Scott Ian: Steal Songs, Lose Your Internet
Scott Ian, riff-ologist of Anthrax, recently conducted an interview and stated that people stealing music off the Internet is stealing, and that if you do so, you should lose your Internet privileges.
While Ian has a point, he’s getting all Lars Ulrich/Napster on us, and is missing some bigger pieces of the puzzle. In my opinion he is incorrect when he states that “back in the day” people paid for music, and the only way to get it for free was to go into a store and shoplift the physical product. This is, of course, not true. I would be surprised if he didn’t make his own copies of music back then…with blank cassette tapes. Trust me: anyone that old, including everyone I know from my childhood, did. Lars Ulrich freely admits that he and James Hetfield did this regularly, and that’s how they introduced each other to their influences, such as Diamond Head and Killing Joke.
The fact of the matter is that the record companies continue to be very greedy, people are fed up with it, and refuse to pay list price of $20 for an album of music. Regardless of what Ian thinks, they are willing to pay for music, which is why Apple’s iTunes, which emphasizes individual tracks over full albums, thrives. They’ve discovered a model that works handsomely for them: give people a reasonable product at a reasonable price, and they will pay for it. Apple has found people’s currency, and it’s been working splendidly for them for years.
So I’m not here to tell people that they should go and download all the albums they want and not give the artist any money for it. What I’m saying is that Ian’s summary of the situation is shallow. The business and model has changed because the way people listen to music has changed. Once the majority of artists and record companies figure this out, and cater to customers’ needs, the sooner I can stop reading ridiculously flimsy assessments of the state of the music industry and the so-called impact piracy has had on it.
(Source: roadrunnerrecords.com)
