Distribution and Piracy. A Rant.
| Written by: | BitterCOld |
| Published: | 30.11.2011 |
(edit! if you cannot read more than a whopping 300 words without changing the channel, skip to the end. that's the important part of the article. if you cannot make it to the crux and insist on commenting, i will mock you. unrepentantly. )
So by this point we are all pretty aware of how piracy and illegal downloading are killing the record industry. The labels won't shut up about it... but their points make sense. The less revenue a label is seeing for an investment the more it hinders the ability to sign other acts or even continue to work with current ones. You cannot fault a label for merely wanting to break even.
And while some of you might get your rocks off about "sticking it to the man" when you download something illegally, the reality is how many of these bands are on mean and nasty major labels like Sony? How many are on labels run out of an office the size of my garage?
I'd bet that most metal labels are run by metal fans who want to make enough money to put out more metal. If they were in it for the cash, they'd have ditched the distortion pedal in favor of auto-tune long ago.
And the "well, the band only gets $1 per cd" argument is bullshit too. The cut that goes to the label is to help cover the cost of recording and promoting the album. If a label puts $5,000 into recording and promoting an album (a completely arbitrary figure), but only gets $1,000 back, how likely are they to piss away another couple thousand dollars on a follow-up album? How likely are they to just cut ties altogether?
And if they lose money hand over fist on several acts, how likely are they to invest in new artists?
and to RAWR is metal.
So I am an ardent supporter of, erm, supporting both artists that make good music as well as labels that sign/put out the albums of artists that make good music.
However what chaps my hide is the whining about piracy in the current technological and ethical environment and yet sticking to antiquated distribution systems.
In this day and age, I find it a reasonable request to have timely access to a new release that has already dropped across the pond. I do not see why there is all too often a 30 day discrepancy.
Enslaved's latest, Axioma Ethica Odini dropped the 27th of September in Europe and a day later in the US. Hooray. Timely access! It can be done!
Yet all too often the gaps between release dates are absurd. You can laugh at my (clearly illustrated) plight in the thread for Candlemass' Death Magic Doom. The album drops April 3rd of 2009, Lucas gets his review published April 15th, and I post how I cannot wait for it's eventual US release... and two weeks later quote myself again, still waiting and wondering. Thanks to Ivan's handy dandy album purchase tracker, you can see I didn't get it until May 6th. And I made weekly pilgrimages to the local shop, hoping for it. A full month and change later.
There have been several other cases through time, and even now with the latest Oranssi Pazuzu. Mr. Doctor has had it since the 26th of October. (Fuck you and your afro too, Roddy!) I checked again today, a month and change later, and not only is it not yet available in the States, it won't be for another three weeks. Hell, it'd be quicker if I sent Marcel $25, had him buy it in the Netherlands, hire a glass blower to encase it in a wine bottle, launch it into the Atlantic, have Dismal Euphony wait for it to wash up in Boston Harbor, and then hire a couple homing pigeons carry it in a net and fly it the remaining 3,000 miles to my house.
The gap is so massive, even an ardent supporter of paying for music like me is about to crack and give in. And if I'm going to break, it likely means the folks who sit on the "Download or Buy?" fence did a while ago. You'll never see a dime out of them. And if the price is $27, as Amazon currently lists it, you might not get mine as well...
I can understand with smaller labels and bands (the Pazuz) that there might be difficulties in being high on the priority list for overseas distributors (there shouldn't for that latest Candlemass)... leading to delays, but don't just sit there flat footed.
Do something to make your fucking music available in the interim. Put it up on iTunes. Put it up on Spotify. Make it available for (PAID) download straight from both the band and label sites.
Put yourself in a position to where you don't fuel the easy out for the "I deserve a trophy for showing up" generation. Because to the youth of today (your largest target demographic), the choice between illegally downloading a copy or waiting a month to fork over cash to hear it is not a terribly difficult one. Particularly when the culture has already painted you "greedy" record execs (currently struggling to get by) as Fat Cats who are morally acceptable targets.
