Digital Music Downloads – piracy, worth, the future for artists and music, the industry, just where is this all headed?

One thing for sure is that in the days of vinyl far less of this piracy was possible. The worst that could happen to an artists was that the pressing plant or the distributors cut some "extras" and made a few quid on the side. It simply was not possible to reproduce a tune to the same level of quality by recording it to tape and certainly not possible to reproduce a recording that was of high standard and usable for performance, without the metal plates and huge expense involved with pressing plant/label/cover costs etc. Thieves would have to leave their house and go to a store if they wanted to steal a copy of your music. Now all they have to do is wait for it to be available online and steal if from a file sharing site.

Since payment for music on the internet is not as instantaneous as downloading for free it makes it easy and convenient for people to take this option. Many do not have accounts set up with download sales sites, a paypal account or may not even trust the internet as a means of purchase. Additionlly to set up with download sites to pay for music takes a few minutes whereas downloading for free can be done without this time consumption and with a couple of clicks. Here lies the temptation of free and “stolen” music.

Even if there were to be some way of reducing the frequency of this occurring over the internet with controls placed on IP's, there are still other technologies such as Bluetooth phone, removable hard drives that can be shared and CD’s that can be ripped at the touch of a button. We may as well face up to the fact that digital music is something that is easy to pirate and will be pirated, no matter what barriers are put up as long as the basic format remains the same.

This concluded means that the last thing we can rely on with the music buying public is that they will become conscious that they are in fact stealing music if they do download it for free. It is called sharing but to the artist that would in the past have generated sales from nearly every copy sold, a copy copied without permission is still technically theft.

To the average person who does not make music or understand its processes, this small named file that takes up a tiny piece of space on their hard drives can be seen as far less valuable than it is. Due to the virtual nature of its existence. With the Mp3 it is too easy to forget that this small "insignificant" file was once a band, a singer, an artist, a producer, a studio engineer, an inspiration, a feeling from a soul or the souls that spent the time to create it. The music industry can be and often is portrayed as a glamourous one, but there is also a huge side that is not shown where many artists struggle to survive on the paths of creativity that they feel a need to make in their lives. More reminders of the value and work that goes into a file before it becomes and Mp3 needs to be out there in the public eye to help them make the right concious decision to purchase music rather than "freeload" it.

On the plus side, all this sharing can now often bring new fans that would not otherwise have heard of an artist to their music products, which can cause a knock on effect to sales interest and popularity. The digital domain is also a global one. Music in this format can be accessed, reviewed, promoted, sold, talked about and distributed online. This phenomena and these new technologies are still in a settling period and finding their place, rules and possibilities. Although we can find many reasons at this stage to condemn the digital domain in music, it has in fact created a musical freedom that many artists have been hoping for, but in the meantime established artists, record companies, record shops and labels are all suffering, hence the justifiable unrest and insecurity at this time.

Digital Musicians Vs "Real" Musicians

There is a lot of snobbery in the industry that puts down digital musicians musical art by saying that it is not what they call a real instrument and that it is therefore not worthy of the same credibility, neither are the compositions and arrangements made by an artist of this kind.

Musicians that play real instruments have a talent that is beautiful and real, nobody is taking that away from them, perhaps they feel threatened of their art being replaced by some digital form like so many other activities of today? Even if this is the case to some degree or if it offers a new choice as technology has over the years, then this does not mean that we should condemn those who are able and choose to utilize these new means of expression available. Just as playing a real instrument takes time, practice, dedication, playing and listening skills so too does the musical art of the digital musician. The digital musician uses a computer interface and various peripherals of software and hardware to create a composition or performance. This is their combined instrument and not something anyone can just pick up and play without skill and dedication just as is the case with real instruments.

Nearly any music that is recorded today for any exposure outside of a live performance is often recorded using digital media and uses exactly the same processing that gives the digital musician the samples that they use in their compositions. During the arranging/production process of any piece of music, recorded files are put on a time line, altered to some preference of order and various effects and equalisation are added until the final piece is ready. The digital musician or composer does much the same often using a midi keyboard to trigger playback of these recorded samples, and other elements such as vocals and samples or sounds they have recorded themselves.

The digital musician or sonic artist often works alone with his/her sound palate much like an artist does with a set of paints, starting with a blank canvas of silence. Digital musicians have to consider the tempo, the rhythm, select the sounds, the ambience, the arrangement, the note order and then balance all of this to create a final finished and polished piece of work. This takes a lot of skill and knowledge of (maybe) virtual versions of equipment that was once only in the “real analogue” domain, but essentially still require the same skills and acute listening abilities that are required by any producer of music no matter how they work.

