Leaked music and its effect on sales

we eat our young · Post by **we eat our young** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:24 am

I know this isn't strictly dubstep related but i think this is a great read and can easily apply to all types of music:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... 71c433fc78

And to people who basically stole the music then wrote to Mr Tobin to congratulate him on it, what type of stnuc are you people? Would you refuse to pay for a meal in a restaurant then phone up the next day and congratulate the chef on it being so tasty?

r33lc4sh · Post by **r33lc4sh** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:04 pm

the question is - who have stolen the whole album months before its release?

that's fuckin bizarre

stormfield · Post by **stormfield** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:09 pm

Leaked music definately affects sales (and thus the survival of small independent labels), but I think some genres of music get affected more than others.

IDM / electronica gets hit particularly badly... looking at the death of good labels like Merck :-/

It's not a greed thing, with smaller labels each release pays for the next one, so sales are crucial. It costs to master, cut, press and promote tunes, simple as.

In comparison, vinyl-focused genres like dubstep seem less affected by piracy.... There is higher value on the physical 'form' of the release.

we eat our young · Post by **we eat our young** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:33 pm

I'm no expert but i would imagine music journalists put things online when they get lps 3 months before release dates.

The attitude that music is free and noone should have to pay for it is ultimately going to kill most record labels of all genres. Why should people just be allowed to take take take and not put anything back.

Can you imagine running a label and releasing an lp that you have worked so hard on just getting it to the shops and people have been exchanging it for free for months before that date you have been working towards. Makes it seem a bit pointless i would imagine

Slightly off subject but this new Amon Tobin lp is some of his best work yet and you should all BUY it!!!

decklyn · Post by **decklyn** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:28 pm

Aye aye. Most DJs buy music I find. Even those that nearly exclusively use digital media (ie the house scene in toronto - none of the big DJs I know personally use vinyl - they all say it skips and shit (?!!?))

Vinyl in and of itself does have a much larger value for me and if I get leaked choones, all it does is make me MORE likely to buy the original release, cause i listen to it and develop a taste for the release and then I buy it. Same with mixes - mixes are great promotion for tracks.

But yeah - if there are no DJs buying wax and if people just want the music just to listen to it at home/in thier car, then suddenly the value of wax vs MP3/CD is much different. Unless people like to collect - and see thier purchases hanging on the wall.

An example of how piracy can be good for sales in the greatful dead, who hooked bootleggers up with thier music as a way to promote thier sound.

I for one would love anyone and everyone to listen to my music, so I just give it away to anyone and everyone I can. I'm on the verge of getting signed, so I'm holding those tracks back, mostly just to not piss off the label, but music is art, and I gauge the success of my own art by how many people have experienced it, and the effect that it has on people, not how much money it brings in. And I'm a capitalistic business person with a business degree.

I know that the labels and promoters etc are running thier operations as businesses, and that artists alot of times make the plunge hoping that thier music will bring in the bread, but if you're making art with that pressure, it's not going to have your love in it, it's going to have your tension and stress put into it. It's like sex - axiety around performance diminishes performance.

</hugeRant>

bob crunkhouse · Post by **bob crunkhouse** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:31 pm

remember readin that the wiley album that was given away for free was the bestsellin one too. Guess it works both ways.

hopper · Post by **hopper** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:35 pm

Hmm, i've been told to be wary of this. i'm so used to giving out my music to everyone, but the other week on soulseek some cheeky fella downloaded every single song my band's done and who knows what will happen with that

But a lot of the time with downloading it seems if somethings good, it will spread and in turn people will buy it.

drum syndicate · Post by **drum syndicate** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:41 pm

It actually works both ways. There's a number of labels who are super strict about the music getting out prior to full release, or even release on promo, but all that does is stifle the hype that needs to be built around the release in order to sell copies.

In a smaller genre like Dubstep, yes I can see it possibly having a negative effect, but on the same token, there are TONS of artists that are trying to get signed, that no-one has heard of. How likely is someone going to be to buy a relase online when they hear a 30 second clip of it, and it's a producer they don't know.

I think a way actually utilize the p2p and other file sharing mediums, is to put out lower bitrate versions of the songs for people to pass around and help get exposure for the newer artists.

I personally use p2p searches like SLSK to get ahold of stuff that i'm interested in, and once I have the ability to purchase the vinyl I do. This is actually a pretty common thing nowadays. Why listen to a shitty 30 second clip on a website, when you can get a 0 day promo release, be able to listen to the tunes in their entirety, and then be able to decide if it's something you wanna put in your bag?

I know I'll probably get shit on for saying that, but honestly I don't care. There are a lot of people who are less than genuine about things like that, but the people who use for legitimate means tend to outweigh those who don't.

drbluebeat · Post by **drbluebeat** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:12 pm

slowlygoingdeaf · Post by **slowlygoingdeaf** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:33 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz-grdpKVqg

doubleclick · Post by **doubleclick** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:01 am

decklyn wrote: I for one would love anyone and everyone to listen to my music, so I just give it away to anyone and everyone I can. I'm on the verge of getting signed, so I'm holding those tracks back, mostly just to not piss off the label, but music is art, and I gauge the success of my own art by how many people have experienced it, and the effect that it has on people, not how much money it brings in. And I'm a capitalistic business person with a business degree.

I know that the labels and promoters etc are running thier operations as businesses, and that artists alot of times make the plunge hoping that thier music will bring in the bread, but if you're making art with that pressure, it's not going to have your love in it, it's going to have your tension and stress put into it. It's like sex - axiety around performance diminishes performance.

</hugeRant>

That's a great attitude to have, but of course it would change over time if you found yourself in a position of popularity. I don't know if you've listened to Amon's music, but his music is obviously not made with big money in mind or it would sound quite different.

He's been doing this for 14 years now, and losing money is a big deal. It's his job. You spend three years and thousands of hours on an LP because you believe in giving people their money's worth, only to find out you won't be getting your dues in return because the distributor (understandably) has decided it won't sell because of the rampant downloading.

Also, when you've been working at a relatively high level for that long, you're going to fall a long way on the way down. Your career won't slip a little bit in a manner that means you can just re-adjust to the new circumstances; you'll find yourself unable to pay all the people who work together to maintain your career. Professional one minute, bedroom producer the next. We don't know how much this will affect Amon and myself yet, but what has happened is ominous to say the least. People say, "ah well, make the money from gigs instead", but a good quality tour costs money to put on, and you need good sales to get decent pay from the live work.

That was really the point of the blog post, to let people know that massive downloading does not give you Arctic Monkeys-style rewards except in the rarest of cases, and since those rare cases are the only ones that get publicised it was time to describe how things are going for many people who get hit. Mission accomplished, since the reaction seems to be "shit, I had no idea"!

Hopefully it'll change a few minds, and then the next time somebody speaks up it could change a few more.

relaks · Post by **relaks** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:06 am

I downloaded the Amon Tobin album. And didn't buy it.

I also didn't really like it.

doubleclick · Post by **doubleclick** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:08 am

relaks wrote:I downloaded the Amon Tobin album. And didn't buy it.

I also didn't really like it.

Ah well. Hopefully you'll like our next thing then, it's different to that.

Leaked music and its effect on sales

Leaked music and its effect on sales

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