This week we saw a fascinating debate on music piracy, and it began with a sincere if naïve essay by Emily White, a 21 year-old intern at National Public Radio. In her essay, Emily confesses that, while her music library consists of over 11,000 songs, “I’ve only bought 15 CDs in my lifetime.” The rest are a result of illegal downloads, illegal “gifts” from family and friends, illegal ripping of music from her college radio station. “I honestly don’t think my peers and I will ever pay for albums,” Emily says.
Though Emily has never worked in the music business (but hopes to), she nonetheless has designed in her mind how the music business model ought to work—for her, anyway.
This was a bit too much for David Lowery, a musician and blogger at The Trichordist blog, who penned a thoughtful response to Emily’s essay.
Lowery points out that something ominous is happening to the music business:
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Of the 75,000 albums released in 2010, only 2,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. Only 1,000 sold more than 10,000 copies.
Lowery also deals with the standard justifications for illegally downloading music, such as “it’s OK not to pay for music because record companies rip off artists and do not pay artists anything,” and “artists can make money on the road and selling tee shirts.”
And Lowery points out that people like Emily pay real money for other things they care about, such as smart phones, data plans and Internet access, but not for music, which they claim to love. Lowery then asks the question: Why are you willing to pay for the network and hardware that deliver the music, but not for the music itself?
Time magazine has taken note of this exchange, as has The New York Times. If you’re interested in the impact of IP piracy on those who create culture, you should as well.