November Edition

This months Spin Cycle is all about music. For many music is a hobby, job, passion or a combination of the three. For most of us at Connors, there isn't a day that goes by that someone isn't rockin out to their iPod, fingering through Rolling Stone, or over hearing an original track from the next cubicle. This months Spin Cycle will focus on Digital Rights Managed (DRM). DRM's buzz has heightened to more of a loud roar – from New York Times articles to blog posts – everyone has an opinion. The Connors Marketing Team - Gina, Walter and Chris - have each taken a side regarding music downloading. The questions remain, where is the solution and who do you agree with? Vote in this month's poll.

Our Technology-Given Right - Gina Bolotinsky

As technology advances, ethics begin to creep into our lives in a way we never imagined. Some think that downloading music for free is unethical. Well, I think the way in which the music industry has taken advantage of us is unethical.

You do know that it costs less than one penny to make a CD, don't you?

In my opinion, pop music today is tremendously lacking talent. So I feel no pain for "artists" and record labels, both of whom have gotten used to their inflated contracts. Show me a musician who can sing and write her own music and I will consider paying for her iTunes track. Not her CD though (are they still even making those things?). CDs are relics of the past. They are our generation's eight tracks.

The truth is that the record companies are now retaliating when they should be brainstorming. They need to be figuring out a way to remain players in the YouTube generation. Hopefully, what they will come up with will take ethics into consideration.

Mess' in with my Craft – Walter Fowler

To understand our [musicians] feelings about file sharing you really have to understand the current business model that we operate within. Many of you may already know this, but a very small percentage of my revenues come from actual album sales. However, that number can still range anywhere from the low-to-mid six-figures. It is still a large amount of money that must be replaced when music files are shared online instead of being bought in the stores. The bulk of my money, which is why I do not consider file sharing to be a direct threat to my livelihood, comes from playing live shows for my fans. Another fact, one that you might not be so familiar with, is that even the largest concerts that have taken place to date have still been barely profitable. That 'bulk' that I referred to earlier is not necessarily from concert ticket sales, but from merchandising.

Now that you have an idea about how musicians actually make money it might be a little easier for you to understand the difference in opinion among us. Personally, I have found the internet to be a useful tool in the success I have had as a musician. Not only do I promote the online sharing of all music, but I encourage my fans to download my work directly from my website. Although the songs are provided for free, I do ask the user to make a donation to a PayPal account that is linked to the download screen. To be honest, I did not expect the donation thing to work at all. However, my fans really seem to respect the fact that I do not make them pay to listen to my music and I have made more than enough money through the popularity of my website to cover the losses that result from fewer album sales.

By no means can I say that these methods would work for all the other artists out there. Learning to manage my Web site and schedule my own shows did require a lot of hard work, and that may not be a possibility for all musicians. But one fact still remains: the sharing of files over the internet has not been effectively contained or even slowed down. I think that the solutions to these problems have to come directly from the musicians, times have/still are changing and the only thing you can do is adapt. As an artist you can do only one of two things:

  1. you can sit around and be upset that no one is buying your CD's and hope that an effective way to stop the transfer of files comes along
  2. or you can look at where the industry is headed and TRY to prepare yourself, and by that I mean where is the harm in trying to operate within the changes in the industry instead of against them? I have never heard of a situation where it has been a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket.

Damn the "Man"?! – Chris Hamilton

Have you ever robbed a bank? Shoplifted from a store?

Probably not. But at some point you've probably borrowed some of your friends' clothes, and maybe, because you ruined them or liked them so much, never returned them.

See, anyway you slice it, chop it, or mince it, you should just call it what it is—stealing.

Borrowing clothes and never giving them back is stealing because the items are not yours, they belong to someone else, and they were given to you based on the premise of you one day returning them. It's just a much softer, more acceptable form of stealing, that's all.

We can rationalize it all we want, but at the end of the day, it's still stealing.

In the music world publishers are classified as "the man." Sometimes loathed, but usually respected, "The Man" is a conglomerate of record labels, the big-named executives. "The Man" writes the signature on some pretty hefty checks.

People are stealing from "The Man," which in turn affects the artist and then, in the long run, affects the music that consumers know and love.

But herein lies the problem: Today's youth have grown up stealing music. It has become socially acceptable. This is where you should start to feel guilty—you're all stealing!

With laws designed to prosecute music piracy, "The Man" can protect artists and labels—allowing for big budget music videos and international tours. You don't want to spend the rest of your live listening to The Killers, do you?

Face it people: downloading music without paying for it is stealing.

Just because the Feds haven't kicked in your door yet doesn't mean you aren't engaging in a crime.

You music thieves have your day coming. And I'll be there to throw away the key after you're locked up.

Trust Me on This - Ben Hawken

Illegal Music Downloads: A Victimless Crime or a Crimeless Victim?

When I heard that this month's SpinCycle was going to be dedicated to music, I figured that this was my big chance to write a long-overdue review of my favorite Aquabats album.

Don't get me wrong, the topic of DRM is no less interesting, but it is a lot less likely to wear a mask and sing songs about midget pirates and two-headed cats.

If you read the trade publications popular amongst the music executive types, you'll discover that quelling the phenomenon of illegal music downloads surpasses in importance the need to cure heart disease or prevent genocide.

Clearly there is a problem with priorities.

We all remember where we were when Napster was beaten into submission (the Super Fresh Grocery in Lehighton, PA) but since then Morpheus, LimeWire and Kazaa have all risen up in its place.

(If it was interesting to anyone but me, I would spend the next 800 words comparing this to the ancient Greek Hydra and its symbolic impact on the journey of Odysseus subsequent to his tussle with the Charybdis. But, like I said, I'm alone on this one.)

Even now, after all the lawsuits and threats and frantic arm motions, somewhere in America, at this very moment, there is a young man, nine credits short of a degree in computer science, who is designing yet another music download program instead of making eye contact with women or offering to pay his mom rent for use of the basement.

I can't speak from personal experience, but I knew "a guy" in college who used some of these illegal music download sites. After several months his computer was host to so many viruses that the pathogens began to mutate and started vectoring through personal contact and the air.

There was a full blown pandemic and his computer went Chernobyl midway through a large report.

In retrospect, trying to download all of the B-sides from the European release of "John Tesh: Live at Red Rocks" wasn't worth it. For my friend. It was not worth it for my friend.

[Tangent: Cracking down on illegal music is a lot like trying to eliminate plagiarism from public education. The anti plagiarism movement is inherently flawed because it is intrinsically prejudiced. It is, at its core, discrimination against uncreative people.]

Ultimately, the DRM debate will have to reconcile how downloading music illegally is any different from taping songs off of the radio or just burning a copy of a CD that someone else bought.

Neither of these activities is considered nearly as nefarious as stuffing your computer full of viruses, spyware, adware, and the occasional corrupted music file. Am I the only one that smells a plot coming from the blank cassette and CD manufacturers of the world?

Over the course of the next several years, as lonely computer programmers keep inventing new viruses and grumbling about eHarmony's broken promises, computer security will be the primary reason legal downloading becomes the mainstream method of choice for music lovers.

Then, perhaps, my friend can finish downloading that John Tesh CD.

Track 17 is to die for.