ILLEGAL DOWNLOADS VS PAID DOWNLOADS - WHAT DO YOU THINK. Hi there, all Dont normally post, but was surprised by recent post ealrier today by someone about a band called Mira. The poster said they loved the band but didnt want to pay the $6 the Projekt label was asking for the download, and was asking where the you could illegally download (they even acknoweldged they were aware it was illegal). When I queried that they were doing the artist and also the small independent label who supported the release, out of an income not only did they get angry with me, but also the general consensus from other posters was that I was in the wrong, and that it was fine to illegally download a bands tracks. Because tracks ought to be free. As an artist who has been signed to independents, licenced to majors, and also self-released albums, I was surprised, and saddened by the majority view. I would be interested to see what others on this page think, though I have a foreboding sense that I will be in the minority on this Just to recap: THE PRO-ILLEGAL DOWNLOADS ARGUMENT is: 1. Its like home taping was in the 80s. It spreads the word, and means increased live revenues and awareness.. 2. Labels (and shops/distributors/i-tunes etc) are taking such a big cut that the artists dont make any money so why bother giving money to the man. They have such rubbish contracts that the artsist are in debt, and have to sell loads to make back their money, This is crap situation, and so the best way to deal with this is not pay the labels, and all the money grabbing types who screw over the artists, thus denying the man the money. Ha ha. 3. By the music being free to much wider audience it means they get to play to bigger live audiences and thats where they artists make their money - touring and selling t-shirts. 4. Often the downloader then buys the album on CD after downloading. THE LEGAL DOWNLOADS ARGUMENT 1. If an artist chooses to make their music free,as a download, or via streaming such as Spotify then thats great, but if they choose not to, and ask you to pay for it, then you should respect that. In this particular case the music is available on Spotify, but the person didnt want that - they wanted to own the MP3. Spotify and streaming is like home taping - you can share the track, but in order to make the hometape back in the 80s you had to own the record to make the compilation for your friends. If they really liked it, they could listen on the tape, but if they wanted to share oin they had to buy the record (or CD). These days you can listen on Spotify/Youtube or other streaming sites, but if you want to have it in the format that is most adaptable - eg in this case MP3 you have to buy it. 2. In the case of most of the bands featured on this page, they arent signed to multinationals. MOST BANDS ARENT U2. Most of the bands you like on this page scrape a living, or have dayjobs. In the case of this specific artist in question - Mira are signed to Projekt who are a small independent based in Portland run by Sam Rosenthal, who is also a musician and artist. I (and I assume everyone else on the post) doesnt know the contract that was signed, but I doubt if Sam is living the high life off his niche releases, having shafted all the bands on his label.By denying Projekt any revenue you are then diminishing the chance he has of funding another bands release. So you ultimately penalise the artist. Other artists self-release, so the money goes straight to them. 3. The band might play to a slightly bigger audience due to increase in free downloads, but most bands on this page wont have the opportunity to tour extensively, let alone anywhere abroad. So their chances of recouping from live shows will be negligible. 4. Re - often you buy after illegally downloading. Do you then go and legally download the album after illegally downloading? Nope, didnt think so. You have opportunity to stream it in wide variety of forms - why do you need to have it in that format to make your decision? And why are you averse to paying for it in that format? I dont doubt that people DO often buy the CD, but more often than not you listen to the album a while quite like it, then tire of it and then dont buy it, thus meaning the artist got no money out of supplying you with entertainment. 5. Respect the bands decision. They decided to either sign to a label to help fund the record or to go down the self-releasing route - if the band and label decide not to make the MP3 free (like U2 have) then you DONT have the right to say I think they should, I am going to take it for free anyway. in much the same way as large shops can absorb some amount of shop lifitng, its the small stores who it hits worse - same for artists - its the small bands (ie bands on this page) who REALLY NEED YOUR SUPPORT more than the bigger artists, and who it hits far worse. Please dont use the everyone else is doing it, one more doesnt make any difference excuse. Just because everyone else is screwing the artist/label doesnt make it ok for you to do it. OK over to you - will be interested to hear what you all think.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 15:18:45 +0000
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