Confessions of a former music pirate
Posted on May 5, 2008
Filed Under Music |
“Dude, I burned Toby’s first record.” Strange words to speak to the Vice-President of EMI CMG records, home of David Crowder Band, Switchfoot, TobyMac, Edison Glass, and others. By traditional thinking, these words were, at worst career-killers, and at best, really really stupid. But I had faith that Grant Hubbard, referred to by many as “The Godfather of Christian radio” would understand my motives. After years a a rabid music pirate, I was ready to spread a different message. (By the way, the side bar bio is still broken. this is tower. I do afternoons on 89.7 Shine.FM Chicago. You can stream my show at www.shine.fm).
This change of heart had come primarily from two experiences. The first was my college RD, Matt. After returning from a conference where he learned that 90% of all albums made lose money, Matt threw away all of his burned CD’s and deleted all non-purchased music from his iTunes library.
This got me thinking about my own choices. As an early adopter of Napster, I loved leaving the dial-up connected overnight (keep in mind that it was 2001 and I lived on my parents farm 15 miles from town), and waking up to a new batch of songs. When I got to college, I discovered the “joy” of trading music via AOL Insant Messenger’s “File Transfer” feature. Soon, I had built an immense library in excess of 10,000 songs. And the ripping was continual. If a guy in the dorm went and purchased a just released album, it wasn’t unusual for 25 copies to be made by the end of the night.
But what should have been a music fan’s dream turned out to be…not that satisfying. Listening to music digressed into just skimming tracks for 30 seconds at a time, never settling in enough to listen to a full song, let alone an album. In high school, there had been a thrill to ripping the shrink-wrap off of a CD, popping in the disc, reading the liner notes. But when I started pirating music en-mass, that thrill, the connection to the songs and the artist, began to fade away. If you’ve ever seen the episode of The Simpsons episode where Bart sells his soul, and is no longer feel anything, it’s a pretty good depiction of what my listening experience had become.
These days, the feeling is back. I can’t wait until next Tuesday, when the new Death Cab for Cutie project, Narrow Stairs, hits the shelf at my local Best Buy. Now that I’m purchasing rather than downloading, getting new music is like dining at a fine restaurant or hanging with my best friends in downtown Chicago: half the fun is the anticipation. I’ve read all the buzz on this album. I’ve listened to clips, and hunted down information in the blogs to discover that the lyrical content was heavily inspired by one of my literary heroes and strongest writing influences, Jack Kerouac.
What I love about digging into Kerouac’s writing is that he got so much out of life by finding meaning and passion in things and situations that others only saw as common, disposable…which was the view I took of music when during my days of rabid pirating. Now that I choose to exchange my hard earned money for art, I have a lot less albums on my iPod.
But listening is a much greater joy than it’s ever been, because music is special again.
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5 Responses to “Confessions of a former music pirate”
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That’s really good to hear! I’ve been going through my music too and getting rid of stuff I didn’t pay for or don’t own anymore.
I think that most of us fell into the “Napster Trap”. It was so easy to get a wide variety music that we didn’t think twice. As I am learning more and more about the music industry I am amazed by the number of people that pirating affects. We think the artists are making so much money and do not stop to think of everyone else who depends on the record sale. I also think that it is really cool that you had someone to influence you in that way. Everyone needs a “Matt” in their lives to challenge their thinking.
I was totally diggin this post (I had a very similar experience in college and totally agree that there is such a thrill in buying a new album, and listening to it enough to fully appreciate it) until I read that you’re going to go to your “local” best buy.
Don’t you live in Chicago? Aren’t there still at least a few good independent record stores in that great city? LOCAL Best Buy? Best Buy is not local, you might have a local store, but it is hardly local.
Part of the thrill of buying records for me is spending time in the record store, talking to the clerks, perusing the other albums (that I always wish I had the money for all of).
Record stores are closing everyday and here you go talking about buying records at Best Buy… please if you’re going to exchange your money for art, do it at a retailer who appreciates that art!
I don’t think I could have written a closer description of my last 8 years, our lives are somewhat identical! Same experience - got hooked on Napster in college, kept it going until new years day 2007 I decided to stop downloading. I love music again so much more-
I am a proud music “pirate”. I’ve learned too much about the corrupt nature of the label system to feel otherwise. I buy artist direct (at shows) as much as possible, to eliminate the middleman. When your friend Matt told you that 90% of all albums made lose money, was that for the band? Or lose money for the label? It can’t be proven that downloading a song automatically devalues an album. But it can be proven, and is proven continually, that the outmoded business model that the major labels cling to is the poison pill that will someday soon bring an end to their regime.