One Of The Best Posts I’ve Seen Regarding The State Of The Music Industry
I spend a lot of my time these days tracking down blogs that post our stuff for free online. Yeah, yeah, they all say it’s “good exposure” for the bands and labels, and that if people like what they download for free, they’ll end up buying it. It’s all BS though – I’ve seen sites offer our Penetrators and Kilaueas CD’s for free download, and right there on the Rapidshare download page it shows that these discs have been downloaded over 1,000 times! I usually only make 1,000 CD’s at a time, and I know that not even 5% of the people that download our music end up buying it. While things are still okay for us here at Double Crown, if these trends continue, we may not be able to continue a year or two down the road.
Having said that, I’m not totally opposed to downloading music for free – I am a big fan of radio sessions, live recordings, and out-of-print LP’s. Downloading these recordings as MP3′s, which are never going to be commercially available in most cases, is perfectly okay by me, and actually does accomplish the goal of exposing music to more people, while not taking away from income that artists and labels rightfully deserve.
In any case, I stumbled across the following blog entry on Chunklet.com, and it sums up my thoughts perfectly.
Excerpted from Chunklet.com:
The Two-headed Beast of the Decade: The MP3. Yes, I download a lot of stuff. For example the stuff Henry and I (by far mostly Henry) post on this very site. But I confine my DLing to what it should be: oddball, unreleased, live, hopelessly out of print, demos, and the otherwise unattainable. In that aspect the MP3 is a priceless treasure. But if you went to some blog-spot or torrent site and downloaded a lousy bit rate version of the last Torche album (for example), you can fuck right off. You have nothing. And deserve it. And don’t give me that tired line of “but I live in a tiny, squalled, town with no cool place to get stuff”. If you have computer for stealing it, it’s easier than ever to mail order anything over the web. Like I’ve said before, I can’t wait until some 16 year-old Russian kid invents the super virus the erases every MP3 library in the world. Then what will you have? Jack fucking squat that’s what. I’ll have my LP, my CD, my 7” – for they are objects. But you? You and your precious download just screwed everybody from the musicians themselves, to the graphic designers, to the engineers, to the pressing plant workers, to even the poor slobs that stick the damn things in a box and tape it up. Not to mention, ya know the fucking stores that kill themselves trying to remain a part of the culture. MUSIC IS TANGIBLE. I can hold a record in my hand, place it in your hand, and keep it on my shelf. You, you Internet only asshats, can – right click, save as, fuck off. (Billy Carter – Chunklet contributor)
As they say on the game show. “Show me the Penetrators CD’s”. At this point, for whatever reason, there are none available. I went to The Penetrators website and ordered two CDs and a DVD. Paypal has just refunded my money because the items were never shipped and the bands mailbox was full and never responded to my requests to send what I had ordered. Now I know who are the Penetrators and who is the Penetratee.
I do not condone illegal downloads and have to admit The Penetrators are one hell of a Surfband. Perhaps if their music was more accessable there would be fewer sites with free downloads or perhaps since they seem to be out of print they fall within your parameters of permissible downloads
I’m sorry that your purchase directly from the Penetrators was unsuccessful. Sadly, their website is out of date due to the deaths of both guitarists, Rip Thrillby in 2003 and his brother Spanky Twanger in late 2009. They lead the band and also took care of the website and their business matters. We’re working on getting things set up for the future of their recordings. While their 2 CD’s are out of print at this point, their most recent, “Locked & Loaded” is available through iTunes and CDBaby – sales of these digital downloads go to Double Crown and the other two band members. Hopefully we can get their first CD up for digital download soon. The DVD is available through our website though, and should be available from the band as well.
Your post is very revealing. I hope everything works out and Double Crown for a long time. I love your website. I must be a square as downlads go. I’ve only downloaded 2 songs at one site, not Rapidshare, that were free. I prefer real CDs over downloads. It’s undeniable bonus songs or remixes of songs by your favorite artist can be found at places like iTunes, 7digital. That’s the route I take-The legal one.
I condone downloading music illegally, though I don’t do it myself, because I can afford not to. I’m a musician. Music companies have been screwing consumers for years. $30 for a CD in Australia for years, for which the artists were receiving little… debt in many cases. Older artists claim to have been rediscovered because people were finding them for free downloads, impossible to find in record stores. They’re getting live shows again, and this is the only way most musicians make music. There will always be a black market to form if the prices of goods are too expensive. Music prices become fair, people will begin to buy them. The MP3 has been a blessing to consumers, and hopefully the revolution that will change the way the music industry works – serving artists and music-lovers properly, without screwing both of them blind.
I agree with you regarding CD prices – $30 is way too much. However, many indie labels like Double Crown sell their discs for $9-13 each (US dollars), which I think is a fair price. Yet even with that fair price, people are downloading thousands of albums through pirate blog sites. I do think that giving away music can be beneficial for bands and labels, but it should be the bands and labels that choose what is available for free, and what’s available for purchase.
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