Are FREE DOWNLOADS a THREAT to the livelihood of Composers, Musicians, Bands or Producers?
IMHO, this is all a transitional phase. Getting stuff for free diminishes it’s value to the recipient (most often unconsciously) although paying the high major label prices for sub-par compositions IS insulting. The result of the paradox is where we are now. Eventually, consumers may discover that ‘free’ isn’t really ‘free’ and the hidden cost is that the quality of music will suffer and you’ll have to spend a lot of time browsing and sampling to find the nuggets worth your listening, downloading, titling, filing and burning time – amidst all the throwaway freebies.
Look back a bit before the labels took control. It was the DJ who brought in new music – and many listeners trusted specific DJ’s recommendations. Now we have internet radio (my favorite is http://www.last.fm/) and the listener makes his own playlist (i.e. radio station) without commercials and with only the music they want to hear. They seem to be the new breed of DJ’s.
All of the old models will probably die a slow death (major label dominance, radio station playlists, live ‘pay to play’ policies, etc.) and while that takes place (with wailing and gnashing of teeth), there will be this ‘free-for’all’ willy nilly middle-space where we are now.
Eventually, it should go back to listeners ‘wanting’ to support their favorites via purchase power – because by that time, everyone will be so burnt out on the getting ‘something for nothing’ fad that will have flooded the online sites and personal players with tons of garbage – they’ll not have the time in their busy lives to find those rarities worth stealing, or rather, ‘sharing’. When they find something ‘worth the money’ they will understand it is up to them to promote it and support it – or it will go away.
Give it time, it should all work itself out and I firmly believe it could level the playing field and up-the-quality of music for decades to follow. It’s hard to see, being in the midst of it, but maybe we’re on a ‘cusp’ – at the brink of true balance…
Rejyna
Citadel ®
The unabashed self-promotional blurbs follow:
Two Rockin’ Citadel ® songs are free here
If ya want, we’ve got some ‘Live’ freebies here
and more on iLike
or, for some full-length songs to add to your Last.fm playlists, go here
or, Google ‘citadelsongs’ or ‘citadelband’ and take a few hours to sift through all the sites we’re on (now counting 500+)
or, take a risk and only a few minutes (literally) to purchase our stuff at CDBaby in physical (CD) form or as a download…
or, last but not least on iTunes, Napster, PayPlay, Tradebit, GreatIndie, AudioLunchbox, Rhapsody, etc…
Our band policy is to give as much stuff away for promotion as plausible – we don’t make music to get rich and famous – but we love it when someone likes our stuff enough to buy it. It’s not the money…it’s the thought that counts…really…
You must be logged in to post a comment.