YouTube Star Charlie McDonnell Explains Why File Sharing Is Helping His New Music Release
Charlie McDonnell has released a D.I.Y. album and uses his promo video (with 809,00 views) to share his thoughts on file sharing. Mike Masnick of Techdirt pointed us to this and it mirrors his own thoughts on the subject: a) "file sharing isn't stealing, because no one's missing something", as in the comparison the video uses, of stealing a Mars Bars) and b) "if you like the content, it creates new fans who will help support the artist in other ways". Watch the video and share your reaction:
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Well, that was fairly painful. Logical? Well, the easiest way for people to understand that, ‘if they don’t pay for it then it doesn’t get made’ is to… make people pay for it.
What he seems to be saying is, present people with a moral choice as a result of them trying out a loss-leader.
A bit like the collection plate at a church service with no-one looking.
Now call me an old cynic, but I don’t think that will work. Is working. Do I trust people?
No.
Ah, to be young and full of hope (in my most patronising voice)
If you give out a free sample of a Mars bar and someone likes it and wants more they either have to steal or purchase it. With the music they already have it so why would they buy it again. His logic doesn’t work. I understand the whole viral nature of things, but bottom line is that you shouldn’t take something that isn’t yours no matter how you justify it.
Yea they already have THAT music.. But every artist tries to make more than one project so maybe the’ll buy the next project you put out. Im’a hip hop artist and in the hip hop industry, we make mixtapes and let ppl download them for free or will make a few songs to download for free and thats basicly like promotion. So i do see the logic and what the young kid is saying. Kanye west and Nikki manaj just sold alot of albums over the past two weeks and im pretty sure ppl downloaded their album.. But they went back and bought the album cause they really wanna support the artist they love.
Many musicians are realizing that the “Studio” or “Record Label” model of distribution is breaking down. However, these dinosaurs are desperate to preserve their revenue stream, even as that stream is drying up. Consequently, rather than embrace, the new model, the fight to preserve the old, and naturally, are failing. You can’t swim against a rising tide.
However, the new model allows artists like Charlie to distribute their music without the luxury and expense of the Record Label. Further, you don’t need studios, a cheap home recording studio can produce work as good as a expensive professional studio.
Being their own distributors, musicians, like Charlie, can afford to allow free distribution and trust that people who truly like the music will eventually buy, and I think he is right.
By “getting more” he doesn’t mean downloading the same song, he means buying more songs by the same artist.