Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut. I think many people do not think through all the costs involved in making music. Music piracy may or may not put a dent in some of the bigger artists, but it’s devastating for those who are trying to get off the ground.
Steve Albini is a long time respected producer and recording engineer who wrote a paper about what exactly happens to most artists who sign big label contracts. The truth is that after labels recoup their investment, and trust me the artist has to pay back every penny of the incurred recording and distribution costs before they can then begin to see a profit. There are many a big name artist that are lucky to break even in todays world. Where they do make their money is in touring and merchandicing, ie… sales of cd’s and t shirts when they perform live. Most acts today consider the music they record as a commercial to draw people to their live shows so they can make enough money to survive.
The super acts still make a alot of money, but not as much as they used to, and there are in reality very few that have the savvy to be profitable. Successful artists are continually experimenting with new business models hoping to find one that will be profitable, it’s extremely difficult for everyone today because of this phenomena.
The ones that are really up a creek in todays market are the songwriters such as myself. We don’t perform or tour, so we are solely reliant on the increasingly diminishing honesty of the buying public.
Now I have a body of work that I’ve written over the last 5 years that I’ve refused to record and get published waiting for someone to find a way to stem the piracy hemmorhage. That doesn’t seem to be happening so I’ve come to the conclusion in my own life that God is calling me to use this talent for Him. It is a talent that was freely given my by God and I’m going to freely give it back to Him without a reasonable expectation of being compensated. Although I think I’ve finally come to peace with this decision it will be a part time ministry because I will still have to support myself.
It seems the prevailing attitude today is that music is free. The problem with that is when a person has that attitude they are telling the artist/recording engineer/songwriter that their time, effort. and talent has no value. That increasingly forces talented people into other fields of work, cause ya gotsta eat and pay the electric man. What the public is asking for by this attitude is that they want sub par talent recording on pro-sumer to amateur equipment. I just laugh when I hear people complain about the quality of music today because they don’t see the connect between piracy and forcing many a talented people out of the music business.
I’ve talked to alot of young people about this and the prevailing attitude is they just don’t care. If it doesn’t affect them then they are ok with stealing other peoples hard work, “after all music is free”. They usually respond with arrogant mocking defiance when told how they really affect musicians. I guarantee if their wages were affected the same way as they affect musicians and recording engineers they would be screaming the loudest.
I have not been an angel myself because I used to be as bad as most people about this issue, and God dealt with me on it, and I’ve deleted all pirated works from my computer.
It’s not just musicians that are affected, It’s also the people who make movies, and write software. Any one who makes their living producing anything that can be digitized is affected by this.
So, no… It doesn’t happen in a vacuum when music is pirated in the privacy of ones own home. People are greatly affected by this sin.
Sin is sin no matter how small and it must be confessed and repented from!
Thanks, Jack. 