First of all, at no time would I say that people who make music should not receive any compensation when that music gets listened to. In fact I believe that it is only fair that any money being generated with music is shared with the ‘owners’ of that music.

But this is not the point here. This is about trying to lock away your music and make it available fewer people under the assumption this will help fighting the free distribution of that music (some people call that piracy). I believe we have realized after all those years of p2p that we cannot prevent music being available on those networks. Music is information (as well as many other things) and information will always spread around easily and free. It’s like trying to stop rumors, it will never work.

What I am trying to say is that instead of investing so much energy and money in fighting file sharing on p2p networks it makes a lot more sense to monetize the new audience you are creating on those networks. This could be in the form of live performances or extra content or other music related products or something completely different.

And a little anecdote as well: I was on a panel yesterday with Scott Cohen (founder of the aggregator The Orchard) and he was telling us that when they started giving away music for free as a promotional tool in order to promote the additional content of that artist they discovered something: The tracks they gave away for free would always be the ones that sold the best on iTunes. So people bought a track that was available for free anyway. He did not have an explanation for this and neither have I but it shows that we are all just figuring out how music fans will spend their money on music in the digital age.

I am a musician, and I do primarily want my music to be listened to. But inconveniently, I also have to feed my family. If I, as one of the “rights owners”, cannot be paid for the music I produce, how am I to surivive? You state that “rights owners” will benefit eventually, but you don’t provide any details on that. Perhaps, as I often hear, I should give my recorded music away for free and tour to earn money? An interesting position, but I’m bewildered that people would have the arrogance to tell me how I “should” be living my working life, and I wonder if those people are giving away for free the fruits of their labors, and if any of them have ever been on the road.

I release my music on my own label. I am the “rights owner”. Why am I a bad guy for wanting compensation for my hard work like everyone else?

Will Martin, Seattle, USA

Jonas’ words, for reference:

“There used to be a time when artists wanted people to listened to their music and that’s why they make music.

I do not think those days are over but when you talk to ‘rights owners’ (ie labels) they seem to be keen on locking away their music and not expose it to music fans. This does not just apply to free downloading of music (what some people call piracy) but also only making snippets available to stream on websites or only sending out watermarked copies of promo CDs to the press or not allowing their music to be used in podcasts.

I find this very confusing. Music wants to be heard and ‘rights owners’ will benefit from it eventually. Seems an odd way to use your energy, prohibiting people to hear your music.”