in re-creating old moments and scenarios. I realized that I am an ever-evolving person, who could not even keep track of himself at times. I feel as though its a pretty intense concept that allows for great changes; great changes that can lead to results.

If you do not like the person you are, no one will. You have to be proud of who you are and what you represent, its the only way you will discover your true purpose in life. And when you find that element in your life, put it to use. We only have so much time to make the necessary impacts to provide a healthy social environment for all the beings of this planet! Please, use your time WISELY! Feel strong everyday! Make good choices, fill your environments with peace and positive synergy! Always treat others with respect! Change the world one step at a time!

Smile baby!

Maybe now people can see these shows for what they really are, mind-numbing-crap.

We will only be playing for 10 minutes and are required to play one holiday song. We will be doing a Rocketline rendition of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” It seemed like a good choice and an artistic reflection of the times.

Thanks to everyone who made it out Friday to the Hollywood Alley. We actually recorded the set and we have posted new songs on our MySpace page. If you have not listened in a while, I encourage you to check the newer, evolving material. Also, please show some love for our web designer Josh Gomez. He is doing some amazing things for us! Please leave a comment about your thoughts!

Also, the band recently shot a music video with local film student, Kate Hoy at SCC. It should be available for view sometime in the next week or so either on our MySpace or here on the website. Lots of exciting things seem to have been happening lately. Thank you all for your support, it has been the fuel that has been keeping the spaceship in orbit!

in peace and love