Article - MP3s and Music Downloading: What the Pros Think
MP3s and Music Downloading: What the Pros Think
By: Jocelyn Dickey
Published in Bassline Magazine, August 2006
As record sales stagnate, the players in the electronic music industry are looking ahead to the future and the possibilities presented by MP3s and music downloading.
Since the early days of Napster in the late nineties and early 2Ks, wired Americans have been acquiring new music quickly, easily, and often for free, at the touch of a button. Although pre-Napster files could be traded online in various ways, for instance via newsgroups or Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Napster was the first peer-to-peer service geared exclusively to sharing music in the form of MP3 files. Its users had access to an vast catalogue of free music.
However, widespread downloading of pirated music had pros and cons for all parties involved—artists, record companies and music listerners. For record companies and artisits, downloading amounted to theft because music listeners were not spending money to buy the albums because they could be download for free. Legal action to stop the pirating soon followed.
Today the original Napster is no more, and consumers can pay to download legitimate copies of tunes. Athough there are still ways to download pirated music over the internet, music consumers have embraced paid downloads from new online stores selling MP3 and sometimes MP4 and Wave files, such as Apple’s iTunes or Beatport.
“The iTunes Music Store now features more than 1 million songs,” explains Simon Atikins, PR representative for Apple Canada, adding that Apple’s iTunes store came online and started selling paid downloads in the USA in April, 2003.
This article is not meant to debate the ethics of downloading pirated music.Instead it will explore how music downloading is affecting some of the key players in the electronic music industry—record store owners, the artists making the music, DJs and the record labels themselves.
For the most part, electronic dance music is a fairly niche market populated by smaller independent labels, many of whom still press music onto vinyl (and sometimes CD) for DJs/music fans to purchase. Because of this, the number of units sold by electronic artists is usually substantially lower than most top-40 artists.
But MP3s and music downloading are impacting the way electronic music is currently distributed, and the number of units sold by electronic artists. Making electronic music available to buy in MP3 format makes it more accessible to consumers, both in terms of price and useability. However, this could be a positive or negative thing for electronic music artists/labels depending on whether music fans are actually paying for the MP3.
“I think that there’s a lot of people that did give up [buying vinyl] because it’s really cheap to get MP3s,” says Brian Bobroff, owner of Toronto-based 2theBeat, a conventional/online record store selling vinyl and CDs, and 2thebeatdigital.com, an online store selling MP3s. “When you are buying a record you have to pay for taxes for every country that it’s been in, you have to pay for the shipping, and you’ve got to pay for all the various costs. With an MP3, the cost is reduced … so you might be paying two bucks for a track when you were paying $14.99 before [for vinyl].”
Because MP3s are cheaper to buy and more accessible to the buyer it is a logical assumption that unit sales figures will be higher with MP3s than vinyl.With 2theBeat digital being a relatively new venture, Bobroff is optimistic about the opportunities it represents. “I think what the MP3s will do is give us an opportunity to be there for people who wouldn’t buy records, because with records you have to have a turntable… and everyone’s got a computer now, or at least the majority of people [do],” he says.
Chris Goss, one of the masterminds behind UK-based Hospital Records explains that his label has recognized the positive aspects of paid music downloading, and the opportunities this form of music distribution brings. “Early on we were confronted with the negative aspect,” he says, explaining that sales of records went down by 20 to 30 percent. “[But] it’s crucial that we’ve evolved instead of turning our back on it.”
Hospital has invested much time and effort to prepare a comprehensive digital version of its 550-track catalogue, employing a full time staff member for the past 12 months to do so. In addition, Hospital has made its catalogue available for download from top paid-download-sites and even set up its own digital store on the Hospital website.
“Now in spring 2006 we are able to look at the digital situation and be happy with our position,” adds Goss. “Really, there’s no end to what we can accomplish.”
Making electronic music more accessible can benefit an artist who is trying to make a name for him or herself. Posting MP3s online can be a relatively inexpensive way to get MP3s heard compared to sending out demos and hoping that whoever is on the receiving end actually receives it and gives it a listen. MP3s even make it easier to listen, instead of requiring the listener to physically insert a CD into a CD player, the listener can play it simply by clicking a mouse button.
“MP3s, have basically helped out [because] it’s easier to get your music out there, to show it to people and to get your stuff played,” explains dnb producer Gabriel Au, a.k.a. Gremlinz, who has tunes released top labels such as Renegade Hardware, Metalheadz, Architecture, Universal Project, and Horizon Music, among others.
“[But] people can rip off your tunes easily, ” he adds. “All it takes is one person to leak an MP3, or rip it off CD, or rip it off vinyl, and it’s basically free reign. And why would people go and buy your music if they can just get it for free?”
Chris Barlow and Matt Simmers, a.k.a. Chris Crisis and MrMatt, own Trainspotters Music, an online record store located in Boston, and run their own record label. They also produce and play their own music and together make up the group Terrivata. As producers, DJs, label owners and record store owners, they see the issue of downloading from multiple perspectives. For them MP3s and music downloading have both positive and negative implications for electronic music, and specifically dnb.
They believe that MP3s lower the barriers for new players entering the electronic music market. “Anyone can start a record label and sell MP3s,” they say in a co-written statement. “Also, sites like Myspace and Demostreams make it easier for new artists to get their music out there and get a fan base.”
From their multi-faceted perspective they see potential negatives of MP3s and music downloading arising mainly from illegal downloading of tracks. “Illegally downloading music is taking money out of the store’s pocket, the label’s pocket and the artist’s pocket,” they say. “It’s tough enough to make money in dnb or electronic music as it is. If a DJ cares about the scene, they will pay for all of the music that they spin, or at least get permission from the label or the artist to spin the music without paying for it.”
But the fact remains, systems such as Serato Scratch by Rane, Final Scratch 2 by Stanton, and a whole new generation of CDJs that also play MP3s and other digital formats are making it easier than ever for DJs to go digital. And once many DJs go digital, for them there is no turning back.
“I typically play CDs now, and vinyl sometimes, but when travelling it’s just much more of a convenience to carry CDs only,” explains Jeff Malcolm, a.k.a. Psidream, a respected Vancouver-based producer/DJ. “I don’t think that enough labels and artists are utilizing the MP3 format at all, though. So many tracks get released on vinyl, sell out on vinyl, and that’s it. They are not available in any other format - which to me, is blatantly limiting those tracks from reaching as many people as possible, thus limiting the music’s growth.”
“I’ve been strickly Serato [Scratch] for the last year and a half, and I love it,” explains Toronto-based DJ Rollin’ Cash, of Hotpie Records and Just Cause, adding that the sheer weight of vinyl limits how many tunes a DJ playing vinyl can bring to a gig. “I can show up to any gig with about 20,000 tracks to choose from, never have to leave a record at home cause there’s not enough space or too much weight.
For him, music and file sharing levels the playing field for DJs. “Now that everyone has access to all the same music, it becomes purely about technical skill and selection, which is what DJing is really about,” he adds.
