Oops, Did I Just Say That?

4 posted on February 4, 2010

POSTED IN: Blog Posts, Culture, Music

For today’s edition of “Oops, did I just say that?” we look to a controversy at People’s Choice Awards last month. The country singer Keith Urban won in the category of Male Artist of the Year. I’m not gonna lie, I think I maybe have one Keith Urban song in my iTunes library (from one of those free Christmas music samplers you get at Borders), but this made me like him just a little bit…as much as I could like any Country singer I suppose.

In his acceptance speech, he thanked people for listening to his music, adding, “I don’t even care if you download it illegally, give it to your friends, I really don’t care.”

And that’s when the proverbial crap hit the fan.

You see, Keith Urban is signed to Capitol Records, member of the Recording Industry Association of America and sworn enemy to peer-to-peer sites like LimeWire, Rapidshare and BitTorrent. Turns out his handlers weren’t too thrilled at Mr. Urban’s suggestion to illegally download and share his music.

He later did some major backpedaling at what we could only imagine was the very firm suggestion of his label:

What I said came out nothing like I meant. I was referring to the old days when you’d buy a record, do a cassette tape and give it to your girlfriend, and then maybe she likes it and becomes a fan. For the record, I absolutely care about my music not being taken for free. But I love when people are passionate and want to turn friends on to music.

Hmmm, I don’t know Keith. I mean, it kinda did sound like you were ok with fans sharing your music illegally just so long as they listened to it. But what do I know?

Be honest (even anonymous if you must), when was the last time you downloaded or obtained a song illegally? (this includes a friend dumping some of their songs on a jump drive or letting you rip their CD)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 11:42 am and is filed under Blog Posts, Culture, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

17 Comments

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February 4, 2010

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1 Scott Fillmer said:

I was actually around with Napster when they were flying high, and I can remember downloading as much and as fast as I could knowing that some court somewhere was going to put an end to the madness sooner rather than later.

Since then, I have slowly replaced all of those downloads with legal copies (they are better quality ripped in Apple Lossless files anyway) and I would say when Napster got the axe is when I can last remember downloading music without paying for it.

Almost all my music (which right now runs about 17,000 tracks on about 2,000 CD’s) is purchased used on Amazon, then burned to iTunes. I have a hard copy backup, prices usually range from $1-$4 (minus the $3 S&H) which is better than iTunes download, and I can do anything I want with the music.

Call me old school at this point I guess but I have around 200 GB’s of music files between my MacBook, TimeMachine, iPhone, iPod, etc, and I would say 90% I have the actual CD, 8% was iTunes download, and perhaps 2% falls in the cracks somewhere.

Good post. -S
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February 4, 2010

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2 Bill (cycleguy) said:

I probably sound like a dork but the honest answer is 0. I love music and listen to it a lot but just have not felt it was right downloading or copying CDs.
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February 4, 2010

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3 Toby said:

Is it still illegal if I paid for Limewire Pro?
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February 4, 2010

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4 Brad Ruggles said:

Toby – Wow, I didn’t even know there was a paid version of Limewire? How does that work?
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February 4, 2010

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5 Toby said:

It’s supposed to be “virus free” and is $24.95 a year….not sure the artists see any of that money though. Of course, I’m not sure they don’t either.
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February 4, 2010

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6 Evan Courtney said:

Today.

I sent some new worship songs I just bought, to see his interest in playing them.
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February 4, 2010

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7 Evan Courtney said:

Delete my previous comment. I jacked it up.

What I meant was.

Today.

I sent some new worship songs to our worship leader I just bought, to see his interest in playing them.
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February 4, 2010

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8 Brad Ruggles said:

Evan – Illegally sharing worship songs??? That’s like a double sin!
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February 4, 2010

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9 Rachel said:

Wow.I was literally just talking about this… I work for a record label… so downloading music illegally literally means I may not get paid.

