Today I got a notice from my hosting provider that they had removed a couple songs I posted due to copyright infringement. The group is Tegan & Sara and the request was sent from someone who I’m assuming is their (or their label’s) legal representation when it comes to stuff like this. I’m always happy to comply with takedown requests, but this was the first time I’ve ever had my hosting provider remove songs. I wasn’t (and I’m still not) sure how to respond.
I started this blog almost four-and-a-half years ago because I love music. Music is part of who I am and is something I truly value. That being said, If I buy an LP and it doesn’t come with a download code, I don’t feel bad downloading it. If someone sends me a .zip file of an album I absolutely fall in love with, I’ll gladly shell out some clams for the LP. See how that works people? As someone who was once in a dirt-poor touring band, I’m probably more understanding and empathetic than the average Joe (or Jane) about the fact that bands need to get paid. Let’s face it, it costs money book studio time, press records, fill up the van with gas, buy guitar strings, etc… But if you haven’t figured it out yet, the whole paradigm about how music is released and distributed has changed pretty dramatically over the past few years and continues to change.
But getting back to this blog… The majority of my posts are little album reviews with one or two tracks from the album posted. Unless the said record is a long-out-of-print vinyl 7″ from 15 years ago where only a few hundred copies were ever made I don’t post full albums for download and I don’t ever plan on it. That’s not what I do. I post one or two tracks along with the review in the hopes that you (the reader) might find something you like. Perhaps, something you might have not stumbled across if you didn’t read this blog. The reality of the situation is that so much music is being released these days that it’s impossible to keep up with everything. The music and MP3 blogs I frequent are an invaluable resource in helping me wade through it all.
When someone does hear a band or artist they like on Can You See the Sunset? I don’t determine what they do next or how they might decide to acquire more music from them, but I fully encourage them to buy the album (on vinyl, of course) and if they don’t, I hope they go see ‘em in concert and buy a t-shirt. That’s how it works people. I’m just sharing what I know and what I like with all of you, but it’s all out of the love for all this music and my passion about bringing it to other people.
Despite all this, by the letter of the law, I was wrong to post two songs from Tegan & Sara’s latest album and they (or their representation) have every right to request those songs be taken down or just have them removed. Still, it just leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why bands and labels want to protect their intellectual and digital property, but many labels are happy to give fans and (here’s the key) prospective fans a sample to entice them into the whole thing. Heck, many artists and labels are offering up albums for free or on a pay-what-you-want basis. Maybe it’s too simplistic of me to think that this might work, but digital albums are almost always overpriced and CD’s are almost a totally dead format. I’m not going to pay $12.99 for a digital copy of any album. I would (however) be glad to pay that much for an LP with download code. Amazon.com has the right idea when their digital albums are on sale for $3.00 (or so). That seems about right to me for a bunch of 1′s and 0′s.
I know I’m rambling on a bit here, but… So from this point on (with rare exceptions), you won’t find any music from or reviews for any major label artists or bands on this site as both the takedown requests I’ve “offically” gotten have been from people representing artists on majors. I don’t want to sound like a dickhead, but any promo requests from PR or publicity companies about major label artists will be deleted without being read. It’s a waste of my time and not worth any potential hassle. Blogging about and posting sample tracks from major label artists is like playing with fire.
Sure, Tegan & Sara are one of the more “popular” artists I’ve written about lately, but if I asked all of the 200 people in my office building if they had ever heard of Tegan & Sara, there might be 3 that respond “yes.” It’s nice to see those major label budgets and advertising dollars hard at work. I’ve also gotten a few of those, “I’ve got to check out more from Tegan & Sara,” comments by readers of this blog based on my review of the album and (presumably) the posted songs. I could go on and on about this topic as I have a little experience being on both sides of it, but the fact of the matter is that the game is changing. Sure, I’ve only ever seen one royalty check from the record I wrote and played on, but that’s more than most of you have seen. Like I said, new paradigms are being established, new content delivery methods are popping up all the time, and the monetary value and worth of recorded music is changing and in question.