 | Written on 30.11.2011 by BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. |
Comments
| 4look4rd The Sasquatch Posts: 834 From: USA  |
I used to pirate a lot of albums but I have almost stopped thanks to Spotify and the likes. My problem with buying music is that its so hard to find it locally, and its very tempting to just pirate rather than fork $10 for an iTunes download. The Spotify model works for me because it has quite a lot of the bands that I listen to, and there is always youtube for my random obscure obsessions. Right now I only buy albums that I really like most of them are on the Vinyl format and very few are metal releases (I also buy a lot of DVDs). There is also the excuse that very few albums are worth owning. I can count on my fingers the heavy metal CDs that I can listen and say that all of the songs are worth listening to. Whenever I buy CDs I do it because I want to support my favorite bands and because of the artwork, however most of the time I never get the CD out of its case (unless I need it for a car ride), I just go online and listen to it on Spotify (320kbps MP3 is very close to CD quality anyway) or pirate it because its a lot more convenient than the physical media. I think that the main problem lies in business model itself. I would love to be able to buy an album online and instantly get a link to the download. I would really appreciate if I could buy just the album booklet from a retailer. But what I really want is for labels to provide more value for buying their albums (perhaps promotional stuff or even collectibles). Honestly if labels included a Q&A booklet or perhaps an interview conducted by the label themselves I would feel a little more inclined to purchase more music.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Posts: 21306 From: Canada  |
I pirate because I have no money. All the excess cash I made when I worked went directly to album purchases, and as soon as I make more money I'll be doing the same thing. Pretty much the only reason I want to be rich. To buy albums. 
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Posts: 15250  |
Written by Guest on 30.11.2011 at 20:38 labels decide whether or not to release their music on Spotify, not the consumer, even if the immediate return is trivial. oh. and it is legal. if you are worried about artist compensation - BUY THE RECORD AND/OR MERCH. i suspect most arguing about low returns from Spotify simply are looking to justify pirating a release for free. if an indy artist or a label (see Earache and Gama Bomb) wants to make their music available for free, that is their call and is fine.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands  |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 30.11.2011 at 20:23 So you also steal bread, gas, electricity, drinks etc.? 
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Posts: 21306 From: Canada |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 30.11.2011 at 20:53 No, recently I've been living with my parents so I haven't had to buy my own stuff. I'm moving back home to start working and living on my own again, so I'll be able to buy albums. Even when I paid my own bills and worked for minimum wage, I still managed to buy a few albums every week. I know it's not a big contribution, but percentage-wise it was pretty significant considering how little I made.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Posts: 18274 From: Sweden  |
Feels nice to be in your thoughts Craig hahahahaha Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 30.11.2011 at 20:53 I think he means that after buying bread, gas, electricity, drinks and sutff for the house... he doesn't have anything left to buy cds. But yeah, your comment was mostly a joke question but whatever. Back on topic: I try to buy as much as I can, I know I have zero problem with buying and I download just the stuff I know I'm going to buy at some point or when the album is just not easy to find here.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Posts: 11835 From: Portugal  |
I buy a lot of original albums. As I said a few times, I've spent A LOT of money on CDs already. I like them and I do it to support the bands. When I don't have a lot to spend, I download. I also download because it is convenient sometimes. But I do feel bad when I do that. The thing is I still don't earn as much money as it would allow me to buy all the CDs I want to own. But I do other stuff, like hunting bargains and the lowest prices. Sometimes I wait a few months until the prices are lower. Download is a temptation though 
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| Mindheist No Longer Human Posts: 618 From: Tunisia  |
I actually do a little bit of both. I download the album and see whether or not it's worth-purchasing. If it is, I buy it, if it's not I don't. It's not even a question of money, downloading is for me another way of getting an idea about the album's worth. I remember when Nile had put their entire album Ithyphallic for streaming, I didn't even download it. I listened to it online and then, even though I wasn't completely satisfied, I went out and bought it. You don't want your albums to get leaked and downloaded? Fine, stop being so cheap and let listeners try before they buy. I'm not saying that this will stop the online piracy, because let's face it, it won't. I'm just saying that this will considerably decrease its rate.
