In our EMAC 2321 class we have been talking about Piracy on the internet, pros, cons, legal issues, all the normal conversation when the topic switches to piracy…But, I want to know how the artists or companies that are getting ripped off feel about it, who wins, who looses, why is it such a big issue?
Just an interesting note, before I begin, its very interesting to see how many of my classmates seem to have no concept of the business roll of the record or distribution company, many (admitted illigal downloaders) simply see these companies as being bad, out to take their money and nothing else. It’s a cut and dry issue for many of my generation.
To save me from having to write a book, and to save you from having to read a book, lets limit our discussion to the music industry. Both record labels, and artists.
First, lets look at the artist. The way the music industry is structured, the only real way for a band to become successful is to get signed to a major label, In order for a band to get signed to a major record label, they must sign over the rights for their music. The artist gets signed onto the label, the label compensates the artist for the rights to the music, plus whatever else is in the contract, then the label prepares and distributes the music into record stores and mp3 distribution services (like itunes) alike. Now, the artist only gets a sliver of the profits from the actual sale of music, after the physical cost of distribution, and the record label getting their cut, the artist only gets a very small fraction of each sale. Most artists will tell you they make their bread and butter on concerts and stuff like T-shirts and apparel, so they don’t feel the hit from piracy as much as the record labels do. Many are just happy their music is being heard!
Watch this clip:
The record labels make their money directly from the sale of the music, so every time someone downloads music the label directly looses money…It’s important to reiterate that the artist does too, however they are not hit as badly as the label is…To bring things back into perspective, it is illigal to download music with out paying for it. Downloading music and not paying for it, say via torrents, its a bonified crime. Acknowledging that the action is a crime, we need to consider if the business models of the record labels are simply outdated, it may be completely possible that, with the advent of digital distribution, the role of the record label, besides that of playing the roll of the gatekeeper, has gone by the wayside. If people do not want to pay to physically listen to music, maybe its time for change? Maybe there is no place for the traditional record label anymore.
So now that we have established that when people download music illigally, the record labels and musicians loose. Now we have to ask: what are the effects of that loss?
It’s rather evident that the record labels loose profit, when that happens the employees don’t get compensated as well and company growth is stunted…Most say, big deal. Well, it is a big deal, new bands are not discovered and the “used-to-be” consumers loose easy access to mainstream music…Without the traditional record company there is no music defined as
“mainstream” music, its all just globed together in a sonic wave.
So whats is the big deal, and what happens next? Well, record companies play, or have in the past, a large role in our economy, if we simply choose to cut them out of the picture, there will be some fall out…From the folks in corprate to the people in the music stores, there is a long line of people that would get effected from such a big change. There are two main paths we can go down…We can continue to “Fight Piracy” and keep the record companies alive, or we can go to capital hill and change the system. We would need to get congress out of their pockets, but in therory we as a collective could legalize file sharing…
.
.
.
.
That will never happen! What will? Who knows, but I do see the record companies dieing off in the future. I think the people need to become the gatekeeper…This is where I estimate sites like last.fm or Pandora Where new bands can be found, and trended to make popular. This means bands will have to change, too, by ditching the record companies, and taking on another buisness model, such as maybe what RadioHead did with their last albulm, and do a pay what you like, type of system. If they don’t make it, survival of the fittest. Smaller bands with niche markets may suffer without a label, however. Analyzing how this would effect society though, is an entirely new post!