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I am one man who writes (pretty poorly) about music because I love it. I study, play, produce, engineer, analyze, and obsess about music. Enjoy all the topics I can muster up to write about.
Enjoying “Idiot Savant” very much, thanks.
You are certainly correct that many of the newer ways music is obtained and shared (your term, Piracy, is vexed because of its broad and varying interpretations, including a habitual failure to distinguish methods merely discouraged from those patently illegal) does not kill music. Your logic is, however, flawed in several areas. First, it is not the music itself in danger from piracy but the livelihoods of those making and distributing it. Second, though it is laudable that you chose to share your music freely, you are able to do so specifically because you do not make your living from it. Third, though I am completely with you that record companies need to let go of nostalgic and atavistic attitudes and practices, record companies are made of of actual individuals whose livelihoods are at stake so that adapting is not simple or straightforward. Finally, I don’t agree that the customer is always right: if I am the customer of a lawyer in a suit there are things he or she may not advise me to do, provide false evidence, harass or threaten the opposing party, and if I do these he or she must report me, and the signal flaw in your argument is that since it is happening anyway the party it is happening to should just get over it. That’s not fairness or justice. I hope to be able to download and listen to your music, but at the moment the download is not working. I am enjoying your blog, however, and appreciate both your passion and point of view.
Piracy doesn’t kill music, it just impedes the ability to make money off of music. The consequences of that are mixed. You put a lot of time and effort into the album you created and are willing to give it away for free. That’s awesome. But you also have a livelihood outside of the music. You aren’t depending on it to put food on your table. If you were, you might look at piracy in a different light.
Frankly, your post comes off as a bit entitled. Record labels most certainly need to respond to changes in technology and contemporary expectations of customers. In many ways that’s what has happened. There are now numerous digital delivery services that afford inexpensive access to music in exceptionally convenient circumstances. Sign up for Napster and for a small monthly fee you’ve got a library of thousands of albums. Ditto for Rhapsody. If you want something specific, grab it from iTunes or Amazon with a quick click.
As such, it’s increasingly difficult to argue in favor of piracy because there aren’t legal options to suit your internet-saavy lifestyle.
Granted, I’m not going to shed any tears if Sony Records misses out of a few dollars.