One Mr Liam Gallagher has eloquently expressed what many musicians feel about file-sharing:

“I don’t mind it. I hate all these big, silly rock stars who moan – at least they’re f**king downloading your music, you c**t, and paying attention, know what I mean? You should f**king appreciate that – what are you moaning about? You’ve got f**king five big houses, so shut up!”

Beautifully put. I really could not have said it better myself.

Categories: P2P

16 Comments

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clarinette02 · April 14, 2010 at 3:46 am

Yes they are, and some good ones, musicians who take position against file-sharing regulations. Google translate of one example of musician against music piracy war, the very popular Francis Lalane who wrote on the new publication of Louis Blanc's copyright book, climbed the 'solutre' (a Francois Mitterand's traddition) Lalane said: "we live in a pivotal time conditioning the future of human species "and that" Hadopi could be a hindrance to this development. Now the question is: Hadopi a brake on the evolution of the human species?

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Ruth · April 14, 2010 at 6:21 pm

Did you see Dan Bull's awesome video "Dear Lilly" on YouTube? It's great too.

Then for Christmas I was planning to give my SIL "Who Killed Amanda Palmer." Two days before, Amanda Palmer decided to post on her blog a suggestion to burn & give away our copies of her CD, even gave us downloadable cover art saying it was a Christmas present. I still bought the album, but I got my SIL the vinyl & MP3 combo and then burned her the CD w/wrapper to present on Christmas itself. I'd first found the album on its site where I could listen to it for free anyway. And I listened to it there so many times that I decided to buy. 🙂

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Steve · July 29, 2011 at 11:46 am

Most musicians can't afford to pay the rent on one house, let alone own five big houses. OK, so it takes five minutes for Timbaland to make a tune but it takes a long time to write good, original music. If I wanted to professionally record an album, it would cost me a lot of money, then to promote the album I would have to travel up and down the country playing gigs, this would probably cost money (I say "probably" because there is a very small chance that I could make money from touring), will take several years, and in all likelihood will get me absolutely nowhere. If I released it would anyone buy it? Probably not many people. What would be the point in spending all my savings to record it professionally when I know I'm probably not going to get the money back? Why would I waste my time touring, wasting my band's time, getting stuff thrown at me every other night, in the vague hope that enough people will enjoy and eventually buy enough of the music for it to make a profit, when everyone has the option to just take it without paying a penny? If certain artists don't have a problem with it, then, fine, let people take their music for free, but the rest of us have to explain to our families why we can't afford pay the rent. Music piracy isn't doing harm to the corporations or the already mega-rich musicians like Liam Gallagher, but it is harmful to the smaller labels and less well-known musicians. Very harmful, in fact. If you think your 'sticking it to the man' by downloading music illegally, I can tell right now that you're not. The big record companies will always make money, it's everyone else that gets screwed.

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Steve · July 29, 2011 at 11:56 am

Further, if you like a musician, and want them to make more music that you like, then you should bloody well pay them for it so that they can make more good music. If they're not getting paid then they're going to run out of money at some point (yes, touring, recording, etc. costs a lot of money), and when they do run out of money they have to get other jobs. I don't understand why so many people can't get their heads this very simple concept.

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Steve · July 29, 2011 at 11:58 am

Sorry, I meant "I don’t understand why so many people can't get their heads AROUND this very simple concept".

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Blake · August 14, 2011 at 2:47 pm

Hey steve here is something for you to remember: A lot of people refuse to download independant artists music for free because they are the ones that deserve the payment. And also another thing to remember is that a lot of independant artists dont care or give a damn about money but instead are proud of people downloading their music because at least people are actually interested in their songs and are actually bothered to listen to them. I know a lot of artists who have permanant jobs to help pay for their recordings and release their songs for free, they dont live on their music financially themselves but their hardworking jobs instead.

If you are complaining about artists (mainly independant artists) having their music downloaded and not getting paid for it, you are nothing more than a sell out "Musician" who cares more about the money than the music. That's why the music industry is so horrible these days because thats pretty much all everyone cares about, the creativity is gone and has been replaced by shallow, talentless, autotuned wannabe musicians.

