Oasis: Rock Stars Should Appreciate Music Pirates Options

[relaxenjoy]

Before I type anything else, I am posting this to spark some interesting discussion, not a forum war or any other nastiness.

Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher told Shortlist.com in an interview that music pirates don't bother him. After all, he copied music throughout most of his youth, taping songs off the radio or duplicating music tapes provided by friends. Although downloading music from the Internet isn't exactly the same as waiting for your favorite song to appear on the radio and hit "record," Gallagher doesn't see the difference.


"I don’t mind it," he said referring to music piracy. "I hate all these big, silly rock stars who moan--at least they’re downloading your music and paying attention, know what I mean? You should appreciate that--what are you moaning about? You’ve got five big houses, so shut up."


Gallagher's words were a bit more colorful than the edited quote we provided here, however he makes a valid point: pirated music could extend the fanbase at no extra cost to the musician and the publisher. An illegally downloaded album could lead to an eventual purchase, followed by subsequent purchases of previous albums and related merchandise.


According to TorrentFreak, Gallagher's brother and former Oasis guitarist member Noel Gallagher has also expressed similar views on music piracy in the past. "If people are willing to have faceless CDs like that in their collection, good for them," he said. "It would be absolutely ludicrous for a rock-star to demand that people pay money for albums because the kids haven’t got that much money to pay for an album, so if they can find it for free, go ahead!"

Source: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Oasis-Misic-Pi...,news-6476.html

I thought it was interesting to see someone famous who is in similar shoes of those who are against pirated music speak up and look at the other side of this coin.

Personally, I am a bit torn. I see this argument both ways.

I will say for now is that my personal music taste would not be the same if it was not for piracy. I would not know, listen to, or support much of the music I do today.

I also found it interesting when I read about Gallagher himself pirating music the old fashioned way by recording songs off of the radio

Obviously the scale is different now, but isn't the principle the same?

I do wonder how much artists are affected by this. I don't have any sourcing for this, but I recall reading somewhere that artists often make the most of their money from concerts and merchandise. Is it possible and/or true that most of the money we spend on CDs goes to various people and companies who are not the artist? The people producing it, marketing it, and working the CD stores?

I will admit that if CDs we're not $20-30CDN I might be interested in buying more of them. I don't know if this comparison is valid, but I could buy a DVD for that, and they cost a significant amount more to produce!

Anyone else have something to add to this?

This post has been edited by relaxenjoy: Apr 21 2010, 04:21 PM

[Gitarrero]

"An illegally downloaded album could lead to an eventual purchase, followed by subsequent purchases of previous albums and related merchandise."
I totally agree on this aspect, as it represents my former way of pirating and then becoming a fan. There was a similar discussion in Marcus Siepen's instructor forum. I pirated my first Blind Guardian album a couple of years ago, bought three other albums, a longsleeve and a concert ticket since then. Value of the stolen album: maybe 10 Euros. Value of the bought things: probably 100 Euros. Sounds like a good deal for the band (or the label)!
I also once downloaded music I didn't like after hearing it, so I deleted it.
I'm well aware that probably only few people think and act this way...
Actually, I don't think it's necessary nowadays to illegally download music, since you can listen to anything and everything on youtube and decide whether you like it or not, and then go and buy an album or leave it.
This is a difficult subject...

[Andrew6]

Most of the bands that I check out on tour or buy merchandise related to them I originally downloaded their songs. I can't afford to drop 20$ to check out a band I've been recommended, if I did that I wouldn't be able to eat or go to school that is for sure. The bands that I do end up liking I buy their stuff (especially concert DVDS amd concert tickets). I downloaded Number of The Beast a few years back and now I own all of Maidens live DVD's and most of their discography.

[blindwillie]

Another example with similar views are Trent Reznor and NIN, Radiohead another. Reznor have made some really interesting experiments with online interaction with his fans.

[Staffy]

Here we go again..... another pirating discussion!!!

[Gitarrero]

Did we have one before?

[Santiago Diaz Ga...]

Internet can take you to places that you probably never imagine that your music will arrive in. Once we were on a tour with Thabu, we were in the ban listening to "Circus Maximus", and que started to talk about it and think how could be that a Norwegian band arrives to some Argentinian guys travel through Argentina. That's the magic of internet

[Bogdan Radovic]

I think piracy can lead to sales and promotion but at the same time makes it harder for artist to get a record label deal (because of poor sales) and eventually get revenue from sold CDs...Back in the days of vinyl records they could really earn well through sales...

[Keilnoth]

Here we go again..... another pirating discussion!!!

Endless debate... it's like speaking with women.

[OzRob]

I don't pirate myself. What I do is sift through songs/vids on youtube and when I find something I like I will buy individual songs or albums. Every band I currently like, I've discovered via this process. If I like the music enough to listen to it again and again then I will happily pay the artist. It cheeses me off when songs show up as restricted in my country due to copyright or some such crap. Basically, they've lost a potential sale and it doesn't prevent pirates anyway who use peer-to-peer or other avenues.

[Gus]

Once I read an interesting point of view from Lilly Allen. She said something like, internet piracy was the best thing that ever happened to established big bands, like U2 or R.E.M. (maybe that's why Oasis has same opinion), which shows are getting more and more expensive and they are making more and more shows.
But for someone who started more recently it has a big impact on finance and it makes record companies hire less musicians which is of course bad for everyone...
This added to the fact that record companies only hire hip hop pop stuff, is almost killing music. When I am searching for new music I am now going to 60s or maybe musics from other countries, cause it is just hard to get something good.

This post has been edited by Gus: Apr 23 2010, 10:00 AM

[jstcrsn]

bottom line is-is stealing or should stealing be justified
it just saddens me that we to often debate the symptoms of the problem

This post has been edited by jstcrsn: Apr 23 2010, 02:24 PM

[NoSkill]

I know a man with red hair.

[jstcrsn]

I know a man with red hair.

does he steal
come on that was funny