In the interest of disclosing my potential biases, my band (The Pariahs) is on Neil Leyton’s Fading Ways label and I am a good friend of Neil’s. Having said that, my take on this issue is not quite the same as Neil’s, and may interest some.

First of all, I do not belive that Neil’s views and those of the (many) people who attack him are mutually exclusive. Basically the dispute boils down to this: Neil maintains that free sharing of music over the web can help artists, and that restrictive copywrite laws would hurt them. His opponents believe that the opposite is true.

I see many debates between those who believe that every free download equals a lost sale and those that think that file trading helps record sales. What’s the truth? I don’t pretend to know – probably someplace in the middle. However, I would argue that this debate is essentially beside the point. File-trading is here to stay. I see no reason to believe that lawsuits or technical restrictions will stop it – so far the traders are running rings around the record companies. How should musicians and indie record labels deal with this phenomenon?

You notice that I do not mention the question of how major labels should react. That is because I don’t care. My band will never be signed to a major label. Therefore, when Neil Leyton and Fading Ways are attacked by industry types because our tiny operation is allegedly contributing to the downfall of the ability of artists to make money from their work, I just laugh. I don’t care about the traditional business model for selling CDs. It never made me any money – I was locked out of it, like most musicians.

You might argue that Fading Ways (and myself) could make more money in the old indie environment of the 80s and 90s when digital copying was not an issue. Perhaps this is true. But waxing nostalic about the “good old days” does not help us succeed now. If file trading IS stamped out some day by technological or legal change, then this would be a discussion worth having. In any case, our actions will not influence the outcome either way, so we may as well follow our immediate interests now.

In the meantime, a small label like Fading Ways can make use of digital copying to dramatically enhance the exposure of its artists. For instance, FW distributes “Share Sampler” CDs of music that is copywrited under Creative Commons and is legal to copy and distribute. People are encouraged to share the songs in any way they care to. They like this. For a very small indie label, the challenge is not that people are stealing the music without paying -the challenge is that nobody has heard of the acts in the first place.

Major labels have a different problem. They spend millions of dollars trying to convince everybody on the planet that they really need to listen to their latest assembly-line megastar. Then people who have been exposed to this expensive media barrage can just go download the music for free. Is this a problem? Yes. Is it MY problem? Nope!

Let’s say 100 people hear about The Pariahs through sharing, but only ten buy our record. Is this ten new sales or ninety lost sales? Given that for years we pretty much only sold records to people who had seen us live, this scenario is a big improvement in my view.

Old-school record companies are being squeezed by two factors, both caused by digital technology. It used to be that unless you were independently wealthy, you needed a record deal to make a professional quality recording. This is no longer the case. It used to be that you needed major label clout to make your music widely available -this is no longer the case either. What do the majors still control? Access to mainstream media. Oops – mainstream media is now so tightly formatted and limited in scope that the vast majority of good music would never get played.

Is the record industry doomed? Will all musicians wind up washing dishes because they can’t sell their music? Could be. What can I do about it? Not much. Neither can you. If you work for a big record company, maybe we’ll wind up washing dishes together. Here’s what is different about us: I have no stake in the status quo. I am the kid who has spent his “career” with his nose pressed to the window of the candy store. Now that the glass is smashed and the store is on fire, I might as well help myself to some candy…

Loaf
That guitar player guy from The Pariahs.

Cheers!

Jon, can you get any more input from artists about this whole blow-up?

It would be nice to hear from Indie music artists, and from other creators, as to how they feel about these issues.