Pirate This Album! Posted by Marek Vermin on December 7th, 2007
Currently the Conservative government of Canada is considering enacting legislation to enforce digital copyright more stringently. Just like in the 80’s when major labels made us weep for the artists who were “losing money” because of home taping, now the industry is crying because digital sharing is causing untold damage to the poor, starving artists who can’t be fairly remunerated for their hard work.
Hold up… Fair remuneration for artists? Wait a second, are we talking about the artists who are often trapped in contracts with hostile record companies and have to break up bands just to keep making music? Are we talking about the artists who are the last to get paid when records sell? The artists that don’t see a non-recoupable cent until well after the A&R reps, lawyers, accountants, bookkeepers, secretaries, presidents, mailroom clerks, temp workers, database managers, and so forth have already been paid? Are these the same artists that don’t get distribution in most record stores because those distribution channels are closed to independents? Maybe we’re talking about the artists who make $0.10 on every $20.00 album sold, but only after the record company has recouped their costs and is 99% risk free? Is it possible that it’s the artists who thought they could get their video played on music television and their sweet new song played on radio only to find that payola still dominates the industry, with no hope of competing with the bribes (advertising) that the majors can offer in exchange for rotation? Or perhaps we’re referring to the artists who thought they had artistic integrity, but find out that because of the contract they signed, they have no control over the licensing of their music to corporate interests for use in advertising, television and films?
Of course, fair remuneration of artists is constantly heralded as a rationale for increasing copyright protections when it is very obvious to any artists involved in the industry that remuneration within the industry is almost non-existent. Yet artists are being duped into thinking that they’ve been hurt by piracy despite the fact that independent artists have never made much money from distribution of sales, partly because channels have largely been closed to us. Most sales, if you control your own recordings, come directly off the stage. You play shows and that’s where the music is. However, piracy has changed the dynamic of distribution. It has levelled the playing field to a certain extent, because people can freely share culture with each other and get a wider sampling of music. Now it is the tastes of fans that fuels distribution of music in addition to the traditional album-to-record-store route that is controlled by a select few in the industry (and the hierarchy within that structure is pretty intense too). Piracy is a democratizing effect within the music industry, because it allows the music to become distributed by fans based on its connection to them. Their musical tastes are no longer dependent upon who has the best access to their regional “market”, but are now predicated upon what they can scour on the internet and what their friends want to share with them. As a musician, the whole point is to be able to reach out to someone and have them feel your music passionately. When that connection is made, then you have produced something meaningful. That carries over and people go see the artist live if they can. If they really care enough, they’ll even pay for an album they’ve already pirated. This relationship serves to better the state of independent music and artists benefit wholly from being heard.
The movement for increasing copyright protections is obviously spearheaded by and in the interests of the major publishers and distributors, not the artists that they have no problem ripping off in contracts. Yet the majors cite the “poor artists” whenever this issue comes up. Unless artists are 100% in control of distribution and production of their works, which almost never happens when an artist is considered potentially profitable, then increased digital protections won’t help artists one bit. Further, increased controls will likely benefit major labels to the detriment of artists, who usually don’t have enough money before they sign a contract to pay a lawyer to protect their interests against the record company’s team of accountants, lawyers and other such parasitic agents.
In fact, we believe that increases in digital protections will only serve to hurt smaller artists altogether, unless we find a new measure for copyrighting material that protects us from the industry while still allowing fans to access and distribute it easily. One method is to begin a movement to boycott major labels by artists and fans. Fuck them. Let them die. Who cares if 100 bureaucrats don’t get paid for every album released? The industry is a bloated, top-heavy behemoth that needs to take a serious nose-dive into a pile of its own shit. Another option is for artists to begin to have their music digitally unprotected. Artists can opt to have their music released in DRM-free manners, thus enabling sharing by fans. Finally, support piracy every chance you get. Make sure that anti-artist/pro-corporate legislation is opposed and even if it goes through, continue to violate it. This is a form of civil disobedience in the cultural arena. We believe that culture shouldn’t be restrained by profit margins. Musical diversity shouldn’t just be for people who can afford to have a 1000 records in their collection.
Copyright should serve to protect artists from the industry, not the industry from fans! Long live music piracy!
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In celebration of our support for music piracy, The Martyr Index is re-releasing our 2001 release of the LP “1936″ as a torrent. You can download the .zip file here and the torrent here. Please share. We want to get the torrent out there. If the .zip or torrent link is expired, please let us know and we’ll re-post them of e-mail you the torrent.
If you want to support the band, please come see us live or feel free to purchase our material either from Meter Records, CD baby, or as mp3s on iTunes.
Also, be on the lookout for our forthcoming album “Molotov Rocktail” in 2008. If you buy it, please remember to share it. 