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| jupitreas hi-fi / lo-life Posts: 6659 From: Poland  |
Ah piracy. I think there is a huge misunderstanding going on here. Piracy has always existed and always will exist. People have been copying tapes, recording TV shows and sharing these illegal copies with their friends ever since technology allowed for them to do this. There is nothing anyone can do about this and there is no need to - such piracy, based on simply sharing good stuff with close friends, is marginal and probably fairly beneficial to content makers who reach people they might otherwise have never reached. The Piracy with a capital P that is 'ruinging the music industry' at the moment is a completely different matter in my opinion. It is a manifestation of the difficulties that the music industry has with adapting to modern technology. Physical distribution is completely pointless these days. There is absolutely no reason to mass-produce CDs because this distribution method is too slow and too inconvenient for most people, who are used to instant gratification on the Internet. I haven't bought a single CD in about 5 years. I don't need them. I don't want them either - they are a waste of space. For at least the past 15 years or so, the first thing I'd do with a CD is I'd rip it onto my computer and never touch it again. Now I'm stuck with hundreds of coasters littering my attic. I do pay for music though. I download legal albums whenever possible and I pay for subscriptions to Spotify'esque services. I buy merchandise and I pay for concert tickets. I even donate symbolic sums to bands that are kind enough to release their music for free. Its a paradigm shift we're dealing with here and people are struggling with it everywhere in the industry. Labels stick to distributing CDs when they really should embrace online distribution and see how it can be made to be more profitable than it currently is. Every part of the industry is affected - Billboard is only now finally trying to recognize digital sales as a contribution to how much an album sells over all. The huge piracy we are dealing with right now is not a result of malicious attempts made by evil thieves to kill off those 'evil' music labels. It is a hint that people simply want more convenience now. Particularly young people who are becoming consumers right now and who have no sentimental attachment to the physical mediums of the past. If the industry embraces online digital distribution properly, it will be able to survive this change. In the meantime, there are already many examples of modern, smart bands who don't even bother with being on a label. They release their music for free or for a small, reasonable amount and their music speaks for itself. They engage in innovative promotion (see Tesseract's Subway viral video as an example) and in the end, this gets them famous enough to ensure that touring is profitable for them. This is the future and if other bands went this way instead of relying on the antiquated notion that some super-label will instantly make them famous, piracy will once again become a marginal issue.
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| Lit. Account deleted |
Lit.
Account deleted
I pirate for 3 reasons: 1. Not enough money. This doesn't stop me though. Lately I've been buying to "test-drive" albums instead of buying them then not listening to them and thus wasting my money. If I like it, I buy it. If I don't, off it goes. I'm also a firm supporter of supporting new and upcoming bands So I buy them. As I said one other time, my love for collecting CD's comes before my lust to download. 2. Not enought selection where I'm from. I'm from a quant little town in the US called Erie. To quote Mr. Skywalker: "If there's a bright spot in the galaxy, you're on the planet it's farthest from." Thankfully, however, I recently found this store with an AMAZING selection of Metal CDs. So... this point's kind of nullified. 3. I wanna be like this guy when I grow up: 
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| vezzy Stallmanite Posts: 3493 From: Bulgaria  |
If I had to submit to the RIAA/MPAA/Activision way of things (buy everything, do not download, do not share), I'd still be playing six-year old games, listening to the same classic rock CD collections over and over again and watching the same old films. I'll have none of that, so I torrent/download in general a lot. I'm on the warez scene's side in the Copyfight. What's the point of the internet if we can't share information to its fullest extent? I've even uploaded a few torrents myself, because like our moms always thought us, sharing is caring.
---- Licensed under the GPLv3. Relinquish proprietary software for a greater GNU/America.
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| albinoman Posts: 11 From: New Zealand  |
Living in New Zealand, it is pretty much impossible to buy metal CDs. In shops you might find a Disturbed album or Lamb of God but that is pretty much it. It's a pain in the arse waiting two weeks to a month to get CDs you've ordered online, so I tend to download and get albums I really like from iTunes
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| Milena gloom cookie Posts: 4603 From: Norway  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 30.11.2011 at 20:58 That's a common situation in Serbia, where after buying stuff for house not much is left for anything. But you can get by... now that we finally have an internet store here that ships a lot of underground metal releases, and they don't have to come from god-knows-where, it's cheaper... but when the average salary is around 400 euros, and you're an unemployed student, you'll find those 15-20 euros you have to pay for a CD quite hard to justify to your parents or whoever gives you allowance. I didn't give up the notion of buying CDs, so my boyfriend and me are gonna save money together for our fave albums, seeing how we have similar tastes. You can always get by, and if you don't buy CDs, you can still buy merchandise (which is a lot easier to explain to your parents, especially if they like metal shirts, like my mom does) and support your local scene by going to gigs, which I love doing.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| RisenFromRuins Posts: 2 From: Australia  |
Massive respect for going out of your way to listen to metal in places were it's not that easy to get your hands on. One big way we can support bands that will never die out is to see them live, shit, even showing some love to free local metal shows at the pub.
