After reading my blog post from yesterday regarding YouTube and Viacom’s court battle, my good friend Aaron posed this question: “If this was the RIAA suing a site like the Pirate Bay and DFTBA Records songs were proven to have been downloaded for free, would you be on the opposite side of the coin here?”
I didn’t immediately answer his question, but decided I would here, in my journal.
Would I be on the opposite side of the coin? No. And how do I know that? Our actions have spoken louder than any words here could. For over a year now DFTBA Records has allowed - nay - encouraged all YouTube users to use our music, for free, in their vlogs, dancing videos and animations.
Hank (the other co-founder of DFTBA) and I have realized the power our listeners have in helping us spread the word about our releases.
Word of mouth or recommendations from friends are the best possible kind of promotions. When new listeners hear recommendations from friends, they aren’t hearing an advertisement, or even a pitch from someone who stands to profit from their friend buying the album, it’s an unbiased review and recommendation. That’s way more powerful than a recommendation from Hank or me.
By encouraging our listeners to use our music in their videos (or to cover our songs), we bypass any licensing or legal hassles. And while we might not profit directly from those streams like traditional music labels want to, we do profit by way of goodwill and, for lack of a better phrase, free advertising.
Of course, the revenue we lose might not be the best business decision - and in order to remain in business and continue producing the fantastic releases that we do, we have to make money - but Hank and I are also YouTube users first and foremost. And we know the frustration of wanting to use that perfect song in a video and not being able to. We don’t want our listeners experiencing that same frustration if we can do something about it.
I’m fairly certain the majority of our listeners can already see this, and because of it, I believe our music is pirated less than any other peer label. Of course, I could be wrong, but until I see data proving otherwise, I’ll think positively.
Please don’t misinterpret yesterday’s entry, I do not think Viacom is wrong for wanting to protect and get paid for its copyrighted material. I do think, however, that they are placing blame on the wrong parties, and demanding more than they should be. They should be participating in this exciting new landscape, not suing it. I’m not okay with copyright laws being broken. If a musician has not given permission, you should not use their work. But I also don’t think things have to be as “locked up” as they are, and I think DFTBA is leading here by example.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
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Thank you for this. I was just having an argument with my father about YouTube and their copyright policy. He argued that nobody would want their music used, and I immediately said DFTBA would. I, of course, had no source or proof that you would let your fans use music freely, but I argued that if pressed to answer, you'd say it's okay. He didn't believe me, and now I can throw it in his face. :P
ReplyDeleteThanks for rocking. I will always advertise DFTBA for free. :D
I personally would feel terrible if I illegally downloaded any of the DFTBA Records music because I feel like I know the people I follow on YouTube (I mean, I know I don't actually. But hopefully you know what I mean.), so to me it would feel like I was stealing from a friend. I know that they worked really hard on the album and that they aren't selling it merely to make money; they're selling it because they genuinely love to make music and want to share it with the world. So I definitely think that you all are pirated less often than other record labels (that is, if other people think the way I do & I'm pretty sure they do(: )
ReplyDeleteI regularly download music illegally; however, I only do it with artists that I know are perfectly well-off without my business and that are fairly well-known. I know it's still not right, but I don't have that much money and it makes me feel better to know that when I do buy music it goes to people who don't get millions and bajillions of dollars every day.
So yeah. There's what I have to say about that. (:
I'm an average teenager in the USA. I pirate music. I'm not afraid to admit it. I know it's illegal, but honestly, most big-name record labels (EMI, Warner, etc.) do their best to screw me over -- why shouldn't I do the same to them? On the same note, DFTBA Records has been open, honest, and giving with their music. Because of that, I don't pirate any of their songs.
ReplyDeleteMaybe my rationale is messed up. But it's the rationale I use, and it's the rationale that I know a lot of my peers operate by.
On the YouTube/Viacom front, keep up the good fight, and we'll all hope that YouTube wins the suit. Thanks for all you do.
--Euclier
Not going to lie I tend to grab DFTBA songs off youtube when they first come out. I do buy the CDs afterwards though so I think it balances out. I'd just rather throw the audio rips on my iPod than wait for the CD to come out. I always switch for the CD copies after. Except Indigo, that I keep both copies of depending on what mood I'm in.
ReplyDeleteThen again I also own all buy four of the DFTBA CDs and one of those four just hasn't arrived yet. Ones I don't own for curiosity's sake: Venetian Princess, Rhett and Link and 117% (only because I only like the one song) out of the three. The one I'm waiting to have arrive is Erase This but I have the downloaded copy so I really don't mind. So I guess that proves it. I also usually buy the t-shirts that go with CDs even though it's nearly $30 Canadian (AKA nearly 3 hours work) for each one.
In addition to the comment above about "knowing" the artists, I think it also makes a difference that pirating from a huge corporation doesn't feel like you are really taking money from the artists to most people, because the artists don't really make money on the sales, instead it is seen as taking money from rich executives, that don't really care about the music.
ReplyDeleteWith DFTBA not only does it seem that you treat the artists fairly, you actually care about the musicians and music and so supporting DFTBA is something the buyer wants to do.
Have you hear of Creative Commons?
ReplyDeletehttp://creativecommons.org/
You should consider using cc licensing on your music.There are many very interesting ideas surrounding this project.
I love you, Alan.
ReplyDeleteThere was a very similar argument about photoshop when it first came out, that got pirated hundreds of thousands of times and look were it is now!
ReplyDeleteIf I ever was to pirate any DFTBA music, I would firstly feel quite awful about it, but I would also only have done it because I couldn't afford the CD right at that moment, but I would buy the CD afterwards, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteI see many of the DFTBA artists as friends, so it feels like I go steal a friends CD collection or something they made.
It would break my heart to steal music from you guys. I think it's amazing that you can support yourself full time from this endeavor, and it feels good to have a hand in that. DFTBA makes me want to get out there and do stuff!
ReplyDeleteI wish to echo other contributors here and say that I wouldn't pirate DFTBA releases it it would feel that I was stealing from a friend, especially as I have met a few artists on DFTBA and I will be meeting more at vidcon.
ReplyDeleteI hope that nobody has put DFTBA releases on any pirate sites and I have certainly never seen any.
Why is it okay to download albums of popular, mainstream artists and not if the music is made by DFTBA artists? I mean, all of you here in the comments are saying that it would 'break your heart' to pirate DFTBA music but haven't those mainstream artists worked just as hard as the DFTBA artists?
ReplyDeleteSure, they make a lot more money than our YT friends, so they don't really need your money. But does that justify stealing?
I admit, I have a lot of illegal music in my iTunes library. But I feel like a lot of people feel very lightly about stealing music. You wouldn't go to a supermarket, shoplift some Pringles crisps just because it's a large corporation and they don't really need the money? The argument that the artists don't actually earn a lot of money in the sales doesn't hold up either. Do you think the people who actually work in the factory or the ones that develop the flavours, get a big share in the money?
Elinious, if there was a way for me to steal Pringles at my desk as easily as I can steal music, I can PROMISE you that I'd do it all the time. Stealing music ain't right, its just so easy it doesn't feel like a crime.
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