By Woody Shaw III A certain long-time jazz "executive" just told me I was a "fool" (with emphasis) for not valuing the resources he provides through traditional jazz distribution. Oh, you mean the promotion, the international distribution, the packaging and shipping, the magazine ads, press releases, and payola that MIGHT earn you one or two, maybe five thousand record sales at the MOST? You mean all those overhead, ancillary costs that thousands of entrepreneurs are now completely bypassing and liberating themselves from through their websites, mobile apps, startups, through social media, and crowdfunding? This shit is over. The music business is dead, held on to by a handful of luddite extremists who refuse to accept that we live in the 21st century, that the world changes and with all declination comes opportunity. The era of the self-professing Yoda figure inundated with unsold inventory and a graveyard of defunct copy-scanners and fax machines is officially OVER. Any time someone tells you what is not possible, you can be sure of at least one of three things: (1) They have not tried it, (2) they failed miserably at it, or (3) they are scared shitless that someone else might succeed at it. In either case, none of these experiences gives them the authority to dictate the future of an entire art form; that is, who should hear it, how many people it should reach, what formats it should be distributed in, how it should look, what it should sound like, who its audience should be. These factors are no longer the sole province of senior business managers or self-started Depression Era / WW2 jazz gatekeepers. Your time is over. The era when some old man sitting in an office determined the economic fate of artists (and their heirs) is officially over. As such, it is time for ALL artists to take control of their OWN destiny and not depend on Anyone other than themselves to perpetuate their creative, material, and spiritual interests. The relationships are there, market is there now, the outlets are there, the inspiration is there, the creativity is there. This is the most disruptive time the creative world has ever faced in history, and since creativity is first and foremost about the independence of the artist, and at its most radical expression, about disruption, creatives must have the courage to live up to the mantel that they've chosen in being artists. It is time to disrupt and disturb every force that stands to gain from the dependence of artists on hand-outs, debilitating validation, integration, and that stands in the way of raw change, artistic freedom, creative expression and independence. I am right now in conversation about releasing some Woody Shaw in 2016, which will probably be the last material I ever release through traditional (jazz) distribution that does not contend with the realities of the 21st century. This is it. I'm done. My father, his generation, their predecessors, they paid the price. The era of indentured servitude is OVER. A reclamatory uprising is underway. It is time for total independence now. Much music, and much more, to come. Beyond All Limits. —W3