‘Music is like water’ is a popular theory amongst a great deal of music makers and consultants. The theory goes something like this: Music should be free; it always was. Music was shared around the campfire, part of family life and the wider community. Then people came along and packaged that free art and sold it for a price, rather like tap water and mineral water (which actually costs more than beer).
It’s a nice idea and effectively communicates the concept that artists should consider giving away their recorded music to help earn more money from live performance. However, I believe it is not interpreted quite so appropriately by some people and the effect is that they treat all recorded music this way and feel it shouldn’t be paid for – hence some people’s excuse for illegal file sharing.
Music isn’t like water anymore nor can it be. Music sold for money is a fact that we live with and should not be forgotten; it supports a number of workers whether it is from a global brand or an artists’ own label. Not many people would advocate the closing down of every producer of premium mineral water with the loss of jobs and more. Why should we hasten the demise of music producers big and small by treating music like water? Whilst the actions of some long established record companies to overprice recorded music and not release cherished old recordings is reprehensible, it doesn’t excuse the way that many have downloaded music for free and infringed copyrights on a massive scale.
This stems, I believe from the attitude of many (including some members of my family) that music making is not a proper job and is considered an unsuitable way to earn money. The training and skills acquired by musicians take years to develop and are constantly having to be updated. Lawyers don’t usually face these issues, yet the professions have been around for a similar length of time. For many years musicians have been earning money from music that they have written, performed and recorded. The other money that comes from music sold to consumers supports a wider array of businesses including photography, graphic design, printing etc. When you treat music as a free commodity, you are denying a great many people a chance of earning money from a set of hard acquired skills. When you next download an album with the mistaken belief that it really should be free, stop and think about the number of creators that have produced that recording and the path it has taken to get to you.
Do you download music illegally? Do you purchase music every time? What do you think? I would like to know what you think, especially if you feel I am wrong or have missed the point.
I had never heard “music is like water,” but of course the only free water is rainwater or whatever you find in a pond or stream. Who drinks that? You can drink from a fountain without paying for it, but that water has been processed and purified. Someone is paying for it.
Copying or downloading music (printed or recorded) without paying for it is more like tapping into someone else’s electricity or phone service. It’s stealing. Someone has to pay for it. If everyone steals it instead, after a while there won’t be anything worthwhile to steal.