No such thing as a free lunch
While there may be no such thing as a free lunch, people of my
generation and younger have grown accustomed to getting their music
for free.
When I first got into music I was buying cassettes, and then CDs,
but then along came something called Napster, and later Kazaa. I
wasn't sure what they did or how they worked, but they allowed
me to get my music for free.
This curiously-named software connected my computer to someone
else's and essentially facilitated the theft of files they
allowed me to access, which included entire music collections.
Yesterday, Joel Tenenbaum, a 25 year old American, was fined
£400,000 for illegally sharing 30 songs, a hefty fine by
anyone's standards.
The fine will go to the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), to be distributed between the record labels whose copyright
had been infringed.
And while these kinds of stories have scared some people away (I
haven't downloaded anything without paying for it for a couple
of years now), illegal file sharing is still rife.
But throwing these fines at people strikes me as the wrong way to
deal with the problem.
Newspaper circulations declined, so they focused on their websites
and sold advertising space there, as did TV channels, which put
streaming online with adverts in between.
Independent singers and bands, free of the constraints of major
record labels, are seeing the benefits of giving their music, or at
least some of their music, away free on their websites.
As an avid consumer of music, and someone who loves a freebie as
much as the next person, getting a free mp3 always makes you look
more favorably upon an artist, and - crucially - more inclined to
part with your cash.
Free music acts as a hook to reel people in. Sure, they might not
pay for the single you made available on your website, but they may
buy the album and a couple of tickets for your tour, so the
short-term loss is more than covered.
The major labels are already taking baby steps, with the success
of Spotify - which streams music interspersed with short adverts
free of charge - but unless they want to be deserted by all of
their artists, who now have the technology to market themselves
without funding major label bureaucracy, they need to make bigger
changes.
And a good one would be to stop slapping music lovers with
ridiculous fines.
COMMENTS
No comments added for this entry.
POST A COMMENT
