Band Explains Why It Loves When Fans Download Unauthorized Copies Of Its Music
From techdirt.com
There’s an interesting blog post by Alexander Abnos, who is both a musician in the band Secret Cities . He talks about how much his band loves the fact that people download their music, because it’s helped them to build up a really loyal fanbase. He talks about how they signed with a label and spent a few years focusing on the band full time, and were always thrilled when people told them they had downloaded their music, even via unauthorized means:
Read their story
For the purpose of illustration, this has been documented as a conversation
Attendee: “I really enjoyed the show!”
Band: “What?!”
Attendee (now screaming): “I REALLY ENJOYED THE SHOW!!!”
Me: “Oh! Thanks! I’m glad you had good time! It was really fun!” (It almost always was).
Attendee: “I downloaded [insert Secret Cities album name here] illegally! Hope you don’t mind!”
Me: “Nope!”
I wasn’t lying. I didn’t really mind. We didn’t really mind. The reason is absurdly simple: This person heard our music, and enjoyed it enough to come to a show. Most times, they brought friends along. As a little-known band on the road, what more can you really ask for?
Later on he explains in more detail. And, what it comes down to is the same discussion we’ve been having for ages: obscurity is a much bigger “threat” than piracy ever was. The biggest challenge for a band is getting known, and these days, file sharing is one major way of getting known:
We love it because of the countless conversations like the one I recounted above. We love it because of the stadium’s worth of people that have listened to our songs on YouTube that might never have heard us otherwise. We love it because of that time in Atlanta on our first tour, when kids in the front row were mouthing along with our songs before our first record was even released.
We can’t put a dollar sign on those things. Why would we even want to?
About the Author
Caesar (Kuwait Music) Caesar is the Founder and CEO of Kuwait Music. A passionate musician and web nerd, Caesar spends most of his time thinking about how to build a healthy music business in the region Follow Caesar at the below links: Google+
Related Posts
10 music apps everyone must have →
Music in Kuwait. What does the future hold? →
The Kuwaiti-Expat divide – continued! →
Totally respect this guy and his band for not overreacting. Now for just this fact I’ll go and check the band
Word Ahmad !