Music Sharing

Generally, I have observed a huge mischaracterization of music sharing ("piracy"). I happen to be amongst a community of music lovers, collectors, and sharers. These things tend to go hand in hand. Many of my friends are in bands. I have learned about artists I probably would have never discovered if not for music sharing and because of that I have gone to their shows, bought merchandise, and further promoted. Spreading the word is free marketing. The only artists I imagine don't benefit from music sharing are big labeled artists who are already banking and don't need promotion because they are already huge.


I'm sure there are some real pirates out there, people who only download music and never buy it, never pay to go to shows, never buy merchandise, nothing, they just are free loaders. The ones that make music sharers become menacingly characterized as pirates who who want to ruin the music industry. I don't know them. But NONE of the people I know are like that. They have HUGE collections of purchased music (cds and records) and also HUGE collections of music they got for free. You can't stop people from making each other mix cd's, that's just cruel. Mix cds are one of the best things in the world! Or burning each other disks.

In the world I live in: It's fair trading. I bought this amazing album and want to share it, and someone else bought an amazing album and wants to share it! Someone hears a record at a friend's house, then goes and downloads it easily and freely and listens to it constantly, then s/he looks up when a the next show happens in the area, gets a bunch of people to go pay to see the band! Someone loves a particular song and sends someone a free mp3 of it, then that person wants to go buy the album! Etc etc etc. These are the kinda of scenarios I encounter when it comes to sharing music.

The types of music sharing scenarios that I know of help the music industry and they are made up of genuine music lovers.

I understand the concern, believe me. And it's money. I get it. Hm...I wonder, would a band rather to never be heard of or be popular, loved, and free? I mean, if those were the only choices...

I know there is a fine line that becomes a slippery slope between music sharing and piracy. But I also think that we live in a digital age where there is tons of access and exposure. With the good comes the bad, and with the bad comes the good. This also means that someone can steal my idea pretty easily, but it also means that someone can like my idea who would have never had access to it.



One more philosophical query... if a band worked hard, and they got a huge fan base of loving listeners out of people downloading their mp3s for free unbenounced to them, is all their hard world lost? Probably this means that they will be doing better as a band. And by better I mean: selling more cds, t-shirts, show tickets, etc. And by better I also mean happier because people know who the hell they are and like their work.

Again, this need not apply to big huge bands on big huge record labels who are already living in luxury. I imagine music sharing doesn't help them one bit, but, aren't they already banking?




I realize the piracy and copyright issues in our modern interwebbing world is a can of very complex worms that I haven't quite gotten a handle over. But in general, I'll say my little say. I think the first priority of art is either to be private or public. If you make it for yourself, no problem. If you are making it hoping for an audience, once you go public, isn't the goal to create as many listeners as possible???? To see if people relate to your work and if they do then you CELEBRATE THAT! If it is for money, than you should go back to college or go to college and get a degree in marketing or business or something and I promise that you will be more likely to bank.