Music still has tremendous value to people, that much I’m absolutely sure of. It has tremendous value to me. When it isn’t contained on/in a physical product (like spinning plastic discs) that’s when things get dicey. How digital files (MP3′s) will be priced/transferred/owned/shared/etc… in the future is anyone’s guess. The point of this whole thing is that I understand the “why” of it all, but I’m not so sure that the “why” is ultimately the right thing to do.
so true, so true…. and I’m right on page with you on this. I cannot, for the life of me, understand how anyone, let alone a band who has been the bloggers’ darlings, thinks that one mp3 will NOT result in more music or ticket sales.
I’ve had so many readers tell me about their experiences going to shows, buying records, dragging friends and family members to festivals and shows because of music they’ve heard on blogs like yours and on the Hype Machine. This is what works. Yes, it needs to be looked after, but bloggers like you (and dare I say, I) are not the enemy here. We’re the fans, cheering the rest of the fanbase along in your direction, musicians.
Don’t let it get you down, Eric, I know it won’t, but it sure as hell irks me! xoxo
This site doesnt deserve that. I trust your reviews to highlight bands that I truly dig and cannot find anywhere else (word of mouth, in print). In the last two months, I have purchased the Dear Landlord and Banner Pilot albums from my local record store (Rush Mor Records, Milwaukee), largely based on your recommendation. Often, these label lawyer goons will make a takedown request sound more legit than it is. Perhaps can call in a favor from your local legal counsel?
BIG UP
The reason these requests come from labels, and never bands….is that the label is stuck with a business model that ONLY profits from CD sales. So if the listener becomes a fan, goes to the show, buys a shirt, etc……the artist is ecstatic, especiallly since they most likely weren’t making any money on selling cds anyway. But the label, who has invested money in building the artist up, gets nothing. I can see both sides of the argument, to an extent.
The problem is….we’re right in the middle of a major paradigm shift, but it will take a solid 3-5 more years for it to work itself out. By that I mean….there is only one way the “label” system can continue to work. Labels need participation in all revenue streams….record sales, live, merchandise, etc. The problem is, very few of them are good at any of those additional businesses. Some bands…either naive or just desperate for an infusion of money….are signing 360 deals. But the labels aren’t bringing anything to the table….just leeching on to revenue that historically went all to the artists. So far, the bigger labels have proven to be not nearly lean and agile enough to build these additional capacities for their businesses. If a label were to turn around and say “hey, we want 10% of your merch sales….BUT here is our infrastructure and marketing team that will triple the numbers you sell on your own”, I can’t think of a band that wouldn’t take them up on it gladly. The reality, though, is that shrewd bands can create the infrastructure and marketing teams for less money than they’d pay a label to do the same thing.
Rushing in to fill the void are small management/label hybrids that are becoming very adept at direct to fan sales, digital marketing, merchandising, etc. As their first successes come through the pipeline, they’ll grow in prominence and artists will migrate in that direction. With a far more sane business model, they’ll be free to exploit the new ways of marketing the music, including gladly offering up mp3s to blogs. Soon enough, I suspect, we’ll be in an industry that is not only lucrative, but far more fair in the distribution of revenue.
I completely agree.
With the enormous cloud of music out there right now, how do music fans cut through the shite and get only music on their device that they want to listen to? They find trusted sources that they’ve been able to test drive, via free mp3′s or tracks, and begin to read them regularly for their valuable insight. In the past this would have been magazines with free CD’s, friends with mixtapes/discs etc. Now it’s largely music blogs posting a couple of tracks to give a taste and try before you buy.
