The Professional Opinion

In my previous blog post, I talked about how to define music's inherent value and when it is okay to download music illegally. "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." 

But what do I know about making a living off of music? I'm a 16-year-old girl who does a little bit of everything as a hobby and is fortunate enough to have parents with enough money that I don't have to worry about earning a significant amount to help them with the bills, as some teens my age do. So what's the opinion of musicians who actually need the money from their music to make a living?


Instead of trying to find interviews of artists that I listen to all the time, I specifically searched for an artist who supported music piracy, an artist who was strongly against it, and then I interviewed an artist who has mixed feelings on the subject.

Photo Gallery: Radiohead
Photo: Photo: WENN

Ed O'Brien from Radiohead (an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire) clearly states in a video message for the Midem music conferance: "I have a problem when people in the industry say '[piracy]'s killing the industry, it's the thing that's ripping us apart'...I don't actually believe it is... [Pirates] might not buy an album, but they're spending their money buying concert tickets, a T-shirt, whatever." O'Brien goes on to say that instead of pirated music, it is the that way music is shared itself that is the problem. He says, "It's an analogue business model in a digital era. The business model has to change. You've got to licence out more music –  have more Spotifys, more websites selling more music. You've got to make it slightly cheaper to get music in order to compete with the peer-to-peers." (Source)

Photo: JANE MINGAY

In contrast, Lily Allen avidly campaigns against music piracy. On her new website, she posts messages from prominent supporters of her cause. In September of 2009, she said peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing is a "disaster" for emerging artists "as it's making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge". Artists who back up Allen's opinion include James Blunt, Gary Barlow, Gary Kemp, Natasha Khan, etc. Allen's rallying cry was in response to comments made by members of the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), which includes musicians from bands such as Radiohead and Pink Floyd, who called for "more creative ways" to combat file-sharing than disconnecting music fans from the internet. (Source)

Photo Credit Unknown

To the left is Austin Willacy, "a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter who has toured extensively throughout the U.S and Europe as a member of The House Jacks" (quote from his website). During my interview with him, Willacy told me that he knows that his music is pirated but "much less than Katy Perry’s." He then said that he wants people to hear his music, and, "if they get it for free and it speaks to them, that’s O.K." The main challenge he faces concerning piracy is that "it is not free to make the recordings.  I want people who want to have my music to have it, but not being compensated for it at all would be an unsustainable system."


Willacy's music is available through iTunes and CDBaby. Other than his solo career, Willacy is also the director of ‘Til Dawn, Youth in Arts,’ which is an award-winning teen a cappella group and is a member of a groundbreaking all-vocal rock band called The House of Jacks.

As you can see, the opinions of professional musicians vary depending on their status from just-starting-out to making-it-big. Personally, I agree with Austin Willacy and Ed O'Brien. But again, I'm not a professional.

"I have a problem when people in the industry say 'it's killing the industry, it's the thing that's ripping us apart'," O'Brien said in a video message for the Midem music conference. "I don't actually believe it is... [Pirates] might not buy an album, but they're spending their money buying concert tickets, a T-shirt, whatever."
R
ead more at http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/49390#WzLthtwzQtBC0mWG.99

"I have a problem when people in the industry say 'it's killing the industry, it's the thing that's ripping us apart'," O'Brien said in a video message for the Midem music conference. "I don't actually believe it is... [Pirates] might not buy an album, but they're spending their money buying concert tickets, a T-shirt, whatever."
Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/49390#WzLthtwzQtBC0mWG.99

"I have a problem when people in the industry say 'it's killing the industry, it's the thing that's ripping us apart'," O'Brien said in a video message for the Midem music conference. "I don't actually believe it is... [Pirates] might not buy an album, but they're spending their money buying concert tickets, a T-shirt, whatever."
Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/49390#WzLthtwzQtBC0mWG.99