The Ownership of Music

Many artists support the illegal downloading of their music primarily because it reaches a larger audience. Many less popular artists still make their music free and available on their web pages and encourage their fans to download it and share it with others. This sharing of music can reach a substantial amount of people and expose them to the artist's musical talents.

Singer Shakira can be quoted on her statement, "Music is a gift. That's what it should be---a gift." This support for illegal downloading stems from her belief that it brings her closer to her fans. When music is easily accessible to the public such as when it is free, it unites people. Another artist who supports the illegal downloading of music is Lady Gaga. Gaga stated, "The big money is in touring," explaining how only a small portion of the money made from album sales finds its way back to the artist. Gaga believes that the illegal downloading is beneficial to her career allowing it to be heard and accessible to audiences world wide. These artists both see the benefits of the free and illegal downloading of music. They both admit it helps their career and keeps people intrigued and eager to share with others. Often times can be observed that the big musical acts are in support of the illegal downloading of music, but some may not be.

The artist I interviewed is a band by the name of The Glass Canoe. While they are a lesser-known band, their music is no less important. The Glass Canoe is a band based out of San Diego and headed by David Korrigan and Max O'Reilly. Their music is categorized under pop. They met their love of music in middle school and they took an interest in recording music in high school, and they worked their way up to producing their own songs later on. The two man band said this when asked about how they make a living: "We have jobs. Currently our music is only available online. We play shows locally, but don't have the money to tour." When I enquired about their opinion on copyright they said, "Copyrighting is definitely important so that your music can't be ripped off by other artists. As far as music being all over the internet these days, its made it a lot harder for artists to make any money to do anything like tour or make more albums." In conclusion the band made it clear, "Illegally downloading music has made 'making it' in the music industry extremely hard. At the same time it helps expose you to more people." The band has all of their music available online for fans to listen for free and this in turn does help them expand their fan base and get their music out there to be viewed and enjoyed, even though they recognize at times it has made it harder for them.

There are clearly two well-developed opinions on the matter of illegal downloading on each opposing side. Although many artists support the illegal downloading of music, others are completely against it, and others are somewhere in between. This new way of sharing music does reach out to a large amount of people, but it also makes it difficult for smaller artists to earn their living. I've recognized the opinions of both large musical stars and lesser known musical artists and although this is a difficult two sided argument, I am still in support of the illegal downloading of music. Overall it does take on a role of exposing the artist's music and gains them fans, popularity, and exposure just in some cases this alone may not be enough.



http://www.indiebandsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/The-Glass-Canoe-289x300.jpg

http://theglasscanoe.com/
http://www.ladygaga.com/
http://shakira.com/