What Determines Musics' Inherent Value?

What Determines Musics' Inherent Value? 

Is downloading music illegally really all that bad?

Music is everything. Most importantly, it’s a way of thought and communication. Music is everywhere. In the current day, it's almost impossible to go throughout a whole day without hearing a single note of music. Music is deep. The emotion and stories invested in music can be expressed through instrumental arrangements and lyrics. In a piece of music, you can ask yourself: do the combination of chords and notes have a depressing or uplifting or angry message? Are there double meanings or metaphors in the lyrics? Is there an underlying story? What is the inspiration behind this song?

In asking these questions, you can find a piece of music's inherent value. The definition of inherent value is: something of relative worth existing in someone as a permanent and inseparable element. From this definition, I think that a song or genre has inherent value only if a musician has passion for the music they create. In my experience of being a musician and writing my own music, I believe all musical compositions, whether finished or still in the making, have inherent value. Even though these compositions are more solidified when recorded, if the composition exists in someone's mind or on paper in anyway, then the song has value. Without copyrighting the song, legally the song belongs to anyone who finds it. However, creating music is a very personal and labor-intensive task. Therefore, morally, the music belongs to the artist(s) who came up with the idea for, and wrote the musical arrangements to the song.

 

In the matter of obtaining music to listen to, I think that it's all right to own music without paying for it. The reasons vary from band to band though. If it's a huge band like Green Day or 30 Seconds to Mars, then those bands won't miss a few dollars. If it’s a new band, it's better to first spread their sound and then start putting money into their pockets by going to their shows or buying merchandise. I either buy my music from iTunes or get it from a friend's music library via flash drive. Only occasionally will I download music from YouTube. When music is spread freely via Internet, those who download it are more likely to feel attached to the musician. From this, the person who downloads the music will be more likely go out of their way to buy merchandise from the band or go to concerts.

Each song that I write is an extension of my spirit and point of view. In putting my music up on YouTube, I would feel very honored if people liked it enough to download my songs, even without paying for it. If I ever started to get big in a music career (solo or otherwise), then maybe I would start to need the money to continue to make the music that I love. However, at the moment, songwriting is just a creative activity for me to enjoy and explore.