File Sharing Is Killing Music...

I mean, file sharing and CD-burning has been going on for a few years now, and all that "the industry will die! bands won't be able to survive and make music!" hoopla has just simply not happened.

People are still buying lots of music from retailers.
The top-selling music is still mostly mainstream filler like it has always has been.
The major record labels are still making a lot of money.
Lesser known "indie" bands are still making music and surviving.
New bands are still turning up all the time.

In other words, same old, same old.

That's why the charts is full of this stuff - hello, Il Divo - because the "music" "business" can guarantee a return.

However, as with all things there is the much bigger and brighter picture, which is that all this is actually a fantastic thing artistically, as people will react against a growing mainstream.

People seem to forget the artistic side in this - not only did Home Taping defiantly NOT kill Music, it actually spread and widened and blossomed a stagnant mainstream. Certainly rave culture, hip-hop and thrash would have gone nowehere without home taping, and there's the oft-repeated fact that the Stone Roses debut album actually sold less that Johnny Hates Jazz's debut. Ha ha indeed, but how many of us had a scratchy old cassette of it taped off a mate who could afford to buy albums?

Fuck the business side of it - downloading / home taping / community freedom / whatever you want to call it, is always good news for expressionist artforms.

I don't see anyone moaning that much about Google Image Search...!

The record industry is run by accountants and lawyers not by people who understand (or even like) music

I wonder. This says *album* sales are up. What about singles?

Are people using file-sharing to get singles and putting their disposable cash into albums which are harder to assemble from the file-sharing nets?

Are people just taking out more consumer debt for instant gratification, and this tide is raising all boats, even music sales?

i have done google image searches and found nothing. if anyone knows what i am on about and would be so kind as to post the image here i would be grateful.

...as i have stated before,i use the internet as i would a radio. if i like something i've heard/downloaded enough,i buy it.with top 40 being utter crap,this has become a very valuable tool.

Sure, it's quite possible that file sharing won't drastically impact record companies (small or large). It's also quite possible that it will. You still have a vast majority of the population who didn't grow up with file sharing networks and aren't going to switch to using it as their primary means to get music. But we all know at least a handful of people who DO use it as their primary, if not only means of getting music. If enough people do that, it will hurt record companies badly.

Home taping is no analogy -- you can't have a machine tape someone's entire record library while you clean the house.

One of the projects I'm involved with is releasing its debut this week on a small but reputable indie label. Some record store dude appears to have leaked the album on his blog and now in a few days the entire album has been downloaded more than 500 times.

I'm not a copyright holder on this or anything, and at most I'll see pennies for my contribution to a few of the tracks, but this still really struck me. Of course on one hand it's amazing, as 500 people were just instantly able to find out about the band and a few of them will hopefully come out to some shows. OTOH, if even 20% of those people would otherwise have bought the album and now won't, that's a good chunk of change considering his arrangement with the label. That could have gone toward a touring vehicle, which the lead guy does not have right now and can't really afford.

I can only assume that if the album does ok this effect will multiply by many more blogs and sharing networks.

he should just busk for it on his website

"hey if you liked what you heard on the mp3 hows about paypaling a couple bucks so we can buy a van and come play for you live"

CLASSIC!

(oh, is that not what you're asking?)

that happened to our album, which is coming out in august. partially my fault, but most of the uploads I've found have been from promotional cd-rs I mailed out months ago while shopping the album. whatever, yes, it would be great if the 100 people who got it off oink actually paid for it, but I don't think they would have heard it otherwise.

on the other hand I'm slightly chapped that the first google return for us is a megaupload link

I was listening to some industry dude podcast interview, and the guy was talking about the "where to put the tollbooth" problem - i.e. giving away music in the beginning can be great promotion when you're not well known, but then you have to decide where you start charging and put a stop to the free, and once you've given away stuff for free that can prove difficult.

if people don't want to pay for stuff they aren't going to, honestly.

I just wish google didn't make it so easy to find, but with google giving preference to blog links these days, you probably don't even need to be a using a file-sharing network to get most albums for free now.

megaupload feels especially dirty

Yeah, the fact that the tech is still improving too - I mean it wasn't long ago that you'd still mostly find separate tracks on blogs, but now you get whole albums very easily.

Artists and labels are being very lazy. Many blogs will take down stuff posted when asked nicely. It's a shame that you have to ask, but they do it. Beyond that, they can contact megaupload/rapidshare/sendspace/etc with an email to have posted material removed.

It seems to me not many people are doing this. I'm not saying the onus should be on them, but it doesn't hurt.

I just wish google didn't make it so easy to find, but with google giving preference to blog links these days, you probably don't even need to be a using a file-sharing network to get most albums for free now.

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this is very true. i hardly use s1sk at all anymore. i use google.

Actually, the label supposedly did ask the blog to take it down (according to bandleader). As of my last check it was still up.

that's lame. I'd send an email to their service provider, or to rapidshare or whatever. I've never had to do that but It could be effective. I've had to contact people about a half dozen times and they've always been considerate to take it down. In some cases it involved the posting of things that we had licensed but hadn't even released yet, so the blogger thought they were posting out-of-print music, which makes it slighly better.

what about oink? as a point of extreme and absolute hypocrisy of course I have an oink account but I still want my own album off there, at least until the thing has been officially released. I am fairly certain they'll probably just cancel my account, ban me for life, and leave it up there if I complain, however.

http://pingtune.com/

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