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| Keith Urban |
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10029535@N06/5269194023
In this period of technical advancements where everything and anything can be found online, many musicians are discovering that their music is being obtained through various (sometimes illegal) ways for free. Sometimes it’s by burning CDs, sometimes by file sharing, and sometimes through websites off of which you can download songs for free. Everyone loves getting their favorite groups’ or singers’ music without having to pay, but when you think about it, are you really supporting musicians by obtaining their songs for free?
As a member
of the little known band Camper van Beethoven, David Lowery
has strong opinions on the subject of avoiding payment for the music we listen
to. In response to a blog post written by an intern at National Public Radio’s All Songs Considered, he wrote his own
blog post retaliating and explaining in detail the money that is lost to a
musician when illegal downloading or CD burning occurs. In June of last year,
this intern admitted to not having paid for over half of the music in her
iTunes library. Lowery responded to this with a lengthy letter basically
explaining his point of view on taking musicians’ music without paying. His
opinion is that whether or not we download for free is a personal choice: “fairness for musicians is a problem that requires each
of us to individually look at our own actions, values and choices and try to
anticipate the consequences of our choices.” He goes on to say that it’s up to
us to decide whether illegal downloading is ethical or not. "You must live with the moral and ethical choice that you are
making to not pay artists. And artists won't be paid."
Obviously, copyright is a serious issue and there are many different views on what is stealing
and what is exposing music to possible fans. I talked with the Broadway actress and singer-songwriter Lauren Molina about her opinions on this. Music was clearly an important part of Molina's life growing up, since her father was a bassist with the Detroit Symphony. She began piano lessons at the age of 4, following that with cello lessons at 9 and learning guitar while in high school. Now, an accomplished Broadway performer, she writes and performs her own original music--featuring her own vocals, cello playing, and guitar/ukulele
playing. She says that since she is fairly unknown, she just wants people to have her music so she doesn't mind if they don't pay. And even if they did, she says, most artists don't make a lot off of mp3 sales. As a Broadway performer, Molina's vocals have been featured on several original cast albums. Molina says that the singers on these albums only get paid once to record it, and do not get residuals each time an album is bought. I found this interesting, since I have noticed many youtube videos with just the audio of Broadway songs, and I speculated if this hurt the performers chances of getting paid for their work on the albums or not. Evidently, it doesn't. With her own music, Molina is still at the point where she just wants to expose her music and gain fans. She does find it frustrating when she can't monetize her videos on youtube, however. This means that ads won't be played before her songs which is one way that she could gain money through her music.
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| http://www.flickr.com/photos/59832923@N02/6143667341 Lauren Molina in The Huntington Theatre's Candide |
playing. She says that since she is fairly unknown, she just wants people to have her music so she doesn't mind if they don't pay. And even if they did, she says, most artists don't make a lot off of mp3 sales. As a Broadway performer, Molina's vocals have been featured on several original cast albums. Molina says that the singers on these albums only get paid once to record it, and do not get residuals each time an album is bought. I found this interesting, since I have noticed many youtube videos with just the audio of Broadway songs, and I speculated if this hurt the performers chances of getting paid for their work on the albums or not. Evidently, it doesn't. With her own music, Molina is still at the point where she just wants to expose her music and gain fans. She does find it frustrating when she can't monetize her videos on youtube, however. This means that ads won't be played before her songs which is one way that she could gain money through her music.
Molina isn't the only artist who thinks avoiding payment is fine, as long as it exposes the music. The Australian-born country singer Keith Urban said in his acceptance speech for Favorite Male Artist at the 2010 People's Choice Awards that he didn't care if people downloaded his songs illegally and gave them to friends. He just appreciates the support of his fans, even if they are taking his music without paying. Urban says "I love that people hear the music", which shows how he views the situation more as a way to gain fans who will come to his concerts and thoroughly enjoy his music. To him, it's not about how much money he can make (though winning Favorite Male Artist and various other awards can't hurt his commercial appeal), but about how many people he can spread his work to.
The numerous opinions from musicians on illegal obtainment of their music shows how divided people are on this subject. If downloading music for free is deemed acceptable and it becomes even more widespread than it already is, how can we assure that those who wrote this music will get paid? If we go too far in the other direction--strictly enforcing the laws that make downloading songs for free illegal--will we be hurting the songs' composers' chances of gaining a larger fan base? These are questions that must be answered as the technological age progresses. If we can come to one conclusion and create a worthy set of copyright laws that reflect the changing attitudes of the people as well as the growing abilities of the internet, we should be able to keep the music industry strong and allow musicians to maintain fans without loosing income.
Sources:
David Lowery's opinions: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-08-20/free-downloads-music-copyright/57168614/1
Keith Urban's opinions: http://search.peopleschoice.com/music/country/keith-urban.htm
The numerous opinions from musicians on illegal obtainment of their music shows how divided people are on this subject. If downloading music for free is deemed acceptable and it becomes even more widespread than it already is, how can we assure that those who wrote this music will get paid? If we go too far in the other direction--strictly enforcing the laws that make downloading songs for free illegal--will we be hurting the songs' composers' chances of gaining a larger fan base? These are questions that must be answered as the technological age progresses. If we can come to one conclusion and create a worthy set of copyright laws that reflect the changing attitudes of the people as well as the growing abilities of the internet, we should be able to keep the music industry strong and allow musicians to maintain fans without loosing income.
Sources:
David Lowery's opinions: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-08-20/free-downloads-music-copyright/57168614/1
Keith Urban's opinions: http://search.peopleschoice.com/music/country/keith-urban.htm
2 comments:
I also found that some of the lesser known artists weren't as concerned with people downloading their music for free because they just want to be heard.
I really liked how you included the opinions of two far lesser known people and compared it to tyhe opinion of Keith Urban, who is more known. I also enjoyed how you used a broadway actress's opinions, which I hadn't thought of in terms of pirating music. That provided a nice new angle on the subject which I hadn't seen before
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