Thoughts on Stealing Music (or whatever you want to call it) – Circa 2009

A small miracle happened over the Easter weekend.  As you may or may not know, my external hard drive crapped out on me http://palmer.grumpster.com/?p=1494
Awhile back and with it I lost my music collection.  Now, this isn’t THAT big of a deal as the majority of my collection are on CDs so all I need to do is go back and rip them again.  But the worst part of the loss (in terms of music, not my photos) was the concerts I had downloaded which were NOT backed up on a CD.  We’re talking bootlegs of concerts I had actually been to, or other soundboard concerts of bands I love.  Argh…these are hard to find over time on the Internet.  People have them stuck away on their hard drives somewhere but if they don’t offer them up, they are impossible to find.

The miracle occurred when I was over at Mike’s and her sister said something about having my music collection on her external hard drive.  Turns out that sometime in the past year, Mike had copied my music collection for her (from A – T…I guess they ran out of time?) without my knowledge.  She said she was scared to tell me as I had ‘this thing’ against stealing music.  My heart soared as I realized that the majority of my music collection was not lost!  What a grand day!  They are now on my laptop as I write this and it’s an amazing feeling to have all these songs…especially the concerts, back in my possession.  By the way, if there is anyone reading this that may have made a copy of my music collection in the past (more specifically, from T – Z), can you get in touch with me please?  OR, if you made a copy of my pictures at any point as well.  Seriously folks…I’m searching for you.

So I got to thinking about ‘this thing’ I have against stealing music.  I realized that when Samantha said this, I realized that perhaps my feelings had softened over the years and I don’t really have as much passion on the subject as before.  Then I started to think about how I felt about the thought of someone acquiring music without paying for it and what that represents.

Let’s be honest here, it’s not like I don’t download a few albums here and there.  I have, and I will continue to do so.  I have adopted a ‘try before you buy’ policy on some music, but in most cases, it ends up being ‘I have the intention to buy the album if I like it, but in the end, it just sits on my iPod and I buy a different album I see in the store’ more often than not.  A perfect recent example is the artist Bon Iver.  I had heard a few schoolmates talking about how amazing his album was so I thought “I’ve been out of touch of what’s current for far too long…it’s time to check out what’s exciting”.  I downloaded the album and popped it in over the week that I was working from home.

Bon Iver is quite the amazing artist and I fell in love after a couple of listens.  However, have I went out and actively bought his album yet?  No.  I even have passed it up in the store in search for something new to listen to.  When HMV has those deals where you buy two CDs for $25, I generally try and find two CDs that I have not listened to before, but if I cannot, I pick up some of these ‘already listened but do not own’ albums.  That collection builds up slowly.  Do I plan on buying his album?  Yes…someday.

In this case, I would probably have not picked up his album without listening to it first.  Kudos #1 to the Internet and thievery of music.  It gains Bon Iver a fan.

Which is probably a goal of any musician.  To gain fans of their music.

So where does this leave me, the champion of supporting artists for their work?  Have I become just as bad as the people I loathe?

Well, not quite.  It’s a shade of grey.

First off, I don’t loathe the thieves.  But I disagree with the extreme thieves.  In extreme cases, if a person adimantly declares that they will never pay for music and will soley rely on either copying their friends CDs, or downloading tunes from the Internet, I have a problem with that.  They are benefiting from someone’s work and they probably enjoy the music they make, but in no way are thanking the artist.  Of course, this once again becomes a grey area if someone tells me that they they download music but they support the band in other ways…whatever that may be…volunteering their time setting them up for a gig, buying other merchandise, attending shows, etc.  This is the area of grey that is fine with me, and is probably fine with the artist.  But for those who blatantly nab someone’s tunes but don’t want to help out the artist in any way…what kind of person does that make you?

I’m not sure how else to explain this.  I want to exclude the age-old argument of super-bands like U2, Metallica, The Rolling Stones who arguably have a lot of money and don’t need any more.  Let’s forget about that argument.  Let me bring forth what I see is the music industry (and not the manufactured record label pop industry)…the industry of musicians struggling with their craft and giving up ‘regular’ employment to devote time to their craft to ultimately release music that people like.

I’m going to make a wild assumption that musicians want to be musicians for the following reasons:

• They love music
• They want to create music
• They want to have people love their music
• They love playing music in any form; they get a high out of playing live
• They wouldn’t mind making a little money to allow them to keep going and make music without having to take another job

So I look at artists starting out and wonder how they can make money to keep going and creating the music I love to hear.  I’m going to make another assumption that in some way, supporting them in a financial way will allow them to a) create MORE music rather than create LESS music because they are working another job b) tour a little more (which I love to see) because they don’t have another job that gets in the way of touring.  As far as I know…touring costs a little money.

Am I doing the most I can to support an artist?  I’m not sure.  I usually tend to buy an album and go see them if they come into town.  Again, I’m talking about the small artists here.  We’re not talking about Pearl Jam (whom I would travel the Earth to see).  But on the other hand, I’m not sure what else I can do other than buying a t-shirt.

Am I a hypocrite for downloading music once in awhile to get a sense of a band?  Perhaps.  I won’t deny it.  But I guess I’ve changed my views on what musicians want.  Bruce and I briefly touched upon this point and we think that ultimately, musicians want their music to be heard/want to play music.  Musicians wouldn’t simply try and write music to make money (well, there could be a debate on that in some cases, hello pop music from every era), they will make music because of the LOVE OF MUSIC.  Making money at it is just a bonus I suppose.  A bonus that can either help them along their way, or make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.

My final point is this…please, please PLEASE support any artist that you enjoy.  Do it in any way you wish to do…become a fan, talk about their music with others, spread the word, go to a concert when they roll into town, buy their album…do whatever you can do to support the artist.  These are people you love to listen to and you get excited for when they release a new album.  Wouldn’t it hit you hard if The Tragically Hip reported that they all have to get regular jobs and cut back on their song writing because no money is coming in?  “New Hip Album in 2020!  Look for it!”

I will continue my quest against the guys and gals who blatantly go out of their way to not support an artist.  But for those who do support them in some way, bravo!

Sammy, I’m not mad that you took my music collection.  I would like to hear your reasons if you come and tell me that you don’t support an artist in any way or fashion.  😉

For a later discussion, maybe I’ll get into my thoughts on downloading movies and TV shows.  Samantha asked about this and I quickly addressed it by saying I don’t generally download movies (I’ve maybe downloaded five in my life) and I download TV shows at the same time of paying for a cable TV subscription service.  Essentially I’ve built my own PVR.  Subscription is an interesting idea…why hasn’t music embraced subscription methods yet?

iplaying: Now the Struggle Has a Name – The Tragically Hip (We are the Same)