I don't think any of us can honestly cross our hearts and hope to die that you have not downloaded music before, ever ever ever, illegally[maybe with the exception of ms Judge...hmmm]. I sure have. Still do. I'll get to that later.
With the economic crisis and "credit crunch" this is generating, the music industry [especially that of CD stores ect.] will be effected greatly, not that it hasn't already because of illegal downloading. Of course, a "cure" to this is the holding of live concerts and of such, which is one of the best ways for bands/artists to generate revenue, and of course, you can now also very handily buy songs seperately or the whole album online to ease ye self of guilt.
Of course, the main thing about buying cd's is that we don't really need to, because we can hop on limewire or browse torrent sites where you can download an ENTIRE bands discography easily (easily, given you have broadband). So with the economic crisis, buying cd's and such is something that is not a necessary commodity when we can get it for "free", and thus, with this thinking, the artists who produce these cd's will be for the poorer times 10 during these times.
I always feel guilty when i download albums, and i know having the actual tangible album in thee hands feels great. When i download albums I have this little room in my mind of this scene:
Abandmember: Let's have noodles again, tonight.
Bbandmember: Yeh.
Cbandmember: I thought i could make a living with music
Abandmember: thats what we all thought. I didn't think i could live of noodles, but hey...
Cbandmember: Actually, i got a part-time job this week- at the convenience store
Bbandmember: Ah, i just went for an job interview at Farmers...and don't you think that writing songs that will "sell" is so stressful?
A,B & C: ....
Dbandmember: Alright lets place our activities on "Hiatus" then.
A,B & C: Alrighty
and we all know Hiatus is a euphemism for "disbanding"!!!*cough*malice mizer*cough*...
So, i try my best to buy albums. I spent Yen350,00 or so, give or take on albums and concert dvds when i was in Japan. Right now...I'm horrible. But i'm planning on buying what i have downloaded, and loved intensely from this particular site that gives free shipping :D as the main reason i don't buy cd's is because the cd's i want to buy can only be brought online and i have to change them to NZ dollars and pay for shipping...but...excuses!
However, upsides of downloading is that is is absolutely universal and no matter where you are given you have have a port or wi-fi near you, music from all the spaces within this world can reach you. Music now has fingertips to extend and touch many, which is undeniably good for an artist. I mean visual kei is crazy popular in Europe. This was only possible through downloads and, strangely, all these spanish blog sites that have entire discography of some bands uploaded onto megaupload and mediashare ect. This made is able for these visual bands to actually have europe tours.
Also, iPod's/mp3's have entirely revolutionised the music industry- as it made it more uneccesary to buy CD's but also a way which makes way for buying songs online...hmmm...
my take: buy what you love. If you listen to a certain artist alot, instead of downloading more of their albums, go and see whats avaliable at the Cd store.
"my take" redux for us poorer students who may not actually afford to pay $35 for 1 cd(!): ??umm...send fanmail to make up for your lack of financial support?
well we just have to make sure we arn't pirates all the time...or...communists!!
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4 comments:
I usually only download a couple of songs off an album, and then buy it if I really like what I hear. Usually. But I seem to have a lot less disposable income these days.
How guilty I feel about it depends on how big the band is, and how much I like them. There are still lots of bands that I think are doing well enough without my hard earned dosh.
The piracy issue I feel a lot stronger about though, is the fact that it is technically illegal to copy the cds you've actually paid for onto your computer or ipod. You're suppose to pay again an electronic copy off itunes if you want to do that, which is just silly.
Piracy is a genuine issue for the record industry, especially smaller bands who are just starting up. But there's a fine line between trying to earn a living and exploitation, and many larger record companies unfortunately fall into the latter category. There conversations probably go more like this:
Fat Record company exec A: Oh no! All those teenagers who used to spend all their money on music are illegally downloading it instead!
Fat record company exec B: Oh no! We won't be able to spend excessive amounts of money on expensive cars and private jets and other things that are bad for the environment!
Fat record company exec A: We'll have to do something about that!
I think that music should be free. But all artists need to earn a living, I guess. Maybe they should all just find wealthy patrons to support them, like David!
Ahem. In my youth I used a few music downloading sites.
I figure it's just economics. Any market that has changes like the music industry has had is forced to alter their product and find new ways to make money. Don't feel sorry for them! It's basic supply-and-demand principles.
They have to find ways to make it seem that buying the actual album has added-value or benefits (cool limited edition CD covers, free stuff, posters) or simply cut their profit margins on it (maybe the big wigs in the record companies could take pay cuts since a CD is supposed to literally only cost a few cents to make). Or come up with new products.
I think music purists still buy the CD, so it's not a dead market yet. And I have listened to downloaded MP3s and been exposed to artists I might not otherwise have listened to, and then I have gone and bought entire albums. So in a way it can be a marketing tool to get your music exposed. Some bands are starting to use it like that. Didn't Radiohead just release their entire new album online, for free? Some big band did that this year, anyhow.
I think this whole marketing campaign to make people feel guilty for downloading music is never going to work. You can't guilt-trip mass-market consumers. The industry simply will have to change and adapt. Any good marketer or business strategist is going to already be looking into the future and how they can exploit current technology, rather than resisting it.
People like music. They like live gigs. Radio stations will keep buying the rights to play music and TV stations will buy music videos. And frankly, most musicians I know will pretty much play for free if they have to.... It's a vocation or passion, so just because they're not getting to be millionaires won't mean that the true musicians actually will prefer to get day jobs. They'll just work for more 'normal' wages rather than squillians, like The Rolling Stones or all those hip-hop stars are currently getting. I think since the MTV generation (1980s) the music industry has maybe been saturated with some pretty poor quality music, so if it becomes less lucrative, maybe that will get rid of those kinds of artists, the ones not really doing it for 'the love'. Artists can get great money out of getting their songs used in TV ads or films (so maybe they'll just have to sell-out and become commercialised if they wanna keep making big bucks).
Though, I wonder if the CD sales industry becoming less lucrative will make plastic popstars more or less marketable? Possibly they'll continue doing ok, in that they are easily marketable as visual images (so add-on products are more lucrative than say a really ugly band that writes clever music). It would be interesting to see a break-down on where the revenue comes from for a typical crappy popstar, and how much of it is actually from CD sales and how much is from other stuff (tv appearances, merchandise, radio and music videos etc).
The worst that will happen is that the music industry will become more like other arts industries. Visual artists and poets have long been having to toil away on their arts for little money and fame. But good art is still out there and being produced by people who maybe don't make heaps of money out of it.
well
i download music
BUT
i wouldnt download a movie *coughtwilightcough*
NEVER! i wouldnt spoil watching it on the BIG SCREEN by downloading it to a crappy computer moniter
i sometimes think about actually buying music rather than using limewire
but hey it saves me money and its quick
so i dont care
maybe if they made CD's cheaper? i mean who wants to spend 30-35 bucks on a CD when they can download it for half that on itunes or for free on limewire
(just to ease the guilt a littl)
Most artists don't actually make a whole lot from cd's. Record companies traditionally have always got large cuts of the sale price of a cd. As file sharing and downloading became widespread, lots of musicians (like Madonna. Who is rich anyway, so this might not count), secured higher cuts from the sales of posters, t-shirt and concert tickets. These things, especially concert tickets, nowadays tend o be the biggest earners for bands, as lots of record companies noticed too late where the money was. So if you love a band, go to their concert, and buy the overpriced t-shirt's there! The band wont mind so much if you then go home and download their album.
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