Internet piracy and P2P file sharing

Recent news items, legal cases and the ongoing debate has lead me to formulate what I think about file sharing and hopefully clarify the issues for those that need it.

What is it?

When people copy or rip their CD’s and other media onto their computer and then make it available using a file sharing system like the old Napster , Limewire, BitTorrent and others using peer-to-peer technology.

What is wrong with it?

In the UK, when you purchase music on CD, vinyl or even cassette you have the right to enjoy it at home.  You may not broadcast it on the radio without paying PPL the appropriate royalty and you may not make copies and distribute either for free or for money.  You may not even make up a mixtape of your favourite songs and give them to a friend.  However, as you can tell, these copyright infringements are hard to police and very small scale.  The creation of a mixtape is an act of a fan and record companies/rights holders seem to tolerate this.

Compare this to taking the entire back catalogue of Fleetwood Mac and sharing it using the BitTorrent system – see here for a search result from www.isohunt.com – and you can see that this has gone from the work of a fan to a more organised and wholesale distribution, that is unauthorised, to anyone in the world.  Compared to downloading films taken on a camcorder in the cinema with its fuzzy video and audio and people getting in the way, the quality issue is different with audio.  These tracks are perfect digital copies, well organised and the next best thing to havng the original CD’s.

These massive unauthorised distributions cause several problems.  The record company has a lost sale and cannot recoup the money invested in the project, although the risk is usually born by the musicians anyway.  The musicians lose revenue.  The system of A&R, recording, promotion and sale is disrupted.

Conversely, there are also positive effects.  The musicians gain new fans and retain old ones.  More people listen to more music.  Record companies aren’t able to lock up back catalogue any longer if someone digitises an old cut and share it.  Music becomes democratised.

What I believe

File sharing of copyright material without the permission of the copyright holder is illegal and should not happen.  However, the benefits of file sharing being able to develop your fan base is so attractive that copyright holders should consider that free tracks distributed via peer-to-peer should be made a part of their marketing strategy.

My advice to many musicians who aren’t signed to a record deal and aren’t planning an arena tour of the USA soon is that whatever choices they make, they should be informed choices.  There are ways of sharing your music digitally that help you to retain control.  I use the DEWPLAYER plugin on this and other websites to allow people to listen to music for free, but they cannot download the file easily.

Remember, if you give away your music, someone might listen to it and isn’t that what you got into the business for in the first place?