Sitting here, listening to Adele’s hotly anticipated Bond theme, the last thing on my mind is whether or not the song made it to it’s release date unheard by the public. The powerful vocals and OTT-for-anything-but-a-Bond-song orchestra certainly make an impression, but the fact that Skyfall was leaked only hours before it was due to be wouldn’t normally register. Music leaking has become such a standard part of society that for an album to make it to sale without having been shared with millions beforehand would be very unusual. With so many artists falling victim to music theft, HCX wonders – is it possible now to have a world without piracy?
When Jay Z and Kanye West began recording their now infamous album, “Watch The Throne”, they left nothing to chance in protecting their material. Copies of the songs were allegedly kept on finger print protected hard drives; collaborators had to travel to wherever Jay Z and Kanye were in order to make their contributions; and the album was recorded in pop-up studios in hotels around the world. The extreme measures worked, with the music remaining under wraps until its release date in August 2011. Seems a bit intense, right? However more and more artists are following suit in ensuring their music remains for their ears only until it’s ready.
Taio Cruz, Jessie J and Example are just some of the UK artists going to more extreme lengths to protect their work, although the latter points out that “I’ve been quite lucky that I’ve never had anything leaked but I’m not as popular as Jay-Z and Kanye West – that’s probably why.”! However, not everyone sees music leaking as a negative – in fact, in some cases it’s the artist themselves who leak a track to generate publicity. The same attitude applies to music piracy – Ed Sheeran told the BBC that he’s not too bothered if people want to illegally download his music. With 1.2 million album sales, he sees the other 8 million illegal downloads as a positive, arguing that the more people who hear his music, the more people who buy tickets to his gigs.
Illegal downloading is a huge part of our culture these days. When quizzed, the main reason put forward by friends was money. With student loans, food and bills to fund, paying for music does not feature as a high priority when it’s so easily available for free. It’s undeniable – illegal music downloading is increasingly popular. But at what cost? In 2007, Jammie Thomas was ordered to pay over $200,000 for illegally downloading 24 songs. And in August this year, American Joel Tenenbaum was fined £426,000 for illegally downloading and distributing 31 songs. However the overwhelming consensus seems to be a ‘it will never happen to me’ mentality.
The ultimate question is – how moral is illegal downloading, how much does it really affect artists, and are such severe punishments justifiable? In an ideal world, everyone would be able to pay for music, but is it better or worse that people obtain it through other means?