What's Your Opinion on Your Music Being Pirated?

[Greg Savage]

I personally don't care about it. There are ways of making money even when being bootlegged. Infact a lot of these labels are setting up/investing in a lot of these sites that offer their material free and get paid right off the traffic alone(mostly investing) that's why you'll find a hand full of them saying they support it. App companies caught onto it very early.

Sometimes the artist themselves are involved too. They end up making $1.00 per dl or click( just an estimation) wich is way more than their .10 -15 cents per album sale. if you like i can go into a long indepth process on how this works pm me if you re interested.

 

[krysolite]

u really think they get paid like that. i mean from those sites not making profits off other people downloading their stuff. well they would make money after they get the traffic from advertisers. so u think they would pay up 10 cents per download of a certain file? that's pretty steep imo.
but i did hear that certain software companies create some serials so people can use them with unlimited use. (as a bootleg).

 

[Greg Savage]

u really think they get paid like that. i mean from those sites not making profits off other people downloading their stuff. well they would make money after they get the traffic from advertisers. so u think they would pay up 10 cents per download of a certain file? that's pretty steep imo.
but i did hear that certain software companies create some serials so people can use them with unlimited use. (as a bootleg).

I don't think this I know this been seeing it for years. It really got big with torrent sites too.

 

[Sucio]

Well...

Here's my take...

You're coming up...(I'm assuming you're not signed to anything, since you're pushing your own EP). You're still coming up with the costs of pressing the album and in turn hoping to make profit off the sales....

Ok...

I personally don't think you're popular enough to not be able to sell your EP due to the fact these people are downloading the track. (if I'm wrong, please forgive me and correct me)

Most people haven't and won't hear of you until they buy your album. I'm sure they're not going to randomly look you up as an artist... You're not going to be selling this album on a large scale to any international markets....so if your name does come up on some search by some kid in Cambodia, and the kid downloads the EP and likes it, he will probably keep looking you up. Maybe the kid will like it enough that he will look for your site and buy it off the net from you..

Basically...if it's not hurting your EP sales, then I'd let all these people download it.

I didn't read any comments prior to typing this so...... If I repeat something that has already been said, bare with me.

 

[Elgen]

Thanks for the opinions guys.

Also, Cell, I'll send you a download link, artwork etc when I get the chance. Cheers for the help!

 

[Cell 2Dee]

Thanks for the opinions guys.

Also, Cell, I'll send you a download link, artwork etc when I get the chance. Cheers for the help!

No worries, I'll link you after I've posted it up on seperate sites.

 

[Relic]

Well...

Here's my take...

You're coming up...(I'm assuming you're not signed to anything, since you're pushing your own EP). You're still coming up with the costs of pressing the album and in turn hoping to make profit off the sales....

Ok...

I personally don't think you're popular enough to not be able to sell your EP due to the fact these people are downloading the track. (if I'm wrong, please forgive me and correct me)

Most people haven't and won't hear of you until they buy your album. I'm sure they're not going to randomly look you up as an artist... You're not going to be selling this album on a large scale to any international markets....so if your name does come up on some search by some kid in Cambodia, and the kid downloads the EP and likes it, he will probably keep looking you up. Maybe the kid will like it enough that he will look for your site and buy it off the net from you..

Basically...if it's not hurting your EP sales, then I'd let all these people download it.

I didn't read any comments prior to typing this so...... If I repeat something that has already been said, bare with me.

This is true to an extent. You should be able to sell cd's out the trunk still.

 

[Sucio]

^ of course but for the guy that lives 100 miles away.....if he never sees the actual CD...and he happens to come across it online....That's another ear that hears your music....And who knows who that person is?

Bottom line is....sell what you can locally and on the net...and whoever downloads your shit let them download...It's not like they're really taking money out of your pocket.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Do the tracks use cleared samples? Or are they composed?

If a track uses uncleared samples then its as much theft you using the sample as it is the people downloading it.
If they are composed then you should get yourself membership to a copyright protection group, like ASCAP.
Here in the UK we have the PRS and MCPS. Without such protection from theives you really dont have much to prevent it.
At the end of the day you can do all that and still get pirated, its the modern digital world we live in.
In which case, as long as someone doesnt steal your shit and sell it as theirs, then its publicity instead of profit.
If you have registered a track with the copyright protection group, then in this case you have proof of creation date and ownership. Otherwise you really have nothing that stands up in court, as creation dates can be altered.

