Should music be given away free?

[MorePunkThanFunk]

Should music be given away free?

What's your thoughts on this?

More and more labels seem to be giving away free tracks, or just going completely free.

I'm all in favour of promotion which can involve free things or giveaways but there is a limit on this.

Just want to see what the general feeling is on here.

[Aratron]

seems a nonsense. everything must have a cost otherwise it has no value.

[inigo kennedy]

seems a nonsense. everything must have a cost otherwise it has no value.

that's quite a capitalist sound bite. from another point of view, as an artist, it's a lot more satisfying and i'd say fair. a justifiably romantic outlook perhaps. good question mptf. a different question might be should other people make money from your music? there are a lot of factors and many different aims - label? artist? brand? career? hobby? passion? business? quality control, or the perception of quality, is a problem but that seems to be a growing phenomenon on a massive scale - throwaway culture - free or not. in general i think there's also a growing perception from consumers that everything is and has to be free but more and more of the actual costs are hidden and aggregated - free music doesn't cost nothing but the belief is that it does.

[JamieBall]

It's an unfortunate indicator of the state of the market that so many people are pressured into going this way.

I think it's a GOOD idea in principal, helping spread your music etc but in practise it can prove a bit silly for the artist. Many have basically been pushed into this by circumstance, rather than making a uniform decision I feel. It's kinda like "people aren't gonna pay for this so we've got to make it free for them even to bother listening"

Personally, I've spoken to a few people on Soulseek who were absolutely GOBSMACKED when I told them I buy music if I like it. My cousin, who's about 11, also refuses to entertain the notion of paying for music.

The attitude these days seems to be very much "if I can get it for free, why pay for it?" which I can see to an extent but it still remains a bit of a blinkered view imo. I've noticed many 'big' bands giving away their new albums etc with newspapers n stuff but this is, of course, no problem for them - they've made their money and merely need to keep the wheels on the promotion wagon...

Fair enough artists can use this free music as a promo tool to spread their name/get gigs or whatever but what if you don't do live shows yet spend 24/7 on your music ? This kinda means you'd be doing that for NOTHING in the present climate, should you choose to go the 'free' route.

It's horrid that we live in a society where 'bills' and things appear from time to time, otherwise I don't see the problem with all this free/trading stuff. However, if you spend all your time doing something and you're GOOD AT IT then I, personally, think you have the right to be rewarded for it. If people receive nothing back for hours of work then they're only going to be doing this for so long.

Mind you, the way techno is(nt) selling at the moment, if you've any brains and are actually interested in making money then I suggest you off and make something that'll stand a chance of actually providing a sensible ££ return ratio ;-)

Personally, I've never made a bean from this music really and I'm quite happy about it. It's not about the cash or peoples reactions, if I didn't make music I'd probably be in the clink ;-)

[RDR]

Its a tricky one thats for sure.

I think it all depends on what else people have going on, A touring/gigging artist will have more invested in the live set-up.

There are many instances where music is paid for and in big amounts. but these are one off pieces like music for adverts on commision etc etc.

It all depends on wether or not anyone regards music as intrinsically worth anything or as a vehicle to promote a brand image or the artist as a product. The recent rash of people giving things away for 'FREE' (OT i think the word FREE has much more power than the word F-U.C:K in modern day society) has hardly been FREE, there was always another option for people.

Look at princes recent giveaway in the papers, it was free to the consumer but not really free at all. Most artists in the independant sector 'enjoy' the long tail in terms of sales. Prince didnt do that. How much did he get paid by the papers for having this album given away free? Instant money. Not only that, but he exploited the long tail and gained some more fans in the process (i accept that he aliented some as well) plus the fact that if he had tried to BUY that marketing and publicity it would have been extremely expensive. The consumer accepts a free album on the premise that it is really free, and it is, the cost to them is hidden. Prince on the other hand gets rapid payment, the consumer pays HIM to publicise TO them. Look at the Radiohead and NIN jaunts recently, FREE meant giveaways, but they still made money from it. Not from the sales so much, but the publicity was MASSIVE. something they couldnt buy without spending millions.

For the independant? Well, havnt we always given away music for free in the form of Mix CDS? Isnt that what DJs are meant to do? Record pools have been around for a LONG time and did exactly that, gave away promo's to DJs so they could play them out. I think in the techno scene the problem is that who the hell is buying the music, its not the standard consumer, its the DJs and most of them i meant didnt really expect to pay for music at all. They felt that it should be free because they are 'Promoting' a certain artist. This rings true when you have a product like vinyl, hard to copy etc etc, but not MP3.

One of the side effects (IMO - like everything here else of course) is that all of a sudden the DJ jealously guarding their record collection has gone, no white labels on a CD is there? A DJ lives and dies on their tunes, but that piss and vinegar approach seems to have gone, in the endless round of circle jerk promo action.

/Rant.

EDIT: Just seen jamies comment and wanted to add a +1 for most of that. I know im trying to talk from a commercial perspective here.

