DOWNLOADING RUINED MY LIFE
A few days back I got the news that the label I was just about to release a new album on was shutting down, due to their distribution going bust and taking all their money with them. Thanks to downloading I just lost out on both a small amount of income and and a massive amount of work (the album took me two years to complete) which may very well never be released. All the distribution companies I know the names of have now gone bankrupt. We’re talking at least 12 distribution companies here that I could name straight up. And for me personally, this is the 6th time a confirmed deal had to be broken from the labels side, as a direct result of the distribution problem.
I’ve heard all the sides of the download debate all too many times. There are numerous arguments, and all too often they ring false in my ears; why? Because it’s a debate where the same people pose and answer the questions. Pirates and illegal downloaders are often answering their own question, saying things like “I’m a musician and I don’t mind”. But let me pose a question; how many small scale full time musicians have you come across who says they don’t mind? The people which livelihoods is at stake seem to be the central people to use as interviewees and references to this point. Not Lars Ulrich or Britney Spears, as they can survive far above the povertyline regardless of any future record sales. But the people that had a yearly income of 5000 to 20 000 dollars/euros, these are the people that are injustly suffering right now. Yes, had. I used to fall within that income bracket, but now my earnings from music is nowhere near this.
Record sales has gone down with 43% since 2000. But let me give you further insight into what happens when an industry is experiencing this kind of decline. In all honesty it should be said that the years leading up to that saw a major increase in sales. The major thing that happened was; music recording equipment got affordable for more people, the new format – the cd – was cheaper to manufacture than vinyl and the major labels experienced major profits. What happened then was that the majors started giving artists they believed in “development contracts”, basically meaning paying their way while they honed their crafts and recorded material. With the record sales increasing the variety of music increased as well. But make no mistake about what the first thing to go was when the majors experienced losses, cutting indie-artists and especially the cancellation of any development contracts. The decrease resulted in a safety by numbers game; majors are now less inclined than ever to take any any risk or chance. (In that sense the pirates have created a selffulfilling prophecy; with majors turning into the monsters they’re made out to be by pirates.)
Yesteryears winner of Swedish Idol for instance, recorded her album in a week, after getting hours on end of free tv advertising throughout the series. This is the new no-risk-music climate we’re facing.
But what about the concert argument (people going to concerts “instead”)? Well, concerts used to stand for about half of my income, between 2002-2006. Imagine if you make 15 000 euros per year, and someone would take half of it away. That would off course be somewhat ok, given that you would earn an additional 7500 euros on concerts which you’ve lost on sales. But, there has been no such increase. Maybe in certain genres, like rock(?) gigs have become increasingly more important (I don’t know), but all underground scenes does not work the same – nobody I know involved in electronic music (and I know quite a few people, from Japan, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Brazil, US, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the UK, etc) has seen this alleged increase. And given that I can’t (nor can my colleagues) spend as much time recording my music (because I have to do something else full time) I don’t make new material in a pace where I can secure the gigs coming in, to the same extent. So in my instance (and for many of my friends and colleagues) there is absolutely no increase of concerts or gigs, but a definite decrease!
I know a lot of people from all over the world who bears witness to the same development; they’ve had to seek a full time employment somewhere, start to go to university etc etc. And this is hugely talanted and recognized people who have been in the trade for over 10 years, who all of a sudden can’t make a living.
Lastly; swedish radio profile Hanna Fahl said that she hopes the download debate comes to an end in 2009. That people have to hold out a few years and then someone will have figured out a way to make music off money. I also hope the debate comes to an end. All I can say is that from my point of view I see people struggling to pay rents, keep their studios and going out of business. For all of us who are experiencing this, the reality is that we basically will have to hold out and hope for a sollution. But it also means that whilst waiting for this sollution, we wont be able to make much, if any, music. This has never been a scene of superstars, never been a scene where you could get rich, so everyone is in it for the love of music from the beginning. But you can’t live off love of music alone, at least I have double rents to pay (home and studio). I see signs all around of how the scene of jazzy and soulful electronic music is constantly shrinking. One day it will hopefully stop, and that day there will hopefully be someone willing to pick up their trades once again. I myself am uncertain as to how many times I should have to undergo the painful process of committing two years of my life into a record that may never be released, and then not try to feel robbed and cheated and do the same thing once more.
AND SOME COMMENTS ON THE COMMENTS I RECIEVED BASED ON THAT POST
Today the swedish online news e24.se presented an article with the headline “nedladdning gynnar musikindustrin” (the music industry benefits from downloading), rapidly followed by a subtext stating that in some instances the music industry may benefit from illegal downloaders since people sometimes buy the same music afterwards.
A few comments on my last post (and its comments) and this article is in order.
Scientific research made popular headlines.
If there is already such a vast descripancy between the headline of the article (affirming that downloading is generally benefitial) to a subtext explaining that instaces occur when illegal activity leads to legal activity, you may need to be suspicious. Also, being an academic I know the danger of trying to sum up extensive research and scolarly fieldwork – which in its original form usually spans over hundreds of pages. At exams you are often asked to sum up the important features of a whole book in about three A4 pages, which is off course extremely hard, subjective and also due to what interests or tendencies you are trying to explain. The shorter the text, the lesser chance of accurately describing the content. This is a 305 word article, again far less than a three page summary. With what’s in the article there is actually no telling what this study find to be good empirical evidence, nor what is plausible tendencies that needs further research.
The difference between complaining and explaining.
Let me present my response to a blog comment I got saying that it was of no use to complain about the situation. I agree that the first question regarding piracy is what can be done to prevent people from stealing music. However, my suggested solution is of a moral kind, not of technical. As a humanist I prefer invoking empathy, telling my story and arguing that my side of the story is also one of truth (that said I do not argue that truth is one-sided), rather than conjuring up technology that prevents actual copying of files or that electrocutes motherboards. I firmly believe that there is a point to be made once people see that piracy is not something that only strikes at an evil empire “music business”, but also at people passionate about music, and which tiny boats are being sunk on a broad scale by the pirates.
I see a difference here between complaining and sharing my narrative. True, the story above is one of resignation, but never the less it emerges from my wanting to present new music to the world, but the avenues being shut/shot down by self-proclaimed “guardians of the uncompromisable human right to share (whatever you like with whoever you like)”.
My ambition is to tell a personal story of what piracy does, which contrasts what the pirates claim is a victimless crime, and hope that this will make one or more people think of my story and hesitate next time they are about to open their torrent tracker. If that should be accomplished, even once, then what I’ve written is not merely complaining, but will have achieved its intended purpose.
