How Piracy Feeds a Starving Audience
Video | September 3, 2008 | Posted by Basilisk
What follows is a vitriolic deconstruction of Big Music in a 40-minute talk by Michael Perkins entitled How Piracy Feeds a Starving Audience. It was originally delivered at The Last HOPE conference in New York City on July 19th, 2008. From their website:
This talk will present observations of the relationship between technology and art in a comprehensive look at how the rise of piracy and its effect on the music industry can enrich the art form as well as the global audience. Drawing from the ideology of open source and user-supported technology, this talk will attempt to demonstrate that the concept of “free music” is set to overhaul the way in which music is created and acquired. The topics to be discussed include the history of the music industry, the war with the RIAA, Digital Rights Management, Creative Commons, and more.
Download a 64kbps MP3 recording of the talk or watch the video (Flash required):
Whenever you are done I have a few thoughts of my own to stir into the mix. I do not agree with everything said in the video—not by a long shot—but Perkins certainly provides an interesting perspective. His central justification for piracy appears to have formed in response to the major label conglomerates and their litigious henchmen, but what about the independents? It is easy to build a case against the RIAA—they’ve done some pretty awful things. Not so with many smaller organizations who are struggling to get by. Sure, the music industry needs to adapt to changing listener habits—and I fully support the free music movement, obviously—but I don’t think that all forms of music piracy can be justified simply because the major labels have ruthlessly dominated the music industry for decades. There is more going on than that.
Perkins makes a number of interesting points about free music and the DIY ethic. Not all of it applies to aspiring psytrance producers, of course. Our music requires a little more investment into the technical side of things—but not too much. Ekoplex’s album was produced for under $1,000. It could have been less had we cut corners—but I strongly believe that professional mastering is necessary to legitimizing free music in the psytrance underground. Anyhow, Perkins covered an important point that I often struggle to get across to new producers:
It baffles me to watch unknown bands charge $15 for their CD which no one has heard yet while refusing to provide the ability for potential listeners to download their songs. To me, it completely defies logic for anyone whose goal is to build a fan base to essentially hold their own material hostage by requiring people to pay a ransom in order to hear it. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to show some patience: worry about the quality of the music first and then your exposure. And then once people are willing to pay you money you can start worrying about your price.
Exactly. So many new artists just don’t get it—not at first, anyway. Almost no one is going to buy your music if you haven’t established any sort of reputation or following.
In any event, Perkins gives a great talk. I tip my hat to The Chilling Spirit at enjoys.it for the find.
