I recently came across a music blog that has a
FLAC version of my band
Coffinworm's album posted for free download. For those who may not know,
FLAC stands for "Free Lossless Audio Codec" which essentially means it's an exact copy of the original audio recording in full-quality. While all of us in the band agreed to not pursue people posting the album for mp3 download (it happens and sometimes it's more of a help than a hurt), seeing something that we worked hard on for several years from inception and that our label,
Profound Lore, pumped a chunk of money into making a reality being offered up for free pisses me off.
Coffinworm have never necessarily been opposed to downloading. In fact, it proved a very effective way to spread our
demo and reach a lot more people than we could have otherwise. That being said, there's a trend of irresponsibility on the part of the (formerly) music buying public that has bred a sense of entitlement when it comes to this practice. I'd wage a guess that almost any music fan who's internet savvy by this point has directed their browser to Google, typed the name of a band or album followed by 'Mediafire', and promptly copped some new music. We've all done it, but after that point it's what you do in order to support the band that counts. Liking someone's record doesn't do a damn thing if you didn't help support the label (who paid for it to be manifested) and/or the band (who spent countless hours/days/weeks/years to conceive that aural document that took 3 minutes to steal) in a tangible form. I'm talking snaps. Dollars. Euros. Yen. Now, is everyone able to pay for every album they like? No, of course not and that's part of the beauty of the shift to discovering new music through music blogs or trading mp3s with friends – you are able to be exposed to a lot more than you might have been previously. It does, however, leave a question unanswered: "How much is art really worth?" By that, I'm not talking directly in terms of capitalism, but on a personal level. Art evokes a response or a connection that all of us can participate in (regardless of how it personally affects us). Based on that connection or response, we decide what value to place on said art whether it's literature, music, etc. and there's two main facets to this that I see: Personal identification & our response of appreciation. Regarding the latter, in the traditional realms of western culture this generally means buying a physical format of the recording or book. Anymore that seems to have dried up into a smaller and smaller portion of folks. Home taping in the 80s & 90s is a footnote to what the internet has done to the music industry (both large and small labels) and thanks to the
corporate infiltration of what used to be largely underground music (punk, metal, hardcore, and hip hop) musicians are trading decades of hard work and self-sustaining practices for a quick shot of cash and some free media hype. In the process, everyone involved in said scenes are affected as a new standard is being set and with corporate bucks behind videos, festivals, and even subsidized recordings all of which are being offered up for free. The problem of entitlement existed before this began, but this compounds it.
My point? In short, we need a new standard. Regression almost never produces favorable results (unless you're talking about
Darkthrone), but continuing to 'plug in' to this alternate framework and metaphorically resting on our laurels will only lead to disastrous results. DIY still works. Embrace your community and create something within it. Share what you've created. Set a new standard and expose new people to those values. Support others and help them continue.
