Rantings of a Mad Woman...LOL

Music lovers love to seek out great music, especially if it features one of our favorite artists. We just can’t help ourselves or can we?

No longer are the days when we have to wait for the record companies to force us out into the stores on a release date to get our music fix. We can now use the internet to download to our computers, mp3 players or our phones at the exact second it releases or when we have the time to push a button. This is one of the wonderful benefits of the web and file-sharing technology. This technology has helped blogs, news outlets and sites like YouTube to give us the info on what’s new & exciting in the industry by showcasing snippets and authorized industry previews of music. We can listen to an artist’s latest singles and album previews to make an informed decision about buying an album or single. File-sharing hosts have made it possible to share music globally and allow consumers to download music. Technology has fueled our music-obsessed desires and has created a problem for the industry. Throughout the years more and more blogs have popped up showcasing music that hasn’t been authorized for the web or download. Even YouTube has fallen prey to its users uploading unauthorized copies of copyrighted music. As the number of people downloading music has increased exponentially over the years so has the number of music leaks. These leaks may be the full album version or the unreleased or unfinished versions of a song. But what is the impact of music leaks on the artist and is the average music lover responsible for the negative impacts of file-sharing?

A list of possible problems resulting from music leaks:

• Misinformed Consumers – The listener doesn’t know if what they are listening to is a finished album or song, a song idea or lyrics that can be used within another song or something that hasn’t made the cut for the album. The consumer may quickly want to listen, rush to judgment on whether to purchase the product and post their opinions which may set the tone for people that haven’t heard it yet.

• Decreased Album Sales – Record companies rely on sales of their product to pay their employees, promote artists on the label and produce new albums. It was at one time estimated that for every digital track that is paid for, twenty are downloaded illegally for free but this figure may have increased since 2007.

• Loss of Income for the Artist – Some songs are just ideas that lead to other songs that could produce writing credits and money for the artist, but due to the leak it is no longer profitable to sell their creative efforts. They may be forced to record new material for an album and the artist loses money on the sale of that material or may have to push back their album release in order to change it. Record sales and the ability to profit from an album can make a record company drop an artist and/or decrease the amount of money they spend on promotion or advertisement for the artist which decreases album sales. 

• Legal Action – Record companies along with the industry’s trade organization, RIAA, implement technologies to protect their intellectual property and copyrights. They lobby to influence legislation on the industry’s issues.

There are many opinions on the negative impact of file-sharing from the record companies and arguments on the positive impact by music consumers that can be found on the web if you search for it. I personally tend to look at the opinions of the artists themselves. There are varying artist views on how the internet helps their career. Most agree that the internet allows them to grow their audience and reach their fans with news faster. The artists have increased their use of mixtapes and digital downloads of free music for their fan base, but most would like to be the one to release this music to their audience and not at the whim of someone copying their files. They are hoping that any release of free music will satisfy the consumer’s music appetites and any release of album singles or preview will build buzz in order to increase the likelihood of a music purchase.

I have to admit that I am a music-aholic and I am guilty of listening to leaked music. I try to take all that I hear for face value and realize the source, so I don’t judge a leak and I try not to spread it around to others because I feel if I found it others can find it too. I try to wait for the finished product and decide whether or not to buy it. I agree that music can be like an addiction; the more you get, the more you want especially if you don’t have to pay for it. I think free stuff appeals to human nature lol but I happen to believe that people should be paid for the work they do on their jobs. My choice is to not download any leaks, but I am guilty of encouraging the piracy none-the-less because I do listen to leaks on major music blogs. I don’t judge anyone for their decisions to download, unless it is Lloyd’s music… just kidding, but you may have to watch your back if I find out you're illegally downloading Lloyd lol. I believe that fans of music should educate themselves on how the artists that they support feels about the issue and why they may feel that way, then make their choices.

What is your opinion about downloading & do you know your fav artist’s stance on music leaks?