Manifesto on Music Piracy

Music will always exist. This is the most important fact to remember. Even if no one will pay for it, humans will always be creating music. It's part of culture, and everyone enjoys it. Let's just remove the idea that "piracy hurts music" from our minds. Nothing will ever kill music as an art form (this is essentially a straw man argument, but some people actually use it).

Ever since the ability to record sound has existed, the potential for music piracy has existed. Piracy, in action, is no different than what record companies do to create products. Pirated material is identical to non-pirated material (theoretically). That is the entire issue, after all.

As recording technology has become cheaper and better, so has piracy become cheaper and more mainstream. In the beginning, very few had machines which could carve vinyl copies, but later a large number of people had the ability to make a copy with a cassette tape from another tape or from the radio. Now, computers make copying virtually effortless and free, and copies can be shared with anyone in the world thanks to the internet.

What record companies must understand is that the short "age of the record" is over. Technology has made piracy so ubiquitous that to demand that a consumer purchase a record is to demand an eskimo purchase a snowball. It makes no sense. Yes, there is a legal issue that piracy is at best copyright infringement and at worst stealing, but this is defined by the previous order.

Record companies do not sell the art of music. The art is the action, and the musician's performance. They sell a copy of the art. A record is not like the original of Van Gogh's
"Starry Night", rather it is like a copy or postcard with the image of "Starry Night" on it. If a tourist at the MoMA takes a picture of "Starry Night" (or, more accurately, the "Starry Night" postcard) and makes it into a postcard, is he taking money away from the postcard industry?

Of course he is! This is risk that is taken by the postcard company when producing a product as cheap and reproducible as a postcard. There are many other factors at hand, but the scenario is essentially the same for the record industry now. As copies are easier for the industry to make and distribute, so are they easier for the consumer (aka pirate) to make and distribute. Now piracy is so easy that it is unstoppable. What can record companies and musical artists do?

They can continue what they have been doing and keep fining and arresting pirates, using legal action to force people to ignore the advances in technology. This isn't cheap for the record industry or good for the image of artists, and it has done nothing to stop piracy.

The better alternative is that the record industry can realize that the "age of the record" is over and to expect most people to purchase albums is no longer a viable business model. Consumers should be encouraged to donate to artists they enjoy when downloading records, instead of being forced to purchase every recording they download. Artists and labels need to harness the power of piracy for publicity, exposing consumers to music they would probably not pay money for right away. Then, publicity needs to be funneled into live shows (an experience which cannot be pirated), where the artist can express his art more powerfully, just as the painting is more powerful than the postcard.

Many music sites and artists are beginning to do this, and should be commended. Adaptation, not brute force, will ensure future generations of paid musicians and a thriving recording industry. This new age, brought about almost accidentally by piracy, will hopefully find a balance where musicians continue to prosper, consumers are exposed to more types of music than ever, and live music will take an even greater role in culture. No matter the ethics of piracy, there is still hope in the future for music and musicians. Piracy is (currently) illegal, but not evil, and it is nothing the free market cannot handle.