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| Baz Anderson Posts: 13237 From: UK  |
I think Jerry's forward looking post is pretty accurate. Vinyls and tapes aren't widely used, and CDs are going in that direction. The future is fast-paced and digital, people want what they buy instantly, and everything must be convenient. The idea of someone sitting in their armchair with their record player on is gone, people listen to music on the move and there just isn't the need for the physical item any more, aside from sentiments and collections.
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Posts: 15250 |
Written by Baz Anderson on 30.11.2011 at 23:50 Vinyls are on the rise thanks to collectors, but yes, the rest of the model is dying. i acknowledge that. the point of my rant is that at a time when pirating music is of grave concern to labels, many are not embracing technology. if spinefarm cannot get a physical copy of a CD to me within 7 weeks of releasing it in Finland, they should at least utilize technology to find a solution that includes them... i.e. allowing me to download it from their site for $10. putting it up on Spotify US as a teaser in the interim... at least then i have access. instead the label's lack of action encourages me to engage in the very behavior that labels rail against. their inability to adapt is not only hurting from those who are fine with just illegally downloading stuff, but those who would otherwise buy shit legitimately. to go further on what Jupe said, the "Everyone gets a trophy for showing up" generation wants their shit, wants their shit now, and wants their shit for free. providing an electronic access when physical copies are not yet available solves at least the "we want our this now" side, and if up on spotify, is as close to "free" as possible. and as for the piracy bit, i have stated repeatedly on this board that it is more or less directed at those of us living in Western Europe or North America, where we have both a higher general standard of living and ready access. Even in "Erie", you can mail order shit, no? I get half my doom disks from Psychedoomelic, which is overseas. yeah, if your country is "Third World", the standards don't apply. download away.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Milena gloom cookie Posts: 4603 From: Norway |
Written by BitterCOld on 01.12.2011 at 00:05 What if we still feel bad about it? The whole world is slowly sinking into third world standard anyway. I think everyone should find some money to support at least a band or two. And having physical evidence of your purchase is wonderful by itself. I personally won't be really turned on to buying stuff when it all becomes digitalized - I have no emotion for files on my computer. When your purchase comes with a physical "award", if I may call it so, it's really worth it.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| jupitreas hi-fi / lo-life Posts: 6659 From: Poland |
Written by BitterCOld on 01.12.2011 at 00:05 Exactly. What I meant to say was that the problem is that to labels, the CD is still the primary method of distribution, when it really shouldn't be anymore. Physical mediums should be manufactured in limited amounts and only aimed at collectors. The priority of any label that wants to be relevant in today's (and tomorrow's) world should be to release it worldwide online. The technology is already here, why not make use of it?
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Posts: 15250 |
Written by Milena on 01.12.2011 at 00:14 i, too, buy stuff still. i cling. partially out of duty to support an artist, partially for the cool little booklet i can look at and read, and partially because i've had my hard drive melt and lost everything. at least with Spotify, my playlists (that THEY also have) are preserved. It was a bitch ripping 700 cd's when i got the new D:, but at least I still had something to rip.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Milena gloom cookie Posts: 4603 From: Norway |
Written by BitterCOld on 01.12.2011 at 00:24 Now you've got me thinking - how long do CDs last anyway? Some people say even the best quality ones can't last over 10 years without a big decrease in quality of sound, and hard drives can fail you at the nastiest of moments... though I couldn't imagine ripping the 100+ GB of music I currently have on my computer to a bunch of CDs anyway, so I'll have to depend on my luck with that.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Thyroid Posts: 62 From: Finland  |
Piracy has changed music industry for sure. Pros: + The variety of bands is bigger than ever, little bands that are excellent has easier way to make themselves known. + ... which leads to amount of audience in gigs and tours for those small groups. Band doesn't have to sell millions to have succesful tour. + Music lover has access to thousands of albums, don't have to listen only those ten that you can afford. Goes without saying, that impacts everybody's musical taste - shit is more hard to sell these days. You have to be unique, and excellent. The quality of music has grown - and don't let early days of bm/dm/thrash fool you, those genres were young and seeking their form. Thats why so many old school albums sounds so fresh and exciting even nowdays. Instead, give a thought about late 90's when those genres were 10-15 years old.... so much crap, from so many used-to-be excellent bands. Copycat-crap, commercial crap, trendy-crap. Cons: - Record labels make less money, so less money goes to advertising, music