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Rob · August 31, 2011 at 12:37 pm

Blake, you moron. You seemed even handed until the last sentence or two there. Have you stopped to think that there might (just might) be one or two musicians out there in the world who both (a) live off their music and (b) are not millionaires? So what if your friends or whatever has a full time day job and thus can afford to give out his/her music for free, they don't need the music to provide and income. If steve is "just a sell out" for trying to decicate himself to music 100% to the point that it is how he pays the bills, then I could just as easily call the "lot of artists who have permanant jobs to help pay for their recordings and release their songs for free" POSERS who don't really love what they do and/or are not good enough to make a living that way.

Now I know what you are thinking "nuh uh, person x loves music more than anyone, she/he just has a job too" Well of course you idiot, I'm not actually trying to make statements about the lifestyles of people I've never met before, that's the thing YOU do. I was just showing you how stupid it is.

Calling someone who supports themselves with music a sell out is so f*cking retarded, you should really just go suck on a shotgun right now.

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    Rob · August 31, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    …"dedicate"

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dingus · January 23, 2012 at 1:33 am

If you can't make money with your music without the "help" of a huge corporation (who is just looking to pick your pockets, and I mean the artists not just the consumers) then you really have not business staking your livelihood on your music. It should be more of a hobby or a part-time gig, and get a real job where the equivalent of 1 album is not your ticket to the big life. Most NORMAL people work there whole adult lives and barely get to retire. Nothing is a given anymore so just be glad a few people actually enjoy your music enough to get it at any cost, instead of trying to make a living off of it!

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Tib · January 23, 2012 at 5:17 am

Whether your music is pirated or not, "making it big" is never ging to be easy (again?) thanks to the internet and home recording possibilities that exist now; for every new genre you can think up, twenty bands already exist and probably have a myspace page with recordings.

I personally think anyone who chooses to make a living as a musician needs to have enough sense to know that it's going to be a hard road.

I've always found it weird how a lot of people trying to do what they love for a living complain about how hard it is.

It's like you're trying to win the lottery, and keep complaining about the odds.

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Tibz · January 23, 2012 at 5:17 am

Whether your music is pirated or not, "making it big" is never ging to be easy (again?) thanks to the internet and home recording possibilities that exist now; for every new genre you can think up, twenty bands already exist and probably have a myspace page with recordings.

I personally think anyone who chooses to make a living as a musician needs to have enough sense to know that it's going to be a hard road.

I've always found it weird how a lot of people trying to do what they love for a living complain about how hard it is.

It's like you're trying to win the lottery, and keep complaining about the odds.

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Tibz · January 23, 2012 at 5:27 am

Sorry about the double post. Form was acting weird.

On a aide note; i've been making music for a while myself. And though i have a decent amount of people who come out to the shows, i've never charged more than was needed; if a venue chages, yes, if it's free, the show is free. Next year once the recordings are re-done and polished, i'll release a short album or two online, torrent it even. Sure, I'll lose like… A whole bunch of months' work worth, but it'll get the word out there to whoever might like it. THEN I'll get a new one on itunes for sale, and if it gets "pirated", it just means enough people like it, and it'll eventually make a couple of bucks.

Now in MY case, i make… Let's just say, unusual music. So I can't be sure many people are going to like it. But it seems to me anyone certain of their abilities and their music shouldn't be scared of putting their own hardearned cash behind their project. If you have enough confidence in your music, why not spend money to get it heard?

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Anomalous · March 31, 2012 at 2:04 am

Has no-one here heard of Jonathan Coulton? He makes a living off of very niche music, most of which is free and all of which is released under a creative commons license so that anyone who buys it can legally share it wit their friends.

I guess the point is, if you can't make money from your music as an independent artist, maybe yoy aren't as talented as you think you are, or you aren't bringing anything new to the industry, or you haven't found your niche. Maybe you should realise it's not easy to support yourself as an independent artist even without piracy, and maybe you really should get a "real" (for want of a better word) job.

p.s. most musicians don't make much more than around 2% on album salea, they get more money from merchandise and touring than anything else. Merchandise also has the added benefit of providing free advertisement, possibly meaning more people will either buy the band's music, or merchanfise, or by going to their shows. This is the business model that artists, especially independent ones, should adhere to. Jonathan Coulton is a great example of it working.

Thete's my £0.012.

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Anomalous · March 31, 2012 at 2:06 am

Excuse the typos, I'm on a touch screen phone…

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