How Downloading MP3s Takes Money Out of the Artists’ Pockets

I have a friend who is a fairly well-known recording artist. In fact, he and his group are extremely well known in their particular musical field (think bluegrass-jazz fusion).

He was playing nearby last week, and we had a chance to catch up and chat, and so I asked him for his take on the whole MP3 downloading controversy.

Now, this is a guy, and a group, who regularly invite their audiences to make recordings of their concerts, and to trade them around, and who offer tracks for free downloading on their website. They’ve released at least a dozen albums, many of which have done very well, and won kudos and awards around the world. I figured that he would have both an interesting, and perhaps a somewhat relaxed perspetive on it all.

So, and because I really knew nothing about how this industry worked, I was a bit surprised at the vehemence in his voice, especially as he has a soft-spoken laid back voice, when he responded that illegal music downloads absolutely take money out of his pocket.

He then went on to explain why, and what he told me stunned me (again, because I’d had no idea). If you already know this, it will come as no surprise, but if not, I expect that it will stun you, too…

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