It’s like walking into a bakery and stealing a dozen bagels. How many people would do that? It’s no different when you illegally download music…

Anyway, that’s my soapbox…
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February 4, 2010

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10 Brad Ruggles said:

Rachel – Great analogy with stealing the bagels. Sounds pretty bad when you put it that way. I suppose this topic hits a little closer to home for you since you work at a record label.
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February 6, 2010

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11 Jenny said:

It depends on what country you are in as well, as to whether or not it is illegal to download.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/p2p-downloading-is-it-legal.ars

This makes it pretty clear about the US, but other countries seem to focus on the uploading.

I download music all the time (I’m not in the US, for the record). Radio here sucks, and so when I see something that sounds good on a P2P site, I try it out. I have then gone and purchased some of the CDs, but I’m not going to buy a CD I don’t know I like. That’s a waste of money. So really, if I didn’t download, they wouldn’t be making money off of me anyway, because I just wouldn’t buy another CD ever.
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February 6, 2010

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12 Brad Ruggles said:

Interesting perspective from someone outside the US. What country do you live in?
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February 6, 2010

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13 Jenny said:

I’m in the UK, but I am American. And a country music fan, and there is no where here to get exposure to new country music. You could even say that US copywrite laws lead me to *have* to download. MTV.com, CMT.com, and many other US sites block their videos from being shown outside the US. These are the places people would go to find out about new music and new artists. But by banning me from being able to sample before I buy, they are forcing me to take whatever steps I need.

I do not see myself as a criminal. They are not losing money on me. I do not sell the music I download for a profit. Probably a quarter to half of what I download I don’t care for, and never listen to again.

In the long run, because I would not be purchasing the music myself if that was the only option, they really are making money on me, because I go to concerts. If I did not have the music, did not listen to the artist, I wouldn’t buy tickets to the shows.

This is just my opinion, of course.
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February 8, 2010

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14 Matter of Fact said:

I’ve downloaded tons of music and it exposes me to artists I would have never bothered to check out. It’s stuff I would never have purchased. You could argue that since it’s stuff I would not have purchased, they’re not LOSING money on me, but they are gaining a fan who is more likely to want to see them the next time they tour or purchase a CD so I can get the whole package: CD, inserts, photos, etc that don’t come with illegal downloads.

btw, I don’t like the bagel analogy because with music, you’re taking a digital copy. If you could swipe a digital copy of a bagel and leave the original bagel there, all you’d have is a copy – and in inferior one to boot. Yes, it may feed your tummy, but if you’re just taking a copy and you wouldn’t have taken the original bagel, what have you actually done? But if the inferior copy of the bagel gets you interested in the baker, you might go back and buy the actual bagel and see if the baker makes good pastries, cakes, donuts or strudel. Then you’ve become a fan of the baker (not only the bagel) and you’re interested to see what other creative stuff the baker will come up with. You’re now in their community and you’re interested. If you hadn’t swiped that first digital bagel that might have never happened.

So the baker gained another follower/fan, even though he lost a copy of a bagel at the outset.

I agree it doesn’t happen like that all the time…but it’s how it works with me.
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February 9, 2010

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15 Mark Gillim said:

I’ve started streaming the music from pandora.com and grooveshark.com, the music is always on tap with connectivity.
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February 10, 2010

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16 Aaron Guilmette said:

I’ve downloaded an incredible amount of music, most of which I’ve never even listened to more than once. I still primarily purchase CDs so I can do what I want with my music without Apple or anyone else telling me what devices I can play it on.

It’s a mixed issue for me. The label collects all the money–barely anything makes it to the artist. Out of a $0.99 track at iTunes, most artists see less than a dime. They get most of their income from live shows (which is why bands tour so much), memorabilia, and sponsorships. So, I support artists like RadioHead who release their albums directly to the public; I’m happy to pay $10 for something where I know the producer of the product gets compensated.

And, back to the age-old dilemma, how is swapping MP3s around any different than the old radio/cassette combo? The medium is different, but the end result is the same.

Maybe to allay any guilt, I’ll just put a mic up to my speakers when I log into my Pandora premium account.
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February 10, 2010

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17 anonymous said:

I can’t remember the last music CD I purchased…. from Pure NRG, to Casting Crowns, From Kieth Urban to Diamond Rio.

Heck I have even recorded streaming music from ShoutCast.