If a tree falls in the middle of the forrest and no one is around to hear it, did it make a sound?
The same philosophy can be applied to music. Music can only exist if someone is around to listen to it, to hear it, to appreciate it. Music fans is what makes music, music. Sure, the artists do their part, but without the fans, no one would give a damn if the Chili Peppers had their album leaked before the official release date to the Internet.
In the medieval era, musicians existed, and would publicly perform, playing their music, so others could enjoy it. People would give some money to the musician, as a tip, but not everyone did. The musicians kept on performing, regardless of the low-pay ‘job’ they had.
At some point between then and now, artists have become so arrogant that they some how believe they are entitled to money whenever someone hears their music. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ recent album, which was leaked previous to official release, is a good example of what I am talking about.
Obviously, fans are downloading and trading the music of this band. I don’t really care for their music, so naturally I do not have any of their songs, or this album in which I write about. Whoever does must be a fan, right?
So if fans are trading the music, it means they enjoy the Chili Peppers’ music, and if this is the case, then it is understandable as to why they’d want to hear the album before it is officially released, why anticipate when you can listen to it now?
Instead of looking at this situation as a compliment, the Chili Peppers look at the release as ‘theft’ and ’stolen work’, which supposively hurts them deeply. Give me a break. People like their music so much, they leak it and share it and can’t wait for the official release to hear the new album. This is a huge compliment to any underground artist hoping to make it big time.
I have had the priviledge of meeting many underground artists and speaking with them, and the results are in — it’s about the money. Underground artists, or Indie artists, do not go around crying if their music is traded via P2P, they love it. They get more exposure, and therefore people who like their music, will go and buy the album, if they are a real fan. If they are not a real fan, then they never would have purchased the music anyway, so a download via p2p, does not reflect a lost sale. (Industry Studies have proved P2P does not damage sales.)
For artists like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Eminem, Metallica and other grossly wealthy individuals, it is not about making the music. It’s not about the thrill of having others enjoy what you create, or getting your name exposed, like it is for independent artists. It’s about one thing— the finances involved.
The author of the article, which has inspired me to write this response, makes the point that music fans are not entitled to the music they download, and that this music remains 100% property of the artists. If this is how the author feels, then I’d suggest he re-evaluate what he is selling to the ZeroPaid community.
If artists have a problem with their fans trading their music, then perhaps they shouldn’t release any more of it. If they want to truly own and hold total control of these sound recordings, for all of eternity, and believe they are entitled to this, then they can make their music and replay it at home, for themselves. No music fans to steal if the music is not released and played over every major Top40 station in the country, right?
Music is not owned by the artist, in the sense that music fans may not hear it without permission. Copyright was created to prevent other people from reproducing the works of the original artists and selling them to make an quick buck. That is the point of copyright.
Ownership implied, has never meant anything more than a means of preventing someone else from making money off of the creator’s works, or taking credit for it.
Today, artists and record labels abuse their rights as copyright holders and believe it’s a license to sue innocent families into financial submission and to criminalize their own fans.
The fact remains that without the fans of the music, it essentially does not exist. Instead of treating all fans as worthless cash-cows, they need to wake up and gain some respect for their own fans, because without them, the artist is nothing.
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(For those who are wondering, this was a response to ‘Music Belongs to Musicians Not to You’ by ZP member Jaycross. I found it posted on thepiratetimes.
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Even though this is common knowledge sometimes all it takes is a reminder of these basic things which accountants and investigators seem to overlook.
Life began long before money rewards come in many different forms. However music industry enterprises around the world don’t survive without money. It’s a shame that large corperations don’t seem to care about anything more then the figures they recieve weekly from their accounting department.
Well all those CEO’s out there who read these forums… If you want to see those losses that your accountants forcast to be millons of dollars you just keep sueing. It seems to me that you have all forgotten the strongest marketing point “Word of Mouth” and the “Six degrees of seperation”. Guess what…. I haven’t….
BTW nice post riaasux
Everybody knows this its so obvious. Why is this posted here?
it’s a response to a previous post written by jaycross. if you read the bottom you’d know that.
I never said that musicians wanted to keep their music guarded for all of eternity. There’s a difference between that and wanting a CD to remain private until its release date.
I also never supported suing families or little girls. I think that’s way over the top. In fact I didn’t even mention the RIAA although they’re obviously implicated in all of this. The artist though does (or should) have the final say in how or even if their music comes to surface. This should be true of work produced by anyone in any field of endeavor. It’s yours by virtue of the fact that you created it; without you it wouldn’t exist. Fans determine whether or not a musician becomes popular and many fans are unwaveringly devoted to their favorite musicians. But this doesn’t give them any rights TO the music they enjoy.
and without the fans no one would care it even existed.