The Price of Creativity

I love music; it’s almost an addiction. With my so-called addiction you would think that I spend most of my time in the music stores, anxiously checking in with the clerks about what’s new. Or maybe you’d expect me to be downloading dozens of new releases every Tuesday on iTunes. I don’t do any of that. Searching for free mixtapes, ripping audio content from youtube, and finding albums online is how I get my music. I assume that the majority of my generation does the same thing.

For the consumer, the most obvious benefit of online music sharing is free music. There are some benefits to artists as well:

• Free promo and buzz, especially if your music is good… or really bad.
• Low Production & Distribution Costs. (All you need is some artwork & the digital files).

If your music is given away for free, it’s possible that you could create a new fan base, or at least a fan base that’s larger than what you would have created if your music was only available in stores. To generate income, you would have to rely on touring and selling merchandise. This could provide a decent income to some musicians.

But what if you’re an artist that can’t go on tour? How would you make your money?

Online music sharing really hurts artists that can’t go on tour and sell merchandise. Even bigger name artists are experiencing severe income losses. The behind the scenes people hurt also – songwriters, producers – and everyone else involved in making the music feel as if all of their efforts has gone to waste once a single is “leaked” on youtube.

I’m not sure what my conclusion is in regard to online music sharing. I see that it’s good and that it hurts the artists. While I rarely buy music anymore, I try my best to support good music. Underground music and local music usually receive my monetary support, but some big name artists do as well. When reviewing music, a lot of people categorize music into “download this” vs “buy this”. That should tell you something: Maybe artists should focus their energy on producing quality music that speaks to the soul rather than music that is as temporary as the time it takes to download the file. We’ll see what happens in the coming years. I hope that all parties involved are able to find a balance.

This subject also makes you think about the price of creativity. Some people make millions because of their voices and writing abilities… but are we really supposed to be able to make millions off of that? Let’s give the millions to the people with jobs that are humanitarian in nature. In the digital age, intellectual property is becoming cheapened because it’s so readily available and duplicated. While I think it is wrong to steal from people, sometimes I think it is a good thing that music can simply be stolen. I have a problem with some of these artists making millions for saying ignorant, or maybe just dumb, things. But people love their Souljah Boy...