Ryan Phillips and Adam Russell, the guitar and bass player from post-hardcore rock band, Story of the Year, plan to make a documentary on the state of the music industry.

I’ve been a long-time fan of Story of the Year since their 2003 debut, Page Avenue, so when I stumbled on this project while perusing Kickstarter, I immediately got excited.

The documentary is called Who Killed (Or Saved) The Music Industry, and it hits on the core question behind why Launch and Release was started: can you make a living with your music in today’s music business landscape? If so, how?

Adam & Ryan’s Documentary Kickstarter

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THE QUESTIONS THEY INTEND TO ANSWER

• How have cheap and ubiquitous technologies changed the way we create and experience music?
• What are the real world effects of illegal file sharing?
• How has the rise of network culture in the information age changed the landscape of the music industry?
• What is the future of the major record label and physical media?
• Is it still possible to make a good living as a part of the music industry?

INTERVIEWS

They plan to interview a ton of great bands (mostly in the hard rock category, it looks like) to get their take on the changing industry and what it means to them.

PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION

Adam- “Is this actually the best time for music, is this a golden opportunity for the music business to totally reinvent itself? Can this paradigm shift actually be great for art?”

Although it would be cool to get some behind the scenes thoughts from existing rock bands, I’m much more interested in this documentary for it’s potential to focus on the future possibilities, and perhaps even some specifics for how artists like you and I can move forward with hope and purpose.

These guys only have a few hours left to fund this incredibly worthy project.  As of this writing, they’re sitting at $24,850 of their $30,000 goal and only 51 hours to go. Jump on over to pledge and share with other artists who are passionate about making a living with their music.