29 September 2008

Where's the Loot?

Downloading music illegally, as it has become to be known, perhaps has stolen a little from the music industry. However, how much have other avenues stolen, such as the ability to stream music consistently online or commercial free satellite radio that allows you to have favorite channels that play nothing but your favorite music? The music industry and the critics of individuals being able to download music online without paying, need to take a step back and not only target those they have marked as looters. Society is changing along with the media that is changing around it. Instead of fighting it, it should be embraced and ways need to be found to use it to an advantage.

Before reading a few chapters by Lawrence Lessig, I think I leaned more toward the extremist side of the fence in saying society is seething with pirates of the music industry. But then Lessig explained this extremist side in a perspective that started to make me think more about how drastic it is to call one who downloads music free online a pirate. As Lessig provided strong examples from our history of how piracy has been the way of the world, I think now those who call us pirates (yes, I am including myself) in such a drastic meaning of the word, are the real pirates.

I am sure there has been much written on this, perhaps by Lessig himself, and certainly online. But I have some thoughts of my own on all of this. In particular, note above that I stated the music industry. I think, for the majority, this includes only those who feel they will lose some of the great fortune they have already made. I am by no means speaking for musicians, but I do have a love of music as well as other arts, especially writing. Personally, as a writer wanting to break into the publishing world, I’d be OK posting a book or poem or a few samplings of my writings online for free to grab interest. What better publicity is there? I think an artist that isn’t well known yet certainly wouldn’t mind a few songs out there that would be free to their listeners and soon to be fans.

My prime example of this – while I will not state I “stole” anything and yes, the band is more well known – a few months ago I heard a song on Q98 by Avenged Sevenfold, I asked my husband, the music guru in the house, if he had any CDs by them. While he did not, his network of friends provided the latest Avenged Sevenfold CD. It went straight onto my Zune, and I spent the next few days listening to it at work, it growing on me like crazy. A few weeks later, I asked dear husband to check if they were on tour. Something came up that distracted us from checking, but a few weeks later, Q98 announced that if you were part of their Inner Circle, you could get the presale code to order Avenged Sevenfold tickets for November 9 at none other than the FargoDome. My tickets arrived in the mail today. Do you really think Avenged Sevenfold cares that I didn’t go buy their CD, especially since I am likely to go do so now and check out their other ones to possibly buy those too?

And no, I don’t think there should be this free for all online as that isn’t fair to the artists. I am an artist. I know what it is like to starve as you possibly make it into the industry. Instead of being so concerned with who is stealing, the attention needs to be turned to a solution to make these individuals not want to do so. Personally, I think the solution is an easy one. Musicians need to turn people on to their music. May it be (god forbid!) a free download or two, well, put it out there. I don’t care if you are Metallica or TxRx (click to sample). People love anything for free. How do I know? Well, back to Q98, for 24 whole hours, you could download a song from Nickelback’s upcoming album free. Seems someone is working on their marketing team using creative resources and what society wants to target sales. Looters (and society) unite!

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