During the creative process of a solo producer/engineer here is often no input from other composers, as you would have in a live or in a band situation. All the instruments sounds and decisions on what is done with them are carried out by the digital musician often alone. This is something, like any player of any instrument will agree, takes time and practice to learn the art of. It may appear that a simple note is played on a keyboard but that is not all that is to the art of the digital musician. Study of the properties of sound waves in a physical sense is involved to a large degree, effects that change sounds, how these work and what they do to a sound is not something you cannot just read in a book or try once and know, it takes hours of patience, testing, trying, listening and learning.

The Digital Musician is often not only a composer, but also a sound engineer and a mastering studio. Some work to obtain a finished product and others to perform their art live or both. Not only has a digital musician have to have musical knowledge or an ear for music, they have also have to be a computer whizzkid to be able to use the tools, install them, be able to carry out maintenance, troubleshoot issues etc.

The main difference between “real” and digital musicians and their compositions is really in the recording of the sound and, when and how it is finally produced or reproduced. The “real” musician uses his brain to record, memorize and decide which pieces to keep or throw away, whereas the digital musician uses a computer.

No matter what method is used, expression of the human soul is important to us all. No matter what category this expression fits into, or even if it doesn’t, it is just as valid and important. We need to learn to accept and feel confident in our own chosen expression and not judge others in theirs even if is not something we understand. Life evolves and changes as we grow, we have to accept change and differences whether we appreciate them or not.

Vinyl Mixing Vs Digital Mp3 Software Packages, CDJ's and the like!

Here is another area that is highly debated at present and where many are finding reason to separate in opinions and hence sit further apart in understanding. Here we can almost exchange the words Vinyl and Digital to old skool Vs new skool. The old skool, as with every generation, want to hold onto what is familiar to them, what they can operate and what they trust that works. Meanwhile the next generation is working in a whole new way with a whole new set of tools. Both methods have equal proportions of plus and minus points but those who do not embrace both and understand both without condemning either are only losing out and stemming from a place of their own ignorance or fear of change.

None of us particularly likes change, at times it can be inconvenient, it requires a whole lot of time to be spent learning something new, equipment once used can become less useful or no longer up to date and just when we thought we knew it all, we realize we only did for just a moment! That's life! Those who do not wish to embrace new technologies and prefer to put them down must accept the place they have chosen to stay in and let others happily move in the directions that are available without prejudice. This is the way of the world, like it or lump it, things cannot be held back and it is a waste of energy trying.

Excessive Dance music genre naming..?

UK, US, House, Funky House, UK Funky, Garage, Speed Garage, 2-Step, Soulful House, Deep House, Minimal House, Afro House, Electro House, Tech-House…and on and on and on…all around the world same song!

This whole genre naming in the dance music industry has got out of hand. It does help us to distinguish and describe the sound we are listening to and as long as we don't use it to further separate ourselves as collective supporters of good music too much then it is okay.

It takes all sorts of people, in all kinds of places to create all kinds of things, music included. Each has it’s place and right to be there doing what it does, no matter how small, how large, how amateur, how professional, how standard, how innovative, how significant or seemingly insignificant, how popular or not so popular, how mainstream, or how underground. We are all just humans that are trying to express ourselves in some way and have a choice to enjoy each others expression or not.

House music, as an "umbrella title" for a movement that was all about peace, love and unity, really needs to remember these core values that once made it what it was. As we say, house is a feeling, house is a vibe, house is a movement, house is a generation for change, house is where all the people that love to dance live and house is where people should feel at home, ALL people.

Funky or UK funky has been used to define a sound to distinguish it from the traditional 4x4 house sound sometimes also referred to as US style House. It is an mainly an urban underground UK sound, the sound that has evolved from what was once named garage, speed garage, funky house, 2-Step, Underground house and the like, with a huge influence input from London and surrounding counties.

It is unique, fresh, often raw, sometimes lacking slightly in that commercially pressed sparkle that other music holds but it's always up and coming from what the young urban (especially) London and surrounding counties is brewing up. We could almost say it is another emulation that has stemmed from the origins of Hip-Hop n Jungle with the main elements of DJ's, decks, MC's with a fast, fresh and constant flow of new mixes and expressions to be heard, rewound and spun.

UK Funky is really just the current name for what the current underground urban sound is, it will likely be called something else soon when the next evolution of it's sound takes place! People are speaking of being worried of it as dying away, maybe as a name, it could but, like other evolving musical phenomena it will simply re-emerge under a new brand name as has happened in the past with garage, 2-Step and other former scenes. This vibe is at the core, the ghetto sound and like traditional dance hall sounds is always re-inventing, always coming with something fresh, always a place where dub plates are tested and always a place where crowds are critical and know what they like. If a sound can make it through and become a success on one of these dance floors then it has strength in the general commercial market place.

