The Offspring and Coldplay made free song downloads available to in an effort to promote their albums. We see this strategy all the time from record companies. Those of you that are familiar with the iTunes Free Single of the Week will know what I’m talking about. This strategy confuses me though, since the RIAA continuously fights file sharing.

It’s a fact that free music downloads actually help album sales. I always buy albums that I think are good, because I actually want to own them. Recently a friend burned me a copy of a Green Day album. I had the copy and didn’t need to buy it, but I did. Why? Because the album was good and Green Day and the record company deserve my money.

Back in the days when tapes were traded, the same thing held true. A friend would give me a tape they made, and if I liked what I heard, I went out and bought the album. Shockingly, tape trading was mainly how Metallica rocketed to fame. Yet years ago they started the fight against file sharing.

If free music is the evil entity for record companies, why do they practice giving music away for free themselves? They must think by giving away their tunes it will help sales on albums, otherwise they wouldn’t make the files available for free. Why not just let people trade freely if it’s so positive for them? I know some people will abuse the system and not purchase the album when they should. This rule applies to anything, including the late, great days when tapes were passed around, but the record companies need to stop fighting against the listening public who embrace free downloads and instead embrace the system for what it is. The freedom and love of music.

While in Chicago 2 weeks ago, I visited a place that has so far survived the shakeout of record stores from the commercial landscape, Rolling Stone Records. It was one of the only places on the Northwest side of Chicago that for many years you’d be sure to find that single or album that you just had to have. They used to have everything in stock whenever you went there. An old album by Elvis? Sure! Guns N’ Roses’ latest? Absolutely!

Sadly, things have changed. I went this time only to find they seem to only carry are a few of the latest CD’s along with some greatest hits albums from the older bands. If you wanted older albums from the Smashing Pumpkins or Green Day, you would be out of luck at Rolling Stone now. And if you want a single? Ha! No friggin’ way! Oh how I longed for the day when they had the single cassette tapes lining the wall near the cashier. Now it’s replaced with DVD movies.

This will probably be my last visit to Rolling Stone as it seems to be in a downfall. The place was a ghost town when I visited. I think the only other customer that came in while I was there was buying porn. I walked out with a Greed Day album that featured a live performance and a Garbage compilation. Truly it was all they had that I was interested in. I guess Wal-Mart, Target or Amazon are the only places you can surely get almost any album you want now. It’s a sad era indeed.

Well of course we know part of the answer to why people don’t buy CDs anymore would be because they have been downloading music. Sure, that is part of it, but haven’t you ever heard somebody buying a CD say “I just wanted to have the actual CD.” There certainly is something different about owning the actual copy of the CD, complete with jewel case and booklet. At least that’s the way I used to feel whenever I bought an album.

Back in the day of actual records, you would buy an album and get so much. Not only did you get the beautiful vinyl disc, but you usually also got a nice booklet complete with pictures, lyrics and sometimes a poster. The Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers even came with a cool zipper on the front of the album. When CDs came along, a little of that was lost. Books were still included with the discs, but they weren’t as large and nice as the ones included with records. Today, you’re lucky to even get lyrics with your CD. The last CD I bought included a cover that unfolded into only 2 pages of senseless art.

Sometimes they get it right. Recently I’ve seen a few CDs include a DVD that usually includes videos and other items. When I bought the Ben Folds Live CD, included was a nice DVD of a concert performance. I’d be perfectly willing to spend my money on a CD when stuff like that is included. However, the recording industry seems content continuing to sell us a jewel case and 10 cent disc for $14.

I’m very interested in some of the comments since I posted File Sharing is Not to Blame for Falling Album Sales. The one that really caught my attention was the comment by StevioB.

“The industry tries to guilt people out of file sharing (”You wouldn’t steal a car… You wouldn’t steal a purse…”) How guilty do most of us feel when we see “artists” with over-the-top bling, cars, houses, diamond studded dog collars, and MULTI MILLION dollar contracts that record companies willingly pay. Are they telling me that these folks will suffer from not receiving my .99¢ ?”

This comment made me think of just how much the RIAA cries about the behavior of its own customers. You almost get the feeling that if you do anything digitally with music, the RIAA will take you to court. In contrast to this, I found a site that handled piracy in a very interesting and in my opinion, a more effective way. At Rifftrax, where Mike Nelson sells hilarious tracks you can listen to while watching bad movies, he takes a completely different approach. Check it out here. I find it hilarious the way he pokes fun at becoming a bum if you pirate his work. The main page links to this page with a graphic that says “Didn’t pay for that riff? Make it right!”

Rifftrax gets it! They understand piracy happens, and without making their fans feel like criminals, they say “Hey, if you didn’t pay for that, would you mind paying?” instead of showing a picture of a police officer pointing the finger at you. I have to admit that a friend of mine made CD’s for me with several RiffTrax on them. When I saw that link I realized that I hadn’t paid for any of them. I clicked on it and dropped $20 via PayPal.

Every artist should have one of these “make it right” pages on their web site. The recording industry should have one too. They should embrace the fact that piracy is just going to happen, and simply try to reach out to the honest customers out there that are fully willing to buy a good product from them.