Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Music Piracy

Recently posted this on a message in support of Music Piracy.


It is rare you see an artist pursuing legal action against the file sharing community simply because downloading songs/albums illegally does not hurt them. In fact it is beneficial to them for the most part since they don't really make their money from that, they receive most of their income from touring/live shows. The only way album sales really help them is putting a dent in their debt with the record company.

So by downloading music for free the consumer is able to hear music they otherwise wouldn't go out and purchase unless it is an artist they are already familiar with. 

I would like to point out this is the same even with third party labels such as Aftermath, Shady Records, Roc Nation, Bad Boy, Young Money, Cash Money, Def Jam, etc. etc. A parent label still own's that label and if you look up the parent labels roster you will find that artist listed most of the time.

So this brings up the thought: "Okay, it still hurts the label, that isn't right" wrong. Large music labels are just heartless corporations like the rest. Here I would like to refer you to an essay written by Steve Albini titled "The Problem With Music". It's from the mid/late nineties but nothing has really changed except the numbers are larger. 

Also I would like to point out there is someone out there it can hurt, independent artists. Record company's such as Rhymesayers, Strange Famous, Definitive Jux, etc. offer their roster much better deals when it comes to album sales and work on a budget. Even so though artists still make a majority of their income from touring/live shows.

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