How do artists feel about music piracy?

     The Half Moon Jug Band is a folk/rock band originating from Maine. The three members of the band are Troy (guitar and banjo, and sings), Mike (drums), and Steve (bass, harmonica, and some singing). I spoke to Troy about his view on music piracy and how he sells his music.
Me: Do you sell your music over the internet?
Troy: "Yes, I sell music over the internet."
Me: Do you earn your living entirely through music, or do you have other sources of income?
Troy: "I make some of my living through music, but not all of it."
Me: As a musician what is your main source of income.
Troy: "Ticket sales and fees for playing concerts are the biggest money makers. CD sales, downloads and fees paid by streaming services like Spotify make up less than a quarter of my music earnings."
Me: Do you use the internet to promote your music? If so, how?
Troy: "I use the internet to promote my music via email newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify and blogging on websites like www.halfmoonjugband.com."
Me: To your knowledge, do fans obtain your music without paying for it - by burning CDs, file sharing, or other means? How do you feel about this?
Troy: "I'm sure that people have been copying my CDs since I started selling them twelve years ago and I'm sure they copied the cassettes I released back in the 1990s. I wish they didn't. I wish they bought my music directly from me or a retailer. That being said, I know there's nothing I can do to stop it. So, I don't worry too much about it. Most of the money I make is through performing, anyway, and that's something that cannot be copied. Sometimes a family of four will come to a show and buy one CD and four T-shirts. They'll rip the CD onto their phones and iPods and share the tunes. But they can't do that with one T-shirt. So, I end up making more money on T-shirts than music. The shirt is a souvenir of the show that they had a great time at, so it's kind of an extension of the show itself. That's what I get paid to do, put on a show."
Me: Presumably you want to expose your music to as many potential fans as possible. You probably also want to earn money for the work that you do. Where do you draw the line?
Troy: "Sure, I'd like to make more money, everyone wants that. But I'd drive myself crazy sitting around worrying about the money I'm not making when someone shares a file or rips and burns a CD. I'd be lying if I said I'd never shared a file or copied a CD. Recorded music has only been a commodity (something you can buy and sell) for about a hundred years. For a thousand years before that, musicians were paid to write and perform music. They got paid to entertain someone in the here and now, live. That's what we're going back to. Musicians are once again getting paid to put on a show instead of sell objects like records or CDs."
     Singer-songwriter Norah Jones supports piracy. She says that if people hear it, then she is happy. In an interview Norah stated, " I'm not going to say go and steal my album, but you know i think its great that young people who don't have a lot of money can listen to music and be exposed to new things." Norah Jones also stated that illegal downloading could hurt new artists, but she still
stands behind her opinion that music piracy is fine.
     There are also some artists who oppose music piracy. One of these musicians is Elton John. In a letter John stated, " I am of the view that the unchecked proliferation of illegal downloading (even on a "non commercial" basis) will have a seriously detrimental effect on musicians, and particularly young musicians and those composers who are not performing artists." The article states that John's opinion about music piracy has causes conflict between him and some of his other artist friends.
     Overall there is a common theme on how artists feel about music piracy. The famous, well established artists feel that music piracy is fine and that everyone should be able to obtain and listen to music. However, up and coming artists tend to feel that they want to make money on their music no matter what. In conclusion, there are many opinions about music piracy out there, but no matter what someone's opinion is the likely can not make a change, it is up to the cultural changes of society to make a difference in illegal downloading and piracy.