videos, and big concerts. Stadium bands is kinda dying. There's only relics left, like Iron Maiden for example. Where are new fucking AWESOME stadium bands, that you just want to see? Metallica, Iron Maiden, AC/DC did huge gigs in 1980's. Those same bands are the biggest metal acts in 2010's.... there's something very wrong in this picture. - Starting musicians may have popularity in internet - but they still have to do too damn much themselves. Organize gigs, carry shitloads of equipments, try to keep their daywork, train hard and find some creativity to compose good music. Support from record labels is so much smaller, and that goes as long as certain amount of people find their ways to gigs and profits are big enough to cover costs. Record label's support is most important in the beginning of very promising band - of course later too, but musicians should be given change to concentrate to music, and music only best possible way. - mp3:s.... they are boring, and they lack character. You don't get easily attached or falling love to bunch of files and directories - comparing to your very own record collection, with awesome album art, even smell and memories when you first open the records and listened to music... while reading the lyrics on the recordsheet. I guess there are only 3 things that music industry can do. 1. Make the product so excellent, that you have to buy it. And I mean product - album itself is a piece of art. Think about Beatles Sgt.Pepper's, of Pink Floyd Dark Side of Moon. Support VINYLS. Drop prices about 1/3. 2. Make digital music drm-free, reasonable price, and very easy to get. 3. Raise the prices of concert tickets. I hate to say it, because this feels like shooting my own leg. But I would pay easily 100 euros for a Bolt Thrower concert ticket. Just for an example. If some band I so much adore come to Finland, I find a way to see it - even if I should rob my grandmother.
---- My belt holds up my pants and my pants have belt loops that hold up the belt. What the fuck's really goin on down there? Who is the real hero? 
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| jupitreas hi-fi / lo-life Posts: 6659 From: Poland |
Written by BitterCOld on 01.12.2011 at 00:24 A good idea is to backup your music collection online. There are many websites offering this functionality.
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Posts: 15250 |
Written by jupitreas on 01.12.2011 at 00:43 "cloud" stuff will change this, undoubtedly, making simple machine failure less catastrophic. as will my COWON mp3 player, which, unlike iTax stuff, allows me to move shit back over.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| jupitreas hi-fi / lo-life Posts: 6659 From: Poland |
Written by BitterCOld on 01.12.2011 at 00:45 Aye. Also, simply buying an extra hard drive for backup purposes isn't exactly a huge expense.
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| Jason W. Razorbliss Posts: 3523 From: USA  |
I don't see physical formats ever going away completely, as there are lots of collectors, like myself (and other super-collectors on this site) who know well enough buying $7 of MP3s or flac files is by far the best decision compared with importing a physical CD from Austria or Italy and paying $20 or more for it. But I love the physical connection with music (AND movies), and like the visual aspect of shelves of my favorite bands & films. But, Jerry is totally right that labels need to continue to realize that digital distribution is already the heart of music now, and need to find ways to keep people purchasing albums, with extra features, contests, whatever they think up. I also have found that what this article is about, the unnecessary delays in release dates needs to go, at least in regards to digital files. Physical CDs, well, I don't mind waiting, but do feel I should have some access to a set of MP3s as part of the purchase for incurring those delays (if that makes sense?). If I order a CD that's not available for a month, why not toss me a set of files to listen to until I get the package I want as a collector? I recall doing this a few times and it was well worth the extra shipping I paid to import a disc from Finland, or an extra few $$ to wait for the band to ship it my way when they print them. In regards to downloading, I used to do it quite a lot in the original Napster days, but the quality is so obviously not perfect most of the time, I quit doing it awhile back. I love my music enough to only want top tier quality, not the crap MP3s that either promo releases from labels or incompetent users toss online now. 
---- "After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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| Butters49 Posts: 208 From: Canada  |
Piracy is 100% legal in sweden, im pretty sure. People make and distribute music there because they want to. not because of profit motive. but it is alot easier to record and distribute your own music now-adays, very inexpensively.
---- "Sataaaaaaaaan. Yeah yeah!" -King Diamond
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| jupitreas hi-fi / lo-life Posts: 6659 From: Poland |
Written by Jason W. on 01.12.2011 at 00:56 http://mp3ornot.com/
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| Butters49 Posts: 208 From: Canada |
AND I have heard that bands make a majority of their money touring, selling merch, etc. you cant pirate a good time at a show with your favorite bands!
---- "Sataaaaaaaaan. Yeah yeah!" -King Diamond
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