Music downloads aren’t killing music. They are killing record companies.  Hurray!!

I didn’t have a strong feeling on the issue of illegal downloading until Hotpress began running articles about how Sharon Corr, Louis Walsh and some music executives gave Minister Eamonn Ryan a piece of their mind at a recent debate. My reaction was – I don’t fucking care!!! He told them to go and shite. Great!!! Louis Walsh and other millionaires with no creative talent are losing money. Really? I still don’t fucking care.

Musicians and others involved with music at the ground level are generally penniless. Most of the musicians I know work in venues and recording studios for minimum wage or if they work in better paid jobs, they have to take loads of time off to tour. If they had an income of €50k a year they would be delighted. However would the head of Sony Records Ireland and his entourage be able to put food on the table with that pittance? Yes they would – but they are used to making huge amounts of money over the past 20 years and don’t want to change. I know a band signed to a major who have left their jobs and are recording their debut album. They get €50 a week pocket money. Young bands are gobbled up by record companies. The band’s enthusiasm and desire to have their music heard makes them easy to exploit. I have been at debates where record company reps have claimed that music is suffering but that is a fucking lie. Irish music is stronger than it has been for years – Ham Sandwich, The Script, Villagers, Fight Like Apes, Republic of Loose, O Emperor and Imelda May are all in the top 30 albums for sale. So are Jedward. I believe the charts are a fair way of checking a band’s popularity. On the other hand maybe measuring the number of downloads, legal or illegal, would be a better measure. The record companies have no interest in allowing such a system to exist. Why not just give the whole lot away for free and then have a real chart. Chart success will lead to exposure, popularity, greater crowds, more t shirt sales and more radio play. Bands will get paid. New bands are making a living is by being creative and innovative in what they give away their music. Older and more lazy members of the music community want things to stay exactly as they have been for decades

It is claimed that record companies don’t have money to re-invest. I don’t care. They haven’t invested in the musicians that I have been going to see in Dublin for years like Bill Coleman, Te Barely Mob and Gypsies on the Autoban. Now artists can create their own songs for very little money and generally if you’re good enough people will find you. There are loads of small labels picking up the best bands and working with them to get their songs on the radio, on the internet and on download sites

How we access music has changed dramatically over the past 3 or 4 years but there is still great music being made, there are more venues than ever in my city and the radio is still playing new and exciting sounds. The apocalypse of music hasn’t happened. Good bands are still earning money – making a living off their live shows and if they aren’t signed to a major they make large amounts of money selling cds and merchandise at gigs. Who has been hurt by all this? Record companies.

Personally I pay for every piece of music I listen to. I like owning an album. I like being able to put a cd in a cd player and read the notes and check the photos. They are unchanging and not updated. The band had to make a decision on the songs and the sleeve notes and it is stuck in time. It’s beautiful. I also believe that downloading is illegal – it infringes intellectual property rights. It shouldn’t be done. It is a form of theft. However it is happening and it has to be dealt with. When Radiohead officially releasing their album and the buyer paid whatever price they wanted, that was a turning point and probably a realistic response to illegal downloads. The Cast of Cheers went a step further and gave their album away for free on its release. Everyone I know who works in the music industry including record producers and musicians download songs illegally. You can’t stop progress. The reality is that paying for music enriches record companies and Louis Walsh. Ironically the music industry is now seen as the establishment and everyone is sick to their back teeth of the establishment (U2’s last tour was sponsored by Blackberry – fuck me). The banks, the retail industry, the public sector, the government and the political process in general as well as the record industry have been ripping us off and treating us like idiots for years. People are now better informed, better connected and poorer than ever.

So don’t worry about music. It isn’t dying. It has changed and will continue to change. For the better

Now go and steal my fucking album – briancanavan.bandcamp.com

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