Here is a great interview with the singer of Wilco, Jedd Tweedy in which he discusses music piracy and file sharing on the internet. I think he hits the nail on the head. The whole point of making music is to be heard. Making money is secondary. Don’t get me wrong, an artist should be properly compensated for their work but I think that its the music industry’s problem and not the artists. Most artists see very few royalties on their albums and they don’t see any profits untill years after an album’s release. The majority of musicians make most of their money for touring. This was the case for Wilco. They released their album Yankey Hotel Foxtrot as a free download on their website and grew to a household name overnight. My favorite quote from the interview is:
“Shutting down music file-sharing is like closing a library.”
I think that as great recording technology becomes available to the masses record labels will play less of a role in the music industry. I’m always more willing to purchase an album if I know that a significant portion of what I pay is going to the artist. That is why I buy albums off of CD Baby whenever possible.
And for your listening pleasure I give you:
Wilco – 2004-05-20
Otto’s
DeKalb, IL
