Now before you race down to the comment field to abuse this article with a mindless response,  I would just like to let you know that this is not just another blog about the disastrous effects of illegal downloading nor is it an article to embrace it.

I have gone undercover and joined the forums of a notorious illegal file sharing website and got into heated contact with it’s members just to find out whether they think if there is any ’sin’ in obtaining their favourite band’s material straight from someone else’s computer!

To start off, for those that do not really know what file sharing is, well, here you go:

(a) File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multi-media (audio, video), documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented in a variety of storage, transmission, and distribution models. Common methods are manual sharing using removable media, centralized computer file server installations on computer networks, World Wide Web-based hyperlinked documents, and the use of distributed peer-to-peer (P2P) networking.

While file sharing is not of itself illegal, the increasing popularity of the mp3 music format in the late 1990s led to the release and growth of Napster and other software that, while designed simply to aid in the sharing of electronic files, in practice led to a huge growth in illegal file sharing: the sharing of copyright protected files without permission. Other popular networks include Gnutella, Gnutella2, eDonkey2000, the now-defunct Kazaa network, and BitTorrent.

Many file sharing networks and services, accused of facilitating illegal file sharing, have been shut down due to litigation by groups such as the RIAA and MPAA. During the early 2000s, the fight against copyright infringement expanded into lawsuits against individual users of file sharing software.

The economic impact of illegal file sharing on media industries is disputed. Copyright holders and publishers refer to studies concluding that unauthorized downloading of movies, music and software is unequivocally damaging the economy, although other studies suggest file sharing is not the primary cause of declines in sales. Illegal file sharing remains widespread, with mixed public opinion about the morality of the practice.

Now that sounds pretty interesting don’t you think? It’s nice to know that you can almost instantaneously go and get hold of your favourite song by just searching for artist’s name and their song title – FOR FREE!

But this is not entirely free, you see. It comes at a cost and that price could ultimately be a total collapse in the music industry in the near future, leaving us with nothing but with unprofessional wannabe artists with cheap self produced and low quality music that will ONLY be available online. Or will it?

That is why I went deeper underground and salvaged the following data straight from the horses’ mouths.  I dare not name the torrent website’s name nor the names of my sources, but the following information can be confirmed by artists themselves, should you wish to. I started the topic off in an aggressive manner in order to get the best out of these illegal downloaders. To my surprise, without me getting flamed nor sworn at, these little critters that dwell in the darkness of the file sharing world posed as no threat to my presence in their community and were very sincere in answering all of my questions.

This is what ‘John Doe’ had to say in response to my inquisitive, yet attacking post, demanding answers as to why they would want to destroy their own favourite bands by not supporting them they way they should be supported:

“Dude, why don’t you go back to those bands and ask them how much of all the dollars that the RIAA is currently suing everyone in existence they are actually seeing. They are not even seeing a cent.

Sorry mate, but I’ll keep downloading as much music as I want, and I will spread it to my friends as well who want to hear it before they make the choice to buy it, and encourage them to do the same with their friends and family.

Oh, by the way, I too come from a line of work where I had not only interviewed a lot of bands, national and interstate, but I managed their shows when they toured, and I know from HANDS ON EXPERIENCE, that file sharing is possibly the one single thing that is keeping bands going at the moment. You don’t want to offer them free promo, then good for you. I can tell you that the small minority who are against it don’t know shit. It’s not piracy that will end all, its the friends of the RIAA and all associated that will do the honors for us.”

I could not believe my eyes. Yes, it made sense by all means, but what still remains hazy is the question as to why bands release albums in the first place then? Surely to earn something for their hard work and dedication in the name of musical entertainment.

‘John Doe’ knew better, and shared his insight with us once again:

“The only reason that they release albums is because the record label pays them 99% of the estimated worth of an album, give them some 5 cents per album sold, gives them enough to barely be able to wipe their ass, then tells them to tour to make a living, which the labels score even more money from.

Seriously mate, I know what I’m on about here, and I’m not trying to be an ass. Any artist who says that pirates made them broke is either a fucking liar, or is sexually involved with the RIAA. I respect that you don’t want to download music, good for you, go and give your money to those who are trying to sue our asses off at the moment, I just think that your reasons aren’t that great. The RIAA is making more money off piracy than we are ‘apparently’ taking from the artists. Now, who is the real criminal? I mean, if you really want me to continue, just ask. While you’re at it, go check out the artists who have started releasing their music under a creative commons, and how much their album sales have soared…”

Fair enough, but there are obviously two sides to any story! What about the bands we’ve featured? That’s right, those awesome bands on HeadbangToday.com. Most of them had something to say about illegal downloading too! Our very first interviewed band were StoneDrive, a very talented and energetic band from France. Below is an excerpt from their interview that they had with us:

Stone Drive’s Interview

“(Fab from Stone Drive) : The music industry is collapsing and the whole music distribution system is changing. It’s pretty hard to make it big now or at least it takes a lot of time and perseverance. If you want to be heard, you gotta play hundreds of gigs, be on the road all year long … that’s the hardest part of it.

HeadbangToday: Speaking of the music industry collapsing…How do you feel about downloading music online?

Stone Drive:
(Dave) : Being on music platforms like ITunes or Napster has become absolutely necessary to exist as a band. We’re on ITunes worldwide and it helped us a lot to reach people around the world. It’s the good side of the music business globalization and the real benefit of internet for musicians.
(Fab) : If you mean illegal downloading, it’s part of the game, so to speak. People, mostly young generations, consider illegal downloading like something normal.
We don’t really care as long as people listen to our music. Selling CDs or MP3s doesn’t pay the rent anyway.”