 

[God]

(I simply read the first page of this post and decided to respond)

Artists or their management have been known to leak their work on torrent sites to make it look like there's a grassroots appeal to their music, since pirate sites lend a populist credibility to an artist. It's interesting when a signed artist then speaks out against pirate sites, even though their manager leaked the album on a site like Pirate Bay.

If you're not making royalties off your music or are unsigned - it's probably a good idea to have your music heard by as many people as possible through torrents and other such forms of musical conveyance (considering you have your copyright/legal bases covered first.)

Anything giving you a competitive advantage helps in such a competitive industry.

 

[Griffin Avid]

I guess I'll be the one person to disagree.
The OP asked "What's Your Opinion on Your Music Being Pirated? "

My own music? Not with it. As far as free "advertising from pirate sites" I think that's what singles and free samples are for. The whole album isn't available as a "free sample"

Downloads are sketchy. Some are downloading just because. Many download and don't even listen because your tracks(s) popped up under whatever search criteria they put in.

In 2009, your record is available for purchase everywhere in every format and you can hear the first 30 seconds of every song on the album. You don't need the whole album to figure out if the music is right for you.

The most pirated songs are still the most known and popular songs.
So I don't know how true that argument was/is for breaking in by being a popular illegal download.

And to be honest, a lot of those pirate-site-lovin surfers don't do more for the artist besides download their music. Now if all that downloading traffic was generating traffic for your commercially run site, then yeah, I guess there'd be a trade off.

At best, the artists site's main money maker is the albums they already downloaded for free before going there.

In my last discussion about this, the counter argument was that it's the same old system just magnified because of the internet.
You give your singles away to sell your album. Now you give THIS album away to sell the next one.

 

[Shonsteez]

In this day and age I believe its enevitable whether u like it or not. Bottom line is - people will find a way! If anything it seems like these days if your really trying to make money off your music you need to be looking into other outlets to promote yourself, ie. Merch, Touring, etc.....and the fact that heads are digging u in the first place and going the length of stealing your album off the net really can only help build your fanbase.

 

[slik da relic]

i havent read all the posts... but i'll just say this... dont expect nothin but LOVE on ur 1st album... u gotta use that to build ur resume... then u can start building on that momentum on ur 2nd jumpoff... but if u take the same steps u did the 1st time with no changes, ur gonna get burned again... it could take a few albums to get it rite honestly... someone's gotta get u in stores... but the internet is a mothafukka!

da relic

 

[Griffin Avid]

I hear you, but all those other outlets are still the same grind. In other words "expect to make no money off your first tour" It's the same blueprint where you have to keep hitting them and let your buzz build to the point of "Everytime I come across this cat, he's on point. Yeah, I'll cop his piece." That could be years.....if even.

I just think for the cats that download it's a habit or part of their music-getting culture. Soon as they catch wind you got something out, what do they do? Go the USUAL PLACE they get music from. Why would they suddenly go get an iTunes account and pay for it when it's a click away?

Back in the day, there was a chance they would see an album someplace and be inspired to cop. Mainly because it's right there in front of you and that's an impuse buy kind of thing.

When was the last time any of us were in a music store looking at albums?
I remember scanning the racks for NEW ARTISTS...I once bought an album because the cover was mad ill. It was the Deceptacon Logo and nothing else. 12 inch. Took that $5.00 dollar risk and the cat was ill. Wouldn't happen now. I'd see that same album cover as a jpeg and Google away....then maybe [music sharing site] would be next...

Or even youtube where I could hear the song by watching a video or visit his myspace page to hear the whole joint. So instead of a $5 dollar purchase he got my Friend Request and one more Play Count.

 

[Shonsteez]

Sign of the times my friend.
As an aspiring Engineer/Producer as well i feel your pain but i figure better to acknowledge the reality of the situation then deny whats going to happen.

Music is becoming more and more less profitable for the people who make it as technology and our culture changes....just the way it is I guess.....

My advice: Have a backup plan and another grind on the side otherwise your fucked.

 

[slik da relic]

only thing u can do at this point is have a tour and book shows... u gotta sell ur CD at tha club.

da relic

 

[MagnaOpera]

^ bing bing bing! from what I understand an artist's bread and butter is shows anyways, and since pirating is so commonplace the best you can do is hope that people who downloaded your album will like it enough to go see one of your shows.

 

[Griffin Avid]

I think thy would rather download/ stream the concert footage too! You'd need a lot of exposure to make those downloads translate into concert goers. People at shows tend to be fans. Tour and show money was alaws considered the artists true paycheck. Funny how - soonas the artist was able to tap into sales directly, that revenue stream died.