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.
