When money doesn’t count

Money rules and whenever we can get something without having to pay for it we want it.

Nowadays we only like to spend money on music if we really want to support the artist. If we can find it online, we’re fine with that.

It’s not only the price of an album or single that counts. Competition with “for free“ will always be lost. That raises the question; Why is anybody at all still buying music?

Marketing wise it makes no sense thinking about the massive amounts of copyright infringement that takes place each and every day. Wondering why this is happening won’t give you an answer to the question of how to deal with this development. The big deciders should know by now they can’t stop it anyway. Developments and basic changes like this have happened in the music industry before. They could have been slowed down, but never stopped.

In the long run, it makes no sense solely concentrating on punishment. You can’t get them all. Those cases wreck somebody’s life with ridiculously high compensate rates that most likely will never be fully paid in case of individuals, not companies. They may make an example out of this person, but they fail in rationally compensation.

Copyright infringement is no longer a morally charged crime and it should no longer be treated that way. Compensations and crime charges are way out of hand.

We don’t even care who owns the rights to a song. We do what we do, because we can. Therefor the main parts of copyright infringement law suits only attack the symptoms of a situation much more complicated that it seems at first sight.

Some of us don’t want to pay, some of us can’t afford it. Music is one main, and in my opinion most important, cornerstones of human culture, maybe even nature. Musicality, if not musical talent, is deeply embedded in our minds. That’s why we don’t just like or love music, we need it.

Since music is such an important part of our lives we feel the need and ambition to take part in its consumption or even development. Being somewhat up to date plays a part as well.

This natural urge has no connection to our financial situation at all. Our finances are absolutely subject to the need to take part and be involved. In most other matters it seems much easier to say: „Yes I want this, but I actually don’t really need it, so hands off“.

Music not only serves personal and individual purposes, but has great social impact as well. Copyright infringement, where committed by doing something creatively has led and will lead to positive new encounters, business wise as well as personal and for the artist as well as for his audience.

In addition to that, publishing this actual illegal content can and does result in creating an amount of advertisement for the original artist, he or she maybe couldn’t afford. A faithful fan base that won’t risk going to jail for performing the songs, doing remixes and communicating them over the worldwideweb makes a long lasting career even when the lime light gets a little dimmer.

Business- and marketing wise, the question is how buying music can be more interesting again? The times you could successfully sell just cds, or better, cds just containing music are gone and are never coming back.

 

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