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30 Aug 08 - 12:56 PM (#2426322) Subject: Letting Your Music OUT From: Lizzie Cornish 1 The Show of Hands way is below...but...do you agree or disagree with them? Steve Knightley - talking on Mike Harding's Radio 2 Blog "Steve Knightley on embracing 'piracy' Mike Harding 26 Aug 08, 10:36 AM Steve Knightley writes: After any show we can always be found chatting to our audience, signing stuff and generally hanging out by the CD table. I always make a point of asking people how they first heard about us. The three most common answers are... ...they've been 'dragged' along by friends; they heard us on the radio; or someone gave them a copy of one of our CDs. This last one is usually accompanied by a look of collective guilt and embarrassment. Let's consider this more closely - a person who values our music has kindly made a copy of a CD and gone out of their way to spread the word about us. That recipient has then bought both a ticket to see us and a CD on the night. Now you may call this process 'piracy' if you wish - for me it is an act of generosity and both increases our audience size and record sales. And as I always say on the night - if you're going to do it anyway you may as well feel good about it! Likewise if people wish to film a show we rarely object. Out of courtesy they should ask us and ensure that they don't interfere with others enjoyment of the night but it's yet another way of using technology to reach more people with your music. I believe the official term is 'viral marketing' and we depend utterly upon it. Music is an aural medium and apart from a few shows and presenters our folk/acoustic genre gets a pretty raw deal on the airwaves. You need to be seen and heard and now through CD burning, YouTube, Facebook and a whole host of media it's possible as never before. Don't fight it - embrace it." |
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30 Aug 08 - 01:13 PM (#2426331) Subject: RE: Letting Your Music OUT From: GUEST,Fair Day's Pay For A Fair Day's Work do you agree or disagree . . . with piracy? Certainly not. Many artists rely on royalties to make a living wage. |
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30 Aug 08 - 01:17 PM (#2426335) Subject: RE: Letting Your Music OUT From: Lizzie Cornish 1 Er....yes, but...did you read Steve's words above? |
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30 Aug 08 - 03:25 PM (#2426401) Subject: RE: Letting Your Music OUT From: michaelr It seems to me that the divide on this question is an economic one. That is to say, if you're just starting out, or if you occupy a niche (as we folkies do), you may well agree with Knightley that it is a boon to have people copy your CDs and spread the word about your endeavor. An established or well-known artist (one who is making substantial amounts of money from CD sales) is much more likely to view the process as "piracy". Cheers, Michael |
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30 Aug 08 - 03:33 PM (#2426408) Subject: RE: Letting Your Music OUT From: GUEST,Peace I see that so far no one has mentioned law. |
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30 Aug 08 - 04:47 PM (#2426451) Subject: RE: Letting Your Music OUT From: Anne Lister It all depends on the scale of what's happening, doesn't it? If I manufacture 1,000 CDs and sell enough to break even, or even go into a small or large profit, then I'm not going to be too unhappy about viral marketing, and might even welcome it - but if I'm only known in a small area and still struggling to cover the costs and then find that my fans and supporters are showing their enthusiasm by reducing my potential market and burning copies of the album then it's a rather different story. I'd rather they showed their support by playing the CD and suggesting their friends might like to buy a copy as well. In fact, even if I was making a profit I'd prefer that to happen, and it's what I, personally, do when I'm recommending music to my own friends. The cost of a CD direct from an artist isn't enormous, in the great scale of things. A lot also depends on how many interests are involved. I can make decisions simply as I write, perform, produce and distribute my own material, but if there are other writers, other performers, other producers and other record companies involved it becomes a huge can of worms. I'm doing the MySpace, Facebook, Last.fm and indiestore stuff - so far I can't say it's made a huge difference to my overall sales and gig list, but then maybe no one likes me ....*sniff* Anne |
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31 Aug 08 - 05:21 AM (#2426657) Subject: RE: Letting Your Music OUT From: Simon G I can't believe you all missed the Steve's point. Control freaks the lot of you. Steve rightly views copying and giving CDs as a form of marketing -- and he doesn't have to pay for it. As a result he loses the sale of a CD he wasn't going to get anyway and gains some fans who buy tickets for shows and CDs. Copyright is all about control and zip about maximising your income. In the end it is only an appearance of control because very few have the resources to enforce it. Continue living in your controlled little cell if you like, but you'll make more money and spread your music wider taking Steve's approach. Embrace freedom and Creative commons. Down with stifling, straight laced 20th century, strict copyright. |
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31 Aug 08 - 07:41 AM (#2426702) Subject: RE: Letting Your Music OUT From: greg stephens I'm all for people spreading the music and videos around in this way. If people see it and like it, they pay to come to Boat Band igs. And we get a slice of that ticket money. Simple. If they copied our CDs and sold them(an unlikely scenario) that would be different, we would send some big friends round. Somebody did bootleg Boat Band T-shirt designs once. We were highly flattered! Having said all that, I am old-fashioned enough to think it is rude to video someone without asking their permission. But I guess that is the way of it nowadays and I will have to get used to it. And I am generally delighted to find such un-sanctioned videos appearing on Youtube(unless I am singing very badly). |
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31 Aug 08 - 12:41 PM (#2426855) Subject: RE: Letting Your Music OUT From: katlaughing In the case of my brother, a composer who does not do shows, but has CDs, we would much prefer that folks purchase a CD and urge their friends to do so, too. This may change once he gets more of an internet presence. |
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31 Aug 08 - 05:16 PM (#2427051) Subject: RE: Letting Your Music OUT From: Anne Lister I can't believe, Simon G, that you didn't read what I wrote. But there we go. It's not about Creative Commons if you're a professional. Or indeed if you're an amateur. I didn't mention the word "copyright" - just simple realities. If I'm selling a small scale album to a small market, anyone who copies my album and passes those copies around is limiting my potential sales. On the other hand, anyone who plays my album to their friends and lets them know where my website is will increase my sales. And if I'm giving away music written by someone else, performed by other musicians, produced by someone else or distributed officially by someone else I may well be in a whole heap of trouble. Just as if I photocopied a really, really good novel and passed around those photocopies it wouldn't go down too well either. The reality is there's no way to stop viral distribution and marketing, there's no effective way to keep a tab on it and so it's impossible to judge just how successful it is. Show of Hands reckon it works for them - great for them. I know, on the other hand, that a lot of my sales come from people who've heard someone else playing my CD and have come direct to me without burning their own illegal copy. But I have been very, very disturbed to find my music distributed as downloads from blog sites where someone else is making money out of music to which they have no rights whatsoever - and I haven't found a corresponding surge in my sales as a result. As I said, I don't have a closed mind on the subject and have been trying out some of the newer marketing ideas. So far I'm underwhelmed by the results. Anne |