Should you give your music away ?

[The_Laughing_Man]

Exactly.
IF music should be free then why not everything else.
Why pay for shoes, or groceries or anything that some amount of work has been done to produce.
To be really good at music and production takes a lot of time and hard work.
It`s not something you can do in the evening as a little hobby if you are serious about it.
I think a balance between giving stuff out for the fans and also keeping some stuff for purchase or donation is better.
Otherwise everything becomes devalued.
It`s such a complicated situation though, a simple answer isn`t possible.
These are very very frustrating times, but digital media is still young, and I think piracy protection is going to become stronger (for good or for bad) and we will see an end to piracy, on the scale it is at now anyway.
It`s a case of riding out the rough weather maybe.
Personally I have found another way doing what I enjoy in music to pay the rent, which has freed me up to release music that would have been more risky. And I can be more self indulgent (and pretentious) in what music I put out there.

**** knows basically. Do what you need to do to survive, but also, Never give up, never lose hope, never compromise and never sell out.
Impossible ey?

[Microdot]

Exactly.
IF music should be free then why not everything else.
Why pay for shoes, or groceries or anything that some amount of work has been done to produce.
To be really good at music and production takes a lot of time and hard work.
It`s not something you can do in the evening as a little hobby if you are serious about it.
I think a balance between giving stuff out for the fans and also keeping some stuff for purchase or donation is better.
Otherwise everything becomes devalued.

Nail on the fcuking head mate.

Until we completely break down the structures of capitalist culture and rebuild our entire society based on some kind of Anarchist/Communist utopia, we can't afford to devalue our profession/contribution to society by giving our music away for free.
Entertainment is an important part of society as sre Blacksmiths, Greengrocers, Mechanics, Engineers etc.
None of these other dudes are expected to work for free, or are even considering it as a way of combating an economic downturn.

My heart truly bleeds for folk who are struggling to get their music heard but, if truth be told, they are in no worse situation than struggling artists of the previous few decades.

[crime]

Nail on the fcuking head mate.

Until we completely break down the structures of capitalist culture and rebuild our entire society based on some kind of Anarchist/Communist utopia, we can't afford to devalue our profession/contribution to society by giving our music away for free.
Entertainment is an important part of society as sre Blacksmiths, Greengrocers, Mechanics, Engineers etc.
None of these other dudes are expected to work for free, or are even considering it as a way of combating an economic downturn.

My heart truly bleeds for folk who are struggling to get their music heard but, if truth be told, they are in no worse situation than struggling artists of the previous few decades.

The point here though is not about giving everything away for free - of course, if you played live for free, DJed for free, yes, that would devalue the whole thing. Comparing trades like Engineering, Retail and the like and Performing arts is like comparing apples and oranges - people don't need music to live in the same way that people need food & their drains fixed - it's just that now, with so many other people giving their self made music for free the goalposts have been moved somewhat.

Say I have some music, as I do, that no record label currently trading sees as commercially viable to release as the amount of money made wouldn't cover the production costs as the fan base is too small - am I supposed to just leave it on my hard-drive, and not let anyone listen to it for the greater good? Surely you give away recordings of DJ mixes/Live acts as promotion in order to get bookings? How different is that to giving away a few freebies now and then to keep certain styles of music alive which would otherwise not be heard, and ultimately be buried because no-one heard them?

As I said before, I truly believe live performance is where it's at these days, and to be honest, I feel it's the creators of the tools with which to make music who are the real innovators in this day and age...

[Microdot]

Say I have some music, as I do, that no record label currently trading sees as commercially viable to release as the amount of money made wouldn't cover the production costs as the fan base is too small - am I supposed to just leave it on my hard-drive, and not let anyone listen to it for the greater good?

Give it away online if you want but, I'd be more inclined to sell it online.
There's tons of sites you can upload your trax to and then sell them, and most pay the same commission as the established download sites, such as Juno and Beatport.

[morbid]

What if my musics so shit even I don't want to listen to it?

What do I do with it then?