Peer to peer sharing of music is killing the record industry and making it impossible for new acts to get any kind of exposure or help. That’s not quoting Lily Allen but that was the crux of her attack on music piracy. Peer to peer sharing of music enabled 60,000 copies of our albums to be downloaded in under a month. I’d like to see a record company sell that many copies of one of our excellent CDs with a zero budget.
We’ve been giving our music away for free for over a year now, and been having great fun doing so. We’ve made new friends, pushed ourselves creatively, and haven’t ended up out of pocket (unlike a lot of touring signed bands).
We were doing quite well distributing MP3s on our site as a downloadable zip file, and some lossless versions of the albums via Mediafire. Then Zorlin-cc started seeding our stuff on Mininova. Mininova is/was a very popular site for picking up torrent files. Torrent files facilitate the peer to peer sharing of files, distributing the bandwidth of downloading amongst users rather than just the creators of the files. Anyway, on the 26th November Mininova was taken to court and forced to remove all the illegal content from its servers. Leaving just the legal stuff. Suddenly our albums became needles in not such a big haystack and bingo, thousands of new people discovered our music.
So peer to peer can help independent bands distribute their music, as can Jamendo, Last.FM, and begrudgingly MySpace (I say begrudgingly because I’m not sure MySpace has been particularly creative with its offering). OK, we’re not trying to make money from the Intercontinental Music Lab so we can increase downloads.
So how do you make a living out of writing and distributing music via Creative Commons licenses? We could look into it, but what would do with the cash? There are now about 30 people in the band, people who write what they want, or decide not to if they’ve got other commitments, and there’s no pressure.
I’ve got to go to bed now. Sorry if that was all a bit incoherent, I do have a cold you see.
15/12/2009 at 6:56 pm Permalink
Damn tootin’ Barney!
I’m sick of hearing successful artists whine about how much money they’re losing to piracy. If they really need the money, Starbucks need some Christmas staff.
Maybe I’m deluded, but doesn’t it seem like the record industry is bigger and stronger than ever? Billions of bands – rock music is fashionable again – pop music is bigger than ever – iTunes – Youtube advertising – plus you can hardly access music online without seeing a ‘download MP3 now’ button. Trust me – they’re making money.
The ‘Music Industry’ is exactly that – an industry – and one of the most mercenary out there. I’m proud to be making and distributing free music, and I’m encouraged by the fact that distributors like Zorlin-cc and 60,000 downloaders are on the same page. Vive La Rock!
Tim.
18/12/2009 at 10:19 pm Permalink
Yet more stuff on the BBC news site today reporting that a survey by The British Phonographic Industry has revealed that the use of illegal peer to peer sites hasn’t decreased. Sorry, peer to peer sites aren’t illegal. Another example of how behind they are. I suppose taking a step back, nothing would be more annoying for the BPI than Creative Commons. The notion of musicians interested in making music, and having the audacity to give it away for free to fans who are prepared to accept that free music can be good?????? But … but … that could lead to people who like making music distributing it to people who like hearing music, and someone not relevant to the equation not getting a cut? 80,000 albums downloaded and counting.
P.S. I fully respect and applaud the notion of making a living out of music, it’s just that I discourage the notion that the networks that are capable of supporting the legal distribution of free music are “illegal”.
21/12/2009 at 3:34 pm Permalink
Its incredible that The British Phonographic Industry are incapable of adapting to their market. As much as I hate Apple/iTunes – at least they understand the way their market wants to buy music, and have made it simple for them. Even Apple has had the sense to pander to their market and remove the stupid m4a format (a measure that will surely increase sharing!) That’s supply and demand.
Its important to give the consumer exactly what they want – or they’ll go elsewhere. I still occasionally buy CDs – and download MP3s – even though I don’t have to. There’s always going to be a legitimate market for buying music, and there’s always going to be a piracy contingent – whether they’re peer-to-peer sites, or taping songs off the radio. If the industry doesn’t have the sense to analyse their market, then they deserve everything they don’t get.
Tim
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