Should music be given away free?

[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 ;-)