Can Pirating Really Kill Music?

Pirating = Death of Music?

Maybe Not!

While some scattered few say piracy helps musicians, its hard to prove this, since we can't exactly look at a musician who has been stolen from a lot, and another who hasn't and compare them, because every musician is different. However, it is not hard to find sources that say piracy will be the death of music, they are everywhere! Kevin Maney in his USA Today article makes some interesting claims. He even makes a few claims that go along with the free distributing argument here made in this blog. He goes on to say that CD's because of pirates are only promotional tools, and artists must depend on merchandise/shows/endorsements to make money, he actually says that a model very similar to what we here have presented may be the music industry of the future, and there may be little to stop it - and believes will be the impending doom of the music industry. However, most of the aspects he is looking at in China are looked at negatively, with one of the closer sentences being ,"Thankfully, not everything about the Chinese music business is likely to come true in the USA." But the marketing scheme given in earlier posts is all about looking at the bright side, and implementing what things can still be taken advantage of, like merchandise and shows, while saying "If piracy is the future," like Kevin Maney suggests, "then we might as well take advantage of what little remaining variables we have." If piracy in the USA heads down the road China has, then there may not be much the music industry can do. Its time for those running the music business to look at what they can control, and take full advantage of that, instead of trying to fight the inevitable in vain. I disagree that piracy is the death of the music industry, it is just another aspect of human action that has yet to be accepted and taken advantage of. If we learn how to use free music distribution to the musicians needs, common grounds can be reached.

Like Norman Lebrecht claims, The Future of Music is Free. While it is uncertain how music will be free and music still thrives in the future, we believe there are many ways music can still be promoted while given out, our idea is just one of the few. It would be beneficial for musicians to start looking into the future of their own marketing system, as the ones who make the first successful moves will be seen as pioneers, and can be very successful if they create their own marketing scheme. We want musicians to be able to make a living while they create songs we enjoy, but to think they will continue to get paid the same way they did before file sharing is keeping your head in the past, which may put you behind.