CYSTS isn’t the only blog I read, of course, but off the top of my head you’ve put me onto the following by posting MP3′s that I’ve downloaded: Chuck Ragan, Sara Watkins, The Weakerthans, Gaslight Anthem, Maritime…..all of them albums I’ve BOUGHT on the back of recc/MP3′s here (CD versions…um, sorry). There will be plenty I’ve missed and plenty more I have lingering as MP3′s (such as Dear Landlord) that will turn into buys when I’m next looking to buy. Because I turn to my iPod ‘Buy’ playlist, which includes many blog-post songs. Multiply that by the 20 or so blogs I hit every week and there’s some good marketing potential for the ailing industry to snag my $$.
So they’ve closed another door to themselves now by alienating you from writing about them? Good for them. Readers money will now flow into the hands of indie or unsigned artists instead and build to another reason for these creators to not sign up/get spat out by these machine-like organisations.
I have a feeling this might not be a bad thing in the long term…..there’s only so long these ignorant, faceless monoliths can bite the hands that feed them and hemorrhage cash before they implode altogether.
From an artist’s standpoint, it’s really disappointing when we hear stuff like this. It would not have hurt to have contacted you first as a matter of courtesy to work out some sort of use agreement. Or, have even apologized but asked you personally if it could have been taken down without getting your host involved.
When we know certain labels will take down MP3s, we don’t review music on those labels. It’s not out of spite or anything, it’s just useless to write about music and not give the reader something to listen to.
The big boys in the music industry have needed a new game plan for the last ten years, and they’re still fighting the new way music is distributed. They should take a note from labels like Matador and Asthmatic Kitty, two fairly big labels that understand free MP3s means better business.
Nice post. BLECHH @ ignorant anachronistic record labels.
One angle that the record label may be looking is multiple blogs posting a track or two. Sometimes you can hit the hype machine and find darn near a complete album from various blogs who are only posting 1-2 tracks each.
Major labels have failed to realize that music blogs are serving the same function as radio stations from previous eras: offering key tracks to expose people to new music. It’s because of your blog and similar others (sound as language) that I’ve discovered so many cool songs that then led me to go out and purchase the whole CD. To wage a war against free, enthusiastic publicity seems crazy. These same efforts destroyed muxtape, which was great innovation that all artists should have supported.
I couldn’t agree more, and upon re-reading I am even more impressed at the sheer plain-spoken eloquence herein. I own an indie record store, which puts me on the frontline in what is seemingly becoming a war waged by the Majors on all music fans (if they’re not pulling their own work from willing ears and wallets, they’re muscling out smaller artists on ClearChannel). As is the case with many types of person, it TAKES a music fan to KNOW a music fan. WE know that people downloading a track or two here and there are roughly 6000 times more likely to end up spending money on the artist, and by extension the label. It takes a bunch of greedy, malicious thugs to think that everyone downloading a track off a blog is a skeevy pirate out to ruin Metallica’s profit margin. And in the way that most important questions do, it all comes down to “where does one draw the line?”. It saddens me to think that the representatives of respectable artists are already prepared to draw a line that will leave thousands of dedicated appreciators out in the cold in a music scene that within the last decade has (for better or worse) been fragmentized within the marketplace beyond any reasonable prediction.
I am pleased to see that you will be devoting more energy to indie artists, even though I wish it was for different reasons…
Take care, love your reviews! –n
Thanks to everyone who has commented on this. Your support and encouragement mean so much to me.
We were fools to ever think we could apply the capitalist model to art (music). Musicians always have and always will find “patrons” who want to pay for the music to be made. The labels will eventually have to abandon their current model, and yeah, it will probably take a few years.
On a personal note, despite having read this blog for about 2 years, I still don’t like T&S, and now that I know their label is a bunch of dickheads, I WON’T be shelling out pesos for it.
Sorry to hear about this. You are completely right that people like you posting mp3′s result in album sales. The first time I heard Tegan and Sara it was more than 3 years ago when I illegally downloaded one of their mp3′s from a music blog. I immediately got hooked on them and as a result have bought every cd they have put out, their tour dvd, a few t-shirts, a good handful of mp3′s not found on their albums from iTunes and the new bookset they put out with Sainthood. I can understand why the labels feel like they need to protect themselves but the result is not always bad. Good luck.