There are many people in this world
that constantly pirate music. I used to be one of them. Why? Because it’s free!
Right?!
Well as a musician and sound
engineer, I have grown to appreciate an artist’s work. When I was in high
school, iTunes was still young but it still was great for getting music. Many
of my friends used Limewire (remember Limewire?!) for pirating music. Let’s
face it, when I found out that you can get free music, I jumped on that
bandwagon.
I went to school for music and
worked extremely hard to practice and master my craft, which is the bass. I
composed and wrote a lot of music and I also performed a great deal. There came
a point where I joined a band that worked hard to play at different venues and
shows, record original music, play on the radio, and promote us for publicity.
What does this have anything to
do with music piracy?!
There came a point when I realized
that trying to really make it as a band and putting music on iTunes, really was
hard work. I didn’t want anyone getting that for free. I wanted to get what I
put into the music and if I put the music on iTunes, then I want people to
respect my work and buy my music if they liked it.
I recently watched a TED talk by
Rob Reid who explains how much money is lost to copyright and pirated music. He
describes that $58 billion dollars are lost to copyright theft according to the
Motion Picture Association. Copyright piracy has forced many people to lose
jobs and since 1991, the advancement of technology has put over 300,000 people
out of jobs in the entertainment industry.
I was very shocked by this TED talk
because as I know there is a huge problem in our society with online piracy, I
do understand that many companies are trying to prevent this as best they can.
For example, Waves, the leading manufacturer of audio engineering plugins and
software, have created what is called the Waves License Center where you do not
register licenses…they do. This helps them keep security within their systems
so that licenses cannot be shared between users.
Piracy is a very strong topic in
our society as we advance in technology. As a hard working musician and someone
who respects other people’s work, it is easy to accept free music or media. I
will always be an advocator for the entertainment industry on this topic
because I, like all other professional in the industry work very hard and do
not want my work to go unrewarded. I urge many of you to respect the
entertainment industry, not because it is good for the artists, but because it
can open up many jobs in the future and people will get rewarded properly for
their hard work just like any other profession.
