You can’t beat an old rocker flying in the face of the man. Neil Young has decided to let everyone know what he thinks about piracy, and it turns out he’s probably a fan of Megaupload.
“Piracy is the new radio,” Young told All Things D. “That’s how music gets around.” I couldn’t agree more, Neil.
It’s worth me adding a disclaimer here: I am a huge Neil Young fan. He could say a lot of things and I would probably just nod sagely agreeing with him. Only, on this occasion, I actually do agree to an extent. Piracy is a way to explore new music. Sure, there are other ways to do that legally these days — I’m thinking Spotify — but different methods suit different people. Each to their own.
Also turns out Neil Young is keen to revamp digital music as a whole. “It’s not that digital is bad or inferior, it’s that the way it’s being used isn’t doing justice to the art,” Young said to All Things D. “The MP3 only has 5 per cent of the data present in the original recording. … The convenience of the digital age has forced people to choose between quality and convenience, but they shouldn’t have to make that choice.”
“Steve Jobs as a pioneer of digital music, and his legacy is tremendous,” Young said. “But when he went home, he listened to vinyl. And you’ve got to believe that if he’d lived long enough, he would have done what I’m trying to do.” Despite my fandom, I might disagree at this point: somehow I expect Jobs would have done it better than Young. [All Things D; Image: 6tee-zeven]
MotorMouth
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 8:45 AMIts easy for this jerk to say stuff like this, he made all his money last century and probably continues to do very well off his pensioner fan base. It is not artists like him that are being affected. I wonder how he’d have done if he had had to do all his own marketing and promotion when he was just starting out because there was no-one interested in managing him (no money in it any more) and nurturing his talent? I’m sure he’d be just another “Neil who?” without the record industry machinery that worked hard to give him a living.
Prometheus
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 9:28 AMWell, aren’t you closed minded…
I don’t know why Record labels LISTEN to the words of wisdom that have already arisen from TRUE fighters of privacy. Heard of Valve?
Imagine if the music industry started a TIME based advertisement sales approach. Say, I want a new Single, I don’t have the disposable cash for a CD or iTunes, but I’m still interested in getting it without serious moral repercussions.
Literally, take Neil’s “jerky” comment and run with it. Provide music the same way website creators deliver content. Make each download or SONG show a 30sec video about some Mazda or personalised ad; accompanied by a few banner ads. They’d make probably MORE money by doing this & be ACTUALLY legitimately fighting piracy on their own grounds.
Trying to dragged piracy onto the territory of the MIAA, it’ll never work because of stupidly made Copyright infringement which lasts sometimes 3 times the artists lifespan…
TSH
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10:28 AMhttps://www.guvera.com/
they’ve been doing this for a few years now. You can listen, and even download, legally and all you have to do is be exposed to ads. (sorry, this was meant to be a reply to Prometheus)
Blake
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 9:31 AMI have discovered so many bands through people copying and sharing them with me it’s not funny.
And guess what? It’s got me going to their gigs, buying their merch, making them money.
Far more money than they would’ve got if I’d bought a cd, and far far more times more than the zero I would’ve got had it not been for peoples ability to share.
Piracy probably hurts those in the top 40, they’re the ones being marketed and who would be selling all of the cds if people weren’t exposed to everything else around, the little guy just wants exposure.
Every single local band I’ve known/seen/talked to/interviewed has wanted everyone to share their music with everyone, because they’re artists who want their art out there, and their businessmen looking to sell tickets.
Blake
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 9:36 AMWhat they really need is a subscription model. I probably spend about 30 bucks a year on cds (plus a lot on tickets to actually support bands), but if there was a service that gave me unlimited access for $10/month I’d totally be using it.
The publishers would take 5/month making a total of 60/year, the other 5 dollars would be split between the musicians based on how many minutes I listened to each of them.
If there was a reliable service that could do this, I could listen to it anywhere, download and copy files around, you bet almost everyone I know would pay for it, and keep their subscription around ‘just in case’ something new they wanted came up.
The publishers would make far more money, the artists would make way more money, and we’d all have a better service.
Drew
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 9:43 AMJB Hifi Music Now service?
Rhapsody?
Spotify?
Blake
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10:01 AM*looks at them*
Spotify looked alright, downloaded the client before I noticed Australia was not one of the supported countries.
Rhapsody doesn’t look like it lets you download the music you listen to, it has a supported list of MP3 players. Blergh.
JB Hifi Music Now only has a free month for mobile users, and the first band I searched for ‘Karnivool’ only had one of their albums up there!
Maybe when Spotify hits Aus (assuming I hear about it) I’ll sign up then.
MDolley
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10:13 AMWhat about Zune Pass?
TSH
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10:27 AMhttps://www.guvera.com/
they’ve been doing this for a few years now. You can listen, and even download, legally and all you have to do is be exposed to ads.
jeremy
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 11:20 AMAll the major media started out as piracy – books, newspapers, printed music and drama publishing, Records, audio tapes, radio, TV, Video tapes, cable and now the internet. Eventually most evolve to support distributors and artists. Often distributors fail to cope with the changes and some go tits up, with thier death pains public to the extent of thier market clout. Artists on the other hand keep making art, because making art is not primarily about money but fullfilling the human need for expression and recognition. Please don’t confuse the fate of distributers with artists, it just muddies the water (a favourite track of media savvy distributers!) – making art will ALWAYS survive changes to distribution models.