Lets give the "UK Funky" sound respect for what it is. It is a much needed art that gives urban youth a platform to express on, to innovate, to inspire be inspired in, to perform in, to develop in..a place where some feel they find they feel at home or find some love or inspiration that they may not find in other areas of their lives.

Where does the line get drawn between copyright and creative use of music by a DJ or producer?

DJ’s will often now use looping and sampling facilities that are part of the digital mixing technologies as an advances performance tool to decks and hip-hop scratching and usage of sounds to create sounds as it was in days gone by.

Is this the new hip-hop in a sense, where extracting small segments of music can become a whole new sound with flavors that the artist is feeling? Those that say it is only digital technology that has brought an onslaught of sampling need to look at the history of hip hop and be educated!

Hip-hop and vinyl mixing and scratching was born out of hard times and long unemployment queues and introduced an innovative new art form that DJ’s used creatively in their sets alongside rapping MC’s in New York in the early 80’s. Sampling simply means recording of a sound in order to reproduce it and replay it and dates back to the early sixties when tape recordings were the tools for the job.

When then, does the line of copyright get drawn, is it when that produced material is sold as a live performance art form or when it is sold as a recorded mix or when it is a short remix of a track. Now the lines today are very hard to distinguish and in some scenes people want to here fresh and new mixes of already popular tracks with the next twist on them to keep things moving. Like the culture we are living in today, kids want it now, they want it fresh and once they have got it, they want something else.

"Cutting and pasting is the essence of what hip-hop culture is all about for me. It's about drawing from what's around you, and subverting it and departmentalizing it." —DJ Shadow

"Modern recorded music has evolved from focusing principally on musicianship and performance into an auditory collage where no sound is off limits. Sampling is simply another color on our palettes. Whether we're sampling old records, using advanced multi-sampling, or recording sounds ourselves, the final artistic product is paramount and should not be compromised in the face of any corporate legalities." —Sono

"I look at all the different parts and see how I can organize them in a way. It's like mathematics. Very mathematic. It's like graphs! You're always searching for the combination that sounds best. It's kind you set back, and feel the thing. If you want something to come in, you have to search for it, listen to it." —Blockhead

There is nothing new under the sun, or so they say and music is often to some degree regrooved into a new inspired interpretation for a new generation to find a connection to in the way that their emerging youth culture creates it. Now with the technologies that have been developed it has opened the doors of creativity to producers and creative musical artists to use sounds in a whole new way where they find something they like and make it their own as an additional branch of what it was.

Doing it for love?

These days with the growth of the internet and free downloading or freeloading the value of music has changed. The final product we listen to now is often a virtual file on our computer, the way we pay for it (if we do) is also often virtual via electronic transfer online etc. Because of the ease of replication and file sharing between peers, friends or complete strangers can exchange files with one another without a single penny changing hands.

As artists are we being forced now to do it for love? There have always been artists who do what they do for love, or out of a burning need to create their art, some of these people have been lucky enough to be recognised and gain financial success from their art, some have made more money than they ever dreamed of having, others have continued to struggle through their life, still hoping, dreaming and creating..

Real art in itself in whatever form of expression is born out of this need for expression by the individual who is creating it. Having this art recognised in some way and appreciated often gives the artist the validation that his/
her soul requires to feel, with no mention of money. To the real artist, money is a bonus.

Now that technology has allowed many artists the freedom to express themselves from affordable home studio's they can produce music to a reasonable standard and publish it online for exposure, feedback, downloads, sales etc. In order to become established and create a fan base, the artist will have to accept payment is something that may or may not come to them in time, with hard work and hopefully final appreciation of their work by an audience or by a larger music industry sector that will be able to take their work to the next level.

People who aquire music often now have a choice to pay for the music they want to have in their collection or to freeload it. Paying for music now has to be a concious decision that the customer makes, they now need to decide if they value the artist's work enough to spare a few pounds out of their hard earned cash to enjoy the creation they can now play and gain pleasure from.

If they met the artist in a club or a pub, would they buy them a drink out of respect? If the answer to this is yes then, then a donation or payment of some kind towards the work of an artist is what will help this artist to survive and create more works for us to enjoy.

Unfortunately for now freeloading will continue to some degree, those of us who do it for love, will continue to do it for love and those who are just doing it for the money will possibly find it harder to make the profits they have been used to in the past.

Generally people have access to a wide choice of entertainment these days. They can choose what they do and don't want to pay for based on personal choice, morals, knowledge, connections and technology available. As musicians, artists and creative souls, we just have to hope that people enjoy what we do enough to reward us for it by continuing to pay for it and not freeloading too much!

If you have any articles or thoughts about things you feel could be vital to add to this space please feel free to blurb and don't forget to add your name and any details you wish to have published or not..depending on your wishes!