A few weeks ago, I read this article on Alt Press:
Then, a couple of days ago, I started to have a discussion about illegal vs legal downloading with a friend. I’m currently watching The Brits [and getting excited that people I actually like eg Laura Marling are winning some awards] as I write this, and I’m realised just how much music has become a part of my life. This is all exceedingly tedious, but I thought I’d give my opinion on the downloading “debate”, and what I believe would happy, particularly for me, if the music died. It’s not a perfectly written piece, but I just wanted to share my views. Sorry if it sounds like I’m preaching, that wasn’t my intention.
I have to admit, before I read the Alt Press article, I was strongly under the impression that musicians were pretty loaded, living the lifestyle most of us dream of. Having now read the article, and several others since, I realise this is not really true at all. Particularly in the case of smaller artists, less in the league of GaGa, CD profits (for example) rarely find their way into artists’ hands. As Alt Press explains, various things have to be paid for, like the studio time and manufacturing of the CD. It’s even getting harder to make profit from selling CDs “wholesale” (http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/no_money_mo_problems/), as prices on all sides rise. This links perfectly to how important I believe it is to conserve music as much as we possibly can.
As mentioned, bands and artists rarely see personal profit from the sales of songs, EPs and LPs. This might pose the question: ‘why do we bother paying for a CD when it’s not going to benefit the artist?’ In my eyes, this is wrong. Surely, if we’re not paying for the songs, they can’t use the profits to pay back the money for other things (studio time etc), so have to find the funds elsewhere. This would probably mean losing money they could have used to perhaps go on tour, so as the fans, we start losing out. HOWEVER, I’m not an expert on these things, so for all I know, I could be completely getting the wrong end of the stick.
I will just contradict myself briefly. I think the odd illegal download is ok, IF you are merely sampling the song and buy it/the album at a later date. I guess if you’re using Spotify (which I’ll admit, I do, but I have bought the majority of songs I have listened to, and intend to buy the rest when I get some money), this idea becomes strongly relevant, although I know it is legal as the artists are paid by advertisements and premium users, which I guess makes that point somewhat irrelevant. But it just sums up how easy it is to get music for free these days, which, unless given away by the band themselves, isn’t a good thing.
One argument I’ve heard, in favour of illegal downloading, is “lack of money.” I’m a student myself, and money is obviously hard to find sometimes. However, surely if you don’t have the money to buy music, you shouldn’t just, in all reality, ‘steal’ it. You wouldn’t steal clothes if you don’t have the money, so why do it with music? There’s also the argument of ease. It is so easy to quickly download a song off YouTube and listen to your heart’s content? (Sidenote: we could argue about how far illegal listening/downloading goes. Is YouTube a form of illegal listening, since we don’t pay for it? The argument is too broad to write about in this piece) It’s also stupidly easy to borrow a CD of a friend, rip it on iTunes, and bob’s your uncle- you have that album. I’ll admit, I have done that before. But since then, I’ve made a point of buying all of, or the majority of, those albums for myself. I’m saving up for the ones I haven’t quite got yet. But again, this is just stealing. Yes it’s easier, but it’s just taking money out of someone else’s pockets. I’m guessing you wouldn’t enjoy it if someone came along and took money from you.
I realise I’ve become to ramble, so for now, I’ll summarise what I’ve been trying to say. This article is aimed at no one in particular; I just wanted to get my thoughts across. Apart from in the one or two instances I mentioned, illegal downloading is, in my eyes, completely wrong and extremely harmful, not only to the artists, but also to the fans. If everyone stops paying for music, musicians won’t be able to afford to make music much longer, and then we’ll be extremely limited in our listening choices. Personally, I’m not sure what I’d do without music, as it has become a part of my everyday life. I hate silence, and I find it pretty impossible to do anything without it. I support legal downloading to the upmost.
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