#payformusic

On “Napster” from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Allow me to start by saying that this month (June) celebrates two (2) years that I’ve been writing my blog here on Tumblr.com! Wow, how time flies!

My good friend recording artist Greg Manning (http://kalimba-music.com/?page_id=21) posted his feelings on Facebook this morning about how we as music composers, musicians, recording artists, etc., are receiving very little to hardly any royalties at all from the music we create. It is a fantastic post in my opinion, that needs to be shared and understood. Greg stated that “people need to be educated”. I agree, but in my opinion, I believe this is a statement that needs to be expanded upon. 

Maybe it’s because I’m from the old school era, or maybe it’s because I worked as a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and as a Director of Credit for major corporations years ago (didn’t know this, huh?) while I kept my music career going, but I see the problem from another perspective - I’ll call it the “big picture”. People need to stop copying music and get back into the practice of paying for music that we music-makers create. People need to understand and accept that WE have to pay lots of money in order to create music! A lot of artists don’t have the luxury of a record company to pay the expenses of making a recording, so to be in this business, artists may have to borrow money from friends, family, or find an investment partner to buy recording equipment, instruments, and pay for promotional and marketing services. Keep in mind, that money borrowed must be paid back. And even if a record company is footing the bill, the artist has to wait until the record company recoups its costs before seeing any money. Record companies are not advancing artists like they used to, either. Why? Because people aren’t buying music like they used to!

And guess what else adds to this dilemma? Recording studios, mastering studios, recording engineers, recording equipment, etc. cost just as much (or more!) as it used to cost years ago. Studios and engineers didn’t decrease their prices because the music industry is struggling to survive! They charge the same amount of money (or more) that they’ve always charged. Most people don’t realize how much it costs a songwriter to create a song and get it published so that the general public can access it. I say “access” because the word “buy” has fallen out of the vocabulary these days. I know this first-hand because I’ve been asked more than once, “Why don’t you just post up your music and share it?”, referring to a new single, for example. And then of course, a lot of people don’t care if it costs an independent recording artist $5,000 or more just to create a single record! 

Since technology has us living our day-to-day lives at lightning speeds lately, you probably don’t remember what started all this music business mess in the first place. The problem came from what was called “peer-to peer (P2P) file sharing”. This dates back to 1999, when companies like Napster, Lime Ware, and Kazaa (to name a few) built systems that allowed people to share music content (MP3 files) across networks for free. Record companies and artists saw how quickly people were jumping on this bandwagon of sharing music and filed lawsuits about all the copyright infringement that was happening. They also saw how fast Napster and other similar companies grew, and how they were taking advantage of the opportunity to use “sharing” as a means to grow market share and increase the size of their companies rapidly. By bringing advertising into the equation, companies were now able to start making money off of “free” content being shared by millions of people across networks worldwide.

Just read this excerpt from Wikipedia about Napster’s history - pay special attention to what I highlighted in bold:

“Although there were already networks that facilitated the distribution of files across the Internet, such as IRC, Hotline, and Usenet, Napster specialized in MP3 files of music and a user-friendly interface. At its peak the Napster service had about 80 million registered users.[13]

Napster made it relatively easy for music enthusiasts to download copies of songs that were otherwise difficult to obtain (or, like having to pay for music when you don’t have the money!), such as older songs, unreleased recordings, and songs from concert bootleg recordings. Some users felt justified in downloading digital copies of recordings they had already purchased in other formats, such as LP and cassette tape, before the compact disc emerged as the dominant format for music recordings.

Many other users simply enjoyed trading and downloading music for free. High-speed networks in college dormitories became overloaded, with as much as 61% of external network traffic consisting of MP3 file transfers.[14] Many colleges blocked its use for this reason,[15] even before concerns about liability for facilitating copyright violations on campus.

The ease of downloading individual songs facilitated by Napster and later services is often credited with ushering in the end of the Album Era in popular music. Now, this is a sad statement. Albums (vinyl) faded away almost 20 years ago, while enthusiasts are now trying to bring them back.

The problem is us. People. 80 million people, back when Napster was booming. Greed. Theft. Lack of love for one another. It’s not just the music industry’s problem. It’s not only the problem of politicians, big power-hungry, greedy companies, or our government. We as a people need to be fair to each other, starting from the consumer. Each and every one of us. And, we need to start fixing what’s wrong in our world today - right now. Not tomorrow.

We all know that nothing is free. The only things that are free come from God above. If something is free for you, I’m sure someone else is paying for it somewhere. If you love music, please pay for it just as you pay for the food you love to eat. Then, maybe we start appreciating what this term “starving musician” really means. 

V.

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