Well there we have it.  As I said before, the music industry seems to be collapsing no matter how glamorous the big stars try and make it seem. The funny part is that it is all in our own hands as fans. We are left with the decision. Do we want cheap under-produced Internet music in the future or would we rather want to maintain what we have now and regain what we had and make an effort into buying an actual Cd of the respective artist. Not only to support them and keep them going, but also so that future generations will inherit that and also want to build up their own collection of music from their favourite artists in whatever format it will be in years to come. Even if it will only be MP3, spending your hard earned cash makes us appreciate it more anyway.

Oh wait, “John Doe” has more to say:

“File Sharing has opened up the way that we experience music in so many ways. Creative Commons, seriously, look at what Radiohead and NIN are doing at the moment, along with a few others that are seeing what a great tool it is. Make your tracks available for free, see your record sales boost. As many people buy albums today as they ever had. The loss figures are just made up in an attempt to scare people away from downloading.’OH NO’ ‘We’re not gonna have music anymore.’

Piracy in music is the biggest lie in music history. Piracy is a word that was created so that people can make more money for nothing. You think that single mother in Minnesota really was worth 2 million dollars for downloading 27 tracks? And how much of that 2 million dollars did any of those artists see? Nothing.

The RIAA only exists so that Lawyers can have a steady stream of work, and the greedy fuckers that exist within the RIAA can buy more rich cars and houses. What about the artists? They still live on tour buses, eat like shit… So, lets give them some free promotion for their work, maybe a few more records will sell, who knows.

Pirating aint anything to do with ripping people off mate. its about standing against those who are ripping the artist off. The artist is the real victim here, and if you are honestly that pissed off about artists losing out, then why not go and bomb the local head office for Sony Music or something. Think of how much they are ripping the artist off. We aint the villains here mate, they are. You can choose to follow suit with every single bit of propaganda out there, or you can stand up with everyone else and encourage change.”

I don’t remember illegal downloading ever being mentioned as a good “change” in any of Obama’s speeches ut then again, none of us in this article so far are American. So why care about change?  What about self produced albums? YES! We have bands that produce, promote and distribute their own albums to cut the middle man out. That means that these artists can actually earn even more if illegal album downloads are crippled. With this in effect, we can then experience more effort from the bands themselves which will result in even better quality driven material. Now another band pointed out that I am also wrong with my above mentioned statement.

While interviewing extreme metallers, Mind Assault from South Africa, whom also produce their own albums, we’ve learned the following:

“HeadbangToday: We’ll be publishing an article soon on the impact that illegal downloading and file-sharing has on the music industry today. Although it’s been embraced by bands such as Radio Head, Slipknot and NIN there seem to be a large majority of bands that still disagree with this. What are your views on illegal downloading of albums?

Mind Assault: With the expense of producing large enough volumes of actual CD stock being so high, downloading serves us very well – legal or not. It increases the reach in getting our music out there and brings attention to our merchandise. We regard the CD market these days as the “follower” rather than the “fan”. There will be loads of fans who like what you do, but followers are the rare breed who will buy all your stuff and show it off to their friends. For those guys, it would be a crime if we did not cater for them, so again, it’s a necessary evil. This does not mean we are discouraging people from buying the CD or paying for their download from a legitimate site – God knows, we need the cash – but we understand that we live in a brave new world.

Creating large stocks of CD’s are a great risk and liability for an underground band. For pop music it may be different… who knows?”

It now seems as if illegal file sharing is a give or take. Once again it is left in our own hands and beliefs. If you still feel illegal downloading is wrong, then you have to remember that bands see it as an opportunity to get their work out there. It’s a medium of exposure, that extra arm that reaches those who wish to try it before they buy it. But if you fully support illegal downloads and it’s the ONLY thing you do, then “John Doe” also has something else for you:

“Ok, lets look at it this way. I will use a real example here. Back when Static X did their album ‘Shadowzone’, their going price was a mere 10k Australian per show. This is all that they are worth. Now, you look at the cost of accommodation in Australia, youre looking at about 150$ per night. For 4 people this is 600$. You then have a staff of 20 – 30 people for a small club tour. Each of these people, depending on experience would get paid some 200$ or so for the night’s work. The qualified would get more. So, lets round that up to say, 4000$, including the cost of a very decent locally booked audio and lighting engineer. Then there is the cost of lighting and audio equipment hire, youre looking at about 3000$ for the night for a fairly average rig that they would carry around per show. Then there is car hire, in Australia, the Toyota Tarago is the vehicle of choice. Youre looking at some 80$ per day to book. Then petrol costs. To drive between cities is cheaper most of the time. Add petrol costs of say 100$ between cities, plus additional hire cars to transport permanent staff. you’re looking at easily an additional 500$ per day. Then you also have the cost of insurance, which I don’t even want to think about this one….

So.. we are looking at 7680$ roughly, before insurance is paid for, plus any additional flights and so on and so forth. For a band of 4 people, you’re looking at that leaving some 5 – 600$ per band member per day. I know less qualified people that earn more.

Then on top of that, their label, who mind you, really should be supporting the artist, takes everything but a measly 5 – 10 cents per record sold. For the average metal band, this generally means nothing more than 2 – 5000$ per year per band member. Whilst the labels will easily take home multi million dollars from an under selling record, and not even give a shit that it hasn’t gone platinum because hey… the CEO gets a new car, who gives a shit? ”

There you have it. You should still support the artist and buy their material if you like it. Whether or not the record label screws them over, if you continue to only download their albums for free and not go to any of their gigs, then the band has lost out whichever way you look at it.

Article Continues here.