|
Just recently, I published an article about the
well known UK DUB Duo Alpha and Omega and how they
were forced to place a donation button on their
website because of illegal copying of their music.
Closer inquiry led me to establish, that Alpha
and Omega indeed suffer from the fact that their
music is all over the P2P networks, too.
So I'm not talking about bootlegging or other
forms of piracy where money is made without
sharing this money with the artists. I'm not
talking about the Madonna's and other superstars
who don't even have the copyright over their own
music as they signed it away.
I am talking about P2P and the sharing of music
by independent artists like Alpha and Omega who
deserve all the respect you and I have in our
guts.
How can it be, that they will actually lose so
much of their income that they now depend on
voluntary donations by people in order to be able
to put out releases?
I can come up with only one explanation.
And that explanation is, that people are
actually downloading their music where they have
the possibility to buy it as well. For it is my
conviction, that when people do not have money,
nobody loses money when these people share over
P2P. For they would never have bought albums in
the first place.
But it becomes a totally different story, when
people share music which they would otherwise have
bought.
And apparently, this is the issue in Alpha and
Omega's case.
For how can it be, that they used to be able to
put out releases and now not anymore? It's not
that they create crappy music these days. In fact,
their music belongs to the top of the crème when
it comes to DUB music.
It can only be, that people stopped buying
their albums because they could now download it
through P2P. And that is the kind of mentality
which I would never expect in circles of DUB
Lovers.
I cannot look in anybody's heart or purse, and
neither do I want to do that. We all have to pay
responsibility for what we do on that Bright Day,
and it won't be me sitting on the Judgment Seat.
But logic demands, that there's a large group
of people who actually use P2P where they used to
buy music. And it's not that they do not have the
money.
So I kind of have a double opinion on P2P now.
An opinion that focuses on one's intentions and
attitudes. We have thieves and parasites on both
sides of the spectrum. It's the copyright police
as well as the P2P users who will have them in
their ranks.
We, artists in the DUB community, don't have to
expect anything from the copyright police. We work
hard to make a special form of music which also
has a special kind of people liking it.
Now is it the love for DUB music that makes you
enjoy this music as much as it is this same love
that makes artists make this kind of music?
Why not express this love in your daily life as
well and actually pay what you can so that DUB
Music can go on? And mind you, I am not speaking
to or about those people who cannot afford this. I
am speaking to and about these people who do have
the money and the love for DUB and still don't
seem to realize that for an artist to make DUB,
this artist makes him/herself depending on that
audience.
For, you know, I could start to make commercial
music and make a big hit. I wouldn't love the
music, but the music industry would and they would
sell it to other people.
But that's not my choice. My choice is to make
that music which is the rhythm of my heart and
soul: (DUB) Reggae Music. And I know that this is
not smart if I wanted to become rich. But in the
same time, I know that those who love (DUB) Reggae
Music are the ones who I do depend on in order to
continue.
As said, I would never expect people to
download music that they otherwise would
have bought. I cannot change anyone's mentality,
but I do want to strongly speak out against
it.
I can not understand or overstand how anyone
can sincerely love (DUB) Reggae Music and is not
willing to express this love.
It's not about making superstars Madonna
style.
We as artists know that our music is not
commercial. We love the music too, you know, and
make a lot of sacrifices to actually produce it.
And it's these kind of sacrifices which enables
the listener of the music to actually be able to
listen to the music!
So it's up to everyone on an individual
level.
I am not the kind of guy to tell poor people
that their poverty is a sin or a crime and the
punishment is not having music. And this goes for
the artists, too.
But I am also not the kind of guy that says go
ahead and download music which you otherwise would
have bought.
|
