Praises file-sharing for allowing it to reach fans beyond the limits of its physical Canadian presence.
Great Lake Swimmers is an emerging Canadian folk rock band that some have compared to the likes of Iron and Wine and Neil Young. What sets them apart though is not their acknowledgement that file-sharing has changed the nature of music industry, but that in their opinion it’s been for the better.
For lead singer Tony Dekker recently gave an interview with the Tribune Review in which he praised P2P for having enabled the band to reach music fans outside the confines of its finite physical presence.
“It’s not just something that’s specific to a region anymore,” says Dekker. “It’s global. It’s global word-of-mouth. People can share ideas, share music files and stuff.”
Record labels tirelessly argue that illegal file-sharing harms the music industry and artists at the same time, as though the interests of both are one in the same when in reality the profits of the former come well ahead of the interests of the latter.
What’s left out, and what studies have shown, is that P2P actually increases music consumption because people are able to listen to, become fans of, and perhaps buy more then they would have otherwise.
P2P can spark global interest in a way that the music industry just hasn’t been able to figure out, and for emerging bands like the Great Lake Swimmers that are trying to reach music fans it’s importance cannot be understated.
“I think it’s good,” adds Dekker. “It’s good for music because you don’t have to scratch far below the surface to find interesting music that doesn’t have the machinery of a big record label behind it.”
It’s quite a contrast from another artist, famed Steely Dan guitarist Elliott Randall, who recently said “Screw P2P – you get access the same material at your PUBLIC LIBRARY!”
I can’t help but laugh every time I read that. It’s a pretty myopic view that epitomizes the record label’s old, linear way of looking at the music industry.
But, there is hope for the future health of the music industry so long as artists like the Great Lake Swimmers focus on making good music and trying to reach their fans.
Stay tuned.