[RDR]

free music doesn't cost nothing but the belief is that it does.

+1 Exactly.

[rhythmtech]

if someone wants to give away music for free then its nobodies choice but their own.

from a business point of view, i personally give away some tracks for promotion and to generally "keep my name out there".

i think its especially important for those of us who arent in a position where we have lots of labels clambering over each other to release every track that we write.

everytime i put a track out i get lots of messages of support and thanks - this for me is enough to show that the music has value and if a percentage that do download a free track then go and spend money on damaged trax, i reckon the promotion is working in my favour.

[acidsaturation]

if someone wants to give away music for free then its nobodies choice but their own.

Totally.

I guess there is the potential problem that if more music is given away then it heightens the perception that music is free, and maybe "undercuts" those who need to make a living from it.

And yeh

But at the end of the day, I don't really make music to make money. Yeh it would be nice if I could cover some of the costs, and I'm hoping to work on that one slowly, but at the moment I'm working, I'm hoping to do a PhD next year, so turning it into a business is not my main aim.

I give CDs out, to my mates, to cute girls in clubs, to people who look like they might come to a gig if they recognise my name - that last one is promotion I guess, but if people who put on nights know I'll get folk in then I get gigs which I enjoy, and there's more chance of getting some beer money for playing.

At the end of the day if I have a product from my hobby what good is it if it's sat in my CD player for no one else to enjoy? It's like if I'm sat out in the sun and make a dreamcatcher (yeh old hippy I know), or split up a plant that's too big for it's pot, or make too many pots of chutney - what use is it to me, and I don't need the couple of quid I might be able to flog it to someone for...

[RDR]

Just wanted to make the point that FREE music cannot be considered for the charts, I wonder how that might affect things if there were...

[acidsaturation]

By definition though the charts show how popular a record is with one particular subset of people. i.e. those who by a certain thing in a certain format...

[TechMouse]

Music should be whatever it's creators want it to be.

If people want to give it away free then great.

If people want to try and make a living out of it them great - just remember that the world doesn't owe you a living and if your stuff doesn't sell then that's nobody's fault.

Right now, I'd probably give stuff away for free, though I've sold stuff before.

[DannyBlack]

It's all the one really. If you want to give it away, do. If you don't, then don't.

[RDR]

By definition though the charts show how popular a record is with one particular subset of people. i.e. those who by a certain thing in a certain format...

yeah, of course... was just pointing it out.. its got resonance when coldplay's free giveaway does 2million downloads in a weekend eh????

[acidsaturation]

True...

[module]

take the £££ outta the scene, both in dj fees & album releases & see who REALLY loves the sound as opposed to LIKING the sound & makin a wedge too :)

[rhythmtech]

take the £££ outta the scene, both in dj fees & album releases & see who REALLY loves the sound as opposed to LIKING the sound & makin a wedge too :)

just because someone gets paid for a gig doesnt mean they dont love the sound!!

choosing to give music away is a totally differant ballgame to not paying people for their work. some of us rely on the extra income it generates - while some rely on it as their SOLE income. should we let them starve just to prove a point?

[TechMouse]

I think doing a gig is a vastly different thing to actually making music.

I definitely think people should get paid for gigs, though of course you're only worth what someone is willing to pay. You may rely on it as your sole income, but people aren't obliged to book you. Being a full-time musician or DJ is a privilege, not a right.

[tocsin]

if someone wants to give away music for free then its nobodies choice but their own.

That's how I've always looked about it. I had a few tracks put out here and there, though I never really looked for that or even cared. Before the internet was accessable to most people I knew at high speeds, I usually just gave the shit away on cassette tape. If someone gave me some cash for it, cool, but I never cared. Ovewr the years, I've heard numerous arguments from others that people likemyself destroyed DJ bookings, made it harder for "real artists" to earn a living, that the only reason I would give something away for free is because nobody would listen otherwise, etc. But, it's all a load of crap. Fact is, I don't really care if people listen to my music. It's certainly fun when people do and they enjoy it. But, that was never really the main motivation for doing it. Most of the stuff I've done was made for myself to listen to on long drives, which was pretty much every day for work. At the moment, when I do finish a track here and there, I give it away for free. I couldn't care less that other people charge for music. I don't think there's any greater indication of love for what one does based on whether or not they constantly charge for it. Frankly, I think the back and forth you seen between people who make camps out of it is more reflective of personal creative insecurity than anything else. And people who think they are owed something for free on a consumer level are just spoilt children with contempt for artists.

[rhythmtech]

people are never obliged to book you - same as an employer is never obliged to give you a job.. but if they do, unless you state otherwise, you would expect to be paid.

[davethedrummer]

it's not a tricky one at all in my mind.

no- you shouldn't give it away for free , people should enjoy paying for it , they should think it's totally worth it and get a buzz from paying for their favourite tracks

if all free music stopped overnight and everyone had to pay do you think there would be rioting in the streets?

no- i don't

they would just bloody pay and thats what i wish would happen.