Last August, after similarly-themed missives by Ewan Pearson and Ronan Fitzgerald, I offered my own thoughts about the pros, cons and ethical conundrum that is hosting uncleared mp3s for download. As anyone who reads this blog consistently knows, I took the issue seriously enough to declare a moratorium on offering tracks and have since been lobbying other bloggers to follow suit. My written efforts have reached a culmination point with this new Sounding Off piece for Resident Advisor. It was first birthed back in December as a year-end piece, but then took on a life of it’s own as RA’s editors felt the issue was worth exploring further with a definitive statement — hence the long deliberation period to find a balanced tone.
Still, some may feel I’m demonizing the field of mp3 blogging and being disrespectful of its patrons/practitioners. I felt it was imperative to take a strong position on the issue because anything less would sell short its importance. Our actions as mp3 bloggers and mp3 blog consumers have consequences whether or not we can see or feel them personally, so it’s about time we owned up to them. I hope that point came through.
Now, some eight months after I first broached this subject, where do you stand? Has your behavior changed? Is this issue passé by now?
With rare exception (like, a track is still not available for any kind of purchase yet), I make it a point to purchase tracks that I like and play. Sometimes I find it is quite helpful to have a full-length sample, especially if I am buying a record and having it shipped (back in my day, we could go to the record store and use a listening station to preview music!).
When I find something cool on an MP3 blog and download a full track, I either dispose of the file and forget it, or buy the track when it is released.
LWE is no less valuable to me now that it has links/previews as opposed to full track downloads. Keep up the good work!
“downloading uncleared tracks from blogs is stealing”…
I disagree. If I take a CD from your home or store, I have it and you no longer do. If I download a a song, I have it, but so do you.
There’s a fundamental difference between intellectual property and real property. The latter is tangible and limited in supply, the former is not.
It’s more akin to theft of service… Like when you split your neighbours cable TV line… and “Steal” cable.
Am also a little confused about the statement that mp3s are no longer given away on this blog.
The flash interface to the mp3 files is trivial to bypass so the actual file can be easily copied. As it streams through the flash interface it is downloaded into your browsers cache where it can be retrieved. The the mp3 files are also exposed to ‘download’ when using the firebug extension for firefox as they are also exposed to subscribers of your rss feed using Google reader. I’m sure there are other methods that allow people to download the mp3 files that you’re giving away as well.
Cheers,
Chris.
You bring up an interesting set of points, Chris.
Whether or not you agree with assigning monetary value on ideas, they are currently worth paper money. And music is an industry the same as selling any other product which thrives on people making purchases. I intend to support that idea.
Also, the scale between someone splitting into a cable and blogs is incomparable. Blogs, by nature, are not just sharing a few of their newest tunes with a couple friends. They seek readership easily obtainable by sharing with everyone.
I’m aware there are ways of stealing the files I host on this site. I cut the tracks’ bitrate to make theft less appealing, though some will prefer owning something rather than just listening to it. It seems that even though these files are reduced in quality, people still want them, almost as if they were worth something. I’m doing my part to share in a responsible, largely label-approved manner and those who choose to exploit that should know exactly what they’re doing.
I think the issue is still active, and still worth thinking through. I’ve learned and discovered quite a few sweet gems via yours (and others) blogs. And I appreciate you setting the expectations for us as readers and within the scene in general.
When I started reading music blogs some authors where hosting whole albums on their site. It was scary and difficult as a music producer to side with bloggers when it was clear people would pick up the albums for free. The culture wasn’t very supportive of the artists plight… nor were some of the indie artists really getting a chance at being included in the reviews.
In the 2 years since alot of bloggers have self censored and only share a limited number of files for a specific amount of time. It’s given credibility to the whole scene.
But I also think as more artists become comfortable with releasing musical projects via p2p / torrents, or releasing free versions of songs, these issues will solve itself. The NIN Ghost i-iv project helped solve the issues around “free” guys like Chris want. But allows for fans to buy in at a variety of price points which suit their needs.
I think blogs like yours and others are critical in helping guide and discover music. Innovative artists are already learning how to work with music blogs to share their passion in a process that supports the scene.
Keep up the good work!
You totally look like that guy on prject runway.
I guess I started to read your blog soon after you published this article, so I must have missed it until today.
I have a blog myself and I decided to have the same policy than you regarding mp3s. To me, music blogs are simply the best source of ideas when it comes to new releases.
I think that streaming is a good solution because it is a nice compromise for bloggers, readers, labels and artists. However, I would like to point out that in the article and in the comments people posted on Resident Advisor, streaming on blogs is compared to the listening stations of record shops. I agree, they are similar on several aspects. But in my opinion, we should also consider streaming on blogs a new sort of radio station.
Indeed, music is what economists call “experience goods”, that is to say goods whose quality is difficult to evaluate before consumption. And the classical means which helps people evaluate music is the radio.
Then, a new issue arises: radio stations pay artists and labels, but they also pay rights to specific public institutions to broadcast a song. I am not sure whether blogs should do the same or not, but I think the question is worth asking. What is your opinion about it?
Ultimately, I would like to know your opinion on SoundCloud (www.soundcloud.com). Is it close enough to your idea of an only-streaming version of Zshare?
Cheers,
Charles
I think Soundcloud and Fairtilizer are two great resources for labels/artists to allow potential customers to evaluate their work before purchasing. I’m glad someone finally saw the opportunity for such a service and turned it into reality.
As for royalties, that’s a tricky issue (for a number of reasons) that I’m just thinking about now for the first time. As a result my comments are off the top of my head: While it would be great if labels/artists could skim a little off the top via royalties, I can only imagine how difficult it would be to collect statistics on streaming and to collect money from the streamers. While Fairtilizer and SoundCloud are perfect candidates for paying royalties (because streaming is their sole purpose for existing, and also because most blogs/sites that stream tracks offer much lower concentrations), I can’t imagine their business model is anywhere near being in the black. Whatever the arrangement, the point would need to be sustainable for both sides of the deal.
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