just want to see how we feel about this.
this was an issue with my last band- i voted yes...i wanted to put our CD on p2p but the singer didn't.
Take a look at the UK charts for the last month......
The Arctic Monkeys allowed their demos to be used on P2P, when their first album was recently released, straight in at #1.....
Gnarls Barkley have been at #1 in the singles chart for a while, totally on the strength of downloads...
And Sandi Thom, who gained a cult following via live internet webcasts - http://forums.guitarnoise.com/viewtopic.php?t=23519 - is currently #2 in the singles charts....
Didn't do any of them any harm, did it? OK, the Gnarls Barkley single is different from the others in that you had to pay to download it.....
But the Arctic Monkeys and Sandi Thom both gained their following by allowing their music to be freely available on the 'net.....and both have gained by it.....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
The idea that a small band will benefit by stopping people from being exposed to their music is simply fatally flawed.
The only groups that downloads hurt are the extremely successfull bands that will pack large venues everywhere they go already. Such groups make up less than 1/10th of 1% of the recording musicians out there.
Even fairly established groups who are still growing a following benefit from sharing their music.
That said, it needs to be at the choice of the artist if the music is shared or not. It is equally problematic for people to take it upon themselves to violate the license terms and steal the music as it is for record companies, agents and lawyers to stop the bands from doing what they want with their music.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
I was going to make, basically, the same argument that KP did. But I see he already did it. :D I guess it depends on your level but I have no earthly idea how putting your music up on a P2P can hurt you if you are a local or regional act.
Geoo
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
"Downloads = less sales" is music industry BS, plain and simple. Obviously there's going to be an exception here or there, as with everything, but for the most part it's just the same old self-serving propaganda. Or so says I, at least. :)
Personally I don't even care about whether it is economically smart or not. I've spent the last 12 months producing my own music and you better believe I don't want it to rot away in some shoebox in my appartment.
But ofcourse, if I could find a label interested in what I do then, and they are willing to finance my next project then I won't really appreciate it if people download it. So if it's my job and the music is commercially readily availlable then no, but as the situation is now there's no point in keeping it to myself.
If your a local band and you don't put your music out there why the heck would we the buying public go out of our way to try to find it? I wouldn't so you've already lost a potential fan/customer.
All this BS about music on the web is all about corporate greed and has little to do with the artists. It's a double negative, if you want people to buy your music don't they first have to hear it, duh?
I still don't buy the argument that it hurts big acts that much either, I think that's alot of BS too, I've listened to big name bands music on the internet and then gone out and bought the CD because I liked it. I never would have bought those CD's if I hadn't listened first.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
so far i've not seen any evidence that people sharing music on the internet has hurt music sales.
i have seen quite a bit of evidence that it has helped sales.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34300-2004Mar29?language=printer
"Songs that were heavily downloaded showed no measurable drop in sales, the researchers found after tracking sales of 680 albums over the course of 17 weeks in the second half of 2002."
http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html
"Realistically, why do most people download music? To hear new music, or records that have been deleted and are no longer available for purchase. Not to avoid paying $5 at the local used CD store, or taping it off the radio, but to hear music they can't find anywhere else. Face it - most people can't afford to spend $15.99 to experiment. That's why listening booths (which labels fought against, too) are such a success."
http://www.thefactz.org/economics/p2p_summary.html
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/04.15/09-filesharing.html
"File sharing may boost CD sales
Study defies traditional beliefs about Internet use"
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-898813.html
"Study: File sharing boosts music sales"
#4491....
At this point I'm just glad that there people who
will listen to my music.
Although,like Arjen if I were to produce something more
finished and put it for sale then that would be a different
story.
We've been talking about this topic a lot round here lately and it's got great potential to go south rapidly. Whether downloading or peer ot peer sharing hurts sales is not up for discussion here.
The question is, are you happy with people downloading your music for free, or do you want them to pay for it
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
We've been talking about this topic a lot round here lately and it's got great potential to go south rapidly. Whether downloading or peer ot peer sharing hurts sales is not up for discussion here.
The question is, are you happy with people downloading your music for free, or do you want them to pay for it
sorry i don't want to contribute to any threads going "south"
let me add this then, i would very much want people to download my music for free,
because it has been proven (to me at least) that this would actually help sales of my music.
#4491....
i noticed there were some 'no' votes....any 'no' voters want to elaborate?
excerpt from interview with Thee Unstrung:
How do you feel about people illegally downloading your music without paying?
“I've got to be honest, I used to download a lot when I had a computer a few years ago. I never felt that much remorse for it. Ever since the boot's been on the other foot, and I'm the one getting downloaded, it changes your perspective. I'm at a loss. If artists don't want people to download their music off the internet, then they have to have something on their sleeves to make it collectable. You need something more that just the fact that it's the CD.
