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Piracy as a marketing tool
My previous copyright rant sparked a lively discussion with Mike Eriksson who argued
Personally, I still buy my music and my DVD´s and I do not like all this downloading. If somebody, like this author, wants to give his stuff away for free, good. The problem arises when somebody wants his or hers work protected…
To which I’ve replied that artists who are actively fighting the free (as in free beer and as in free speech) sharing of their works are extremely shortsighted.
Ars Technica has a report from the frontline trenches of the music business (if you go there, make sure you read both parts). The report hails the times they are a’ changin’, where “from distribution to promotion to actually making money, indie bands are doing more than just getting by without the major labels—they’re actually thriving” with the help of not only such services as Tunecore, CD Baby and the venerable Myspace, but also using the power of, ahem, free downloads to promote their music:
Not only do many indie artists hate DRM, but they view P2P is a force to be harnessed, not something to waste energy fighting. The folks from Panda Riot recounted a story about their album showing up on BitTorrent and a number of other P2P networks—somehow, they found a site that listed how many times the album had been downloaded and they saw that it was relatively high. “At first, we were going to send a takedown notice, but then we decided to keep it up and see what happens,” Cook said. So… what happened?
“Well, our sales doubled.”
To anybody who is following the copyright debate here in Canada, this should not come as a surprise. In 2006 Canadian Recording Industry Association (which comprises Canadian subsidiaries of the Big Four labels) commissioned a study on the effects of digital piracy on their bottom line. The big labels being what they are, of course concluded that we need new draconian laws to protect their business models and enable their wet dream — so that customers would have to pay repeatedly for the same product. However, the study contained some very interesting numbers, which led to the following analysis from Prof. Michael Geist (University of Ottawa, School of Law):
In summary, CRIA’s own research now concludes that P2P downloading constitutes less than one-third of the music on downloaders’ computers, that P2P users frequently try music on P2P services before they buy, that the largest P2P downloader demographic is also the largest music buying demographic, and that reduced purchasing has little to do with the availability of music on P2P services.
Coincidentally, free sharing solves two major problems on both sides:
- On the musicians’ side — the biggest problem is not piracy, but obscurity. Even for well established bands like our heroes, vast majority of the people who have not bought Rapture of the Deep are not those who downloaded it illegally, but those who haven’t even heard that Deep Purple have a new album out.
- And on their, errm, consumers’ side, the biggest problem before the advent of free downloads was very low availability of the “try before you buy” concept as applied to music.
That’s why I am still convinced that the artists who oppose to free distribution of their works have every right to do so, but it is extremely shortsighted to do so.
Not every right that you have should be exercised all the time.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Good stuff… Ian Gillan mentioned in an old Dear Friends letter concerning their break away from EMI, that they in fact dropped the ball concerning the do it your selfers who obtain music through downloading. He said what I wholeheartedly agree with, that they should have gotten with the hardware companies in the beginning of the trend and cut a deal with them and they’d have an interest in it all to this day. I believe he is right, they will always sell the means to do it yourself, so if the record companies had the smarts to join the trend, things might be different, but their greed prevailed and sunk their own teeth back into them. The record companies invented their own downfalls because of this, and they’re basking in their own bad karma now. He aid this because EMI were blaming their downfall primarily on downloading.
August 22nd, 2008 at 23:40The downturn of the music business can be traced to the rampant record company greed that accompanied the arrival of the CD in the early 80s.There is no way a single disc should ever have been priced at more than 10 bucks,but because the cd was heralded as the “be all and end all” of music formats,record labels charged pretty well whatever they wanted,baited the hook,and watched while we swallowed it whole.25 years later,we all know that the CD is dead.So are many music retailers.
August 23rd, 2008 at 01:43Is there even a “music buying public” anymore ?? There will always be a handful of us who like the packaging of an “album”,but the iPod generation is more interested in carrying 1000 tunes in their pockets than building a tangible music collection.
So,if so few folks are buying music….give it away !! Let it be heard !! That’ll sell concert tickets,where buying high-priced T shirts and souvenirs will cover the cost of the CD that was never sold. Purple tours the world 7 or 8 months out of a year for a reason: It’s where they make money.
Both well said. Nothing to add!
August 23rd, 2008 at 04:24a piece of plastic should cost max 5 euro(the news,3 euro the old ones) instead of 20 euro….If record companies will accept this noone in the world will be more interested to download albums.
August 24th, 2008 at 10:49Lack of Radio airplay, promotion by record companies has made these free downloads a necessity I suppose. But when digital technology became available it should have been made clear that it’s easier to copy at a higher quality than analog ever was, just click and drag.
August 24th, 2008 at 19:26Good article,
mike: Purple tours the world 7 or 8 months out of a year for a reason: It’s where they make money.
You said it all!!! That’s what makes the record companies crazy, they’ve killed the golden egg laying duck.
There’s no way they can make the millions they used to make before.
The bands on the other hand, can just tour the world and get rich, and they don’t need the record companies anymore. The record companies just don’t know what to do, their business is falling apart and they’re just watching.
The record companied need them. That’s the true. But it’s too late.
I haven’t bought a CD since 1999 I think, I mean, new releases, only the best deals on classic CD’s that I don’t have already.
There’s no way I’m gonna pay 20-30 bucks for a CD. I think 9,99 is just fair enough. I just won’t pay more that that.
September 26th, 2008 at 18:58