Musicians and songwriters who do not make the majority of their income from their music are of a different breed than those that have signed with large record labels and are living off of their music. This is intended to give the perspective of the former type of musician.
An excellent source for the independent musician’s perspective is provided in a memo released in May 2004 by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The survey was conducted between March 15 and April 15, 2004, and a total of 2755 musicians and songwriters responded. Most notable from this survey is the fact that there is not consensus among the musicians interviewed. However, some of the important data gathered from the study is shown here:
1) Has free downloading on the Internet increased, decreased, or not really affected...
Increased
Decreased
No Effect
Doesn’t Apply to Me
Don’t Know
Sale of CDs or other merchandise
21%
5%
34%
25%
14%
Radio play of your music
19%
1%
39%
28%
13%
Attendance at your concerts or live performances
30%
*
29%
27%
13%
2) 83% have provided their music on the Internet for free.
3) Do you think RIAA’s recent legal action against individual downloaders will ultimately benefit musicians and songwriters?
Yes 44%
No 44%
Don’t know 12%
4) Overall, do you think file sharing on the Internet poses a MAJOR threat to creative industries like music and movies, a MINOR threat, or that it poses no real threat at all?
Major threat 30%
Minor threat 32%
No real threat at all 31%
Don’t know 7%
5) Do you think the RIAA’s recent legal action against individual downloaders will ultimately benefit musicians and songwriters?
Yes 22%
No 60%
Don’t know 18%
Discussion
For a musician who is trying to make a name for him/herself, free downloading is an advantage and many musicians will post their songs for free. Why not provide the music for a small fee on a musician’s own webpage? While this might work for devoted followers, how will anyone find the website of a brand new artist? And would they be willing to buy the music without any evidence of its quality?
Musicians also seem to be in a dilemma when having decide whether or not free file-sharing is a "good" or "bad" occurrence. The musician wants to share his/her music as well as earn something for the art. Having albums in the record stores can bring in revenue, but most musicians agree that file sharing services aren’t really bad for artists, since they promote and distribute our work to a broader audience.
Since it does not seem like there will be a way prevent sharing music online, so the best thing to do is for musicians to take advantage of this phenomenon and provide their music in a strategic manner that increases the chances for both CD sales and concert attendance. The Maverick Times suggests that musicians post 2 to 5 songs from each album for free. This is enough to get the music out there, while still giving the listener incentive to go out and hear more by either buying the CD or coming to the concert. In addition, if the musician can make the live performance worthwhile or the CD, as a whole, more appealing, then they can still thrive off of those sources of income. In a way, the free downloading craze may help weed out those people who are not truly artists and give small, but talented musicians a chance.
