It's Stealing

By Brian Burns

A few days ago we received word that Southwest Wholesale, THE major distributor for Texas Music, had closed its doors, ceased operations, and filed for bankruptcy. The primary reason was Southwest´s largest purchasing account Wherehouse Music recently filed bankruptcy. Southwest Wholesale and Wherehouse Music are only the latest in a long string of recent music industry casualties. The reason, plain and simple: people are not buying music anymore - they're stealing it. Technology has made music piracy so convenient and easy that the music industry is literally collapsing around us. I have heard all of the arguments, pro and con, about "music sharing" -- burning CDs, downloading and swapping MP3s, etc.

It's stealing. Period.

I rarely play a show lately where someone doesn't come up to me and casually say, "hey, I burned copies of your CDs for some friends of mine - now they're crazy about your stuff." It's the equivalent of saying, "hey, I went clothes shopping the other day and I stole a couple of cool t-shirts for my buddies while I was out - they loved 'em!" And I'm tired of hearing it, and I'm tired of hearing the ludicrous arguments in favor of it, and I'm going to start charging folks, on the spot, for music they've stolen from me. It's stealing, folks. There is no gray area: it's stealing.

The most common arguments:

"But it helps expose new listeners to your music." (Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, Tailgunner.) That's like saying you should be willing to work for free to expose new employers to your services. The writing, recording, and releasing of a music CD represents a monumental effort, a tremendous investment of time, work, and money. Once released, the first few thousand copies must be given away to radio, press, talent buyers, etc. So in the end, unless the artist can sell a hundred thousand copies, there's not much return on the investment. If the artist has created enough of a market for their music that people start stealing it, then the stealing is only hurting the artist at that point. Honestly, I am not interested in having people exposed to my music who are not willing to shell out fifteen measly bucks to enjoy what I have spent years of hard work to create.

"But it only hurts the big, greedy record companies." It hurts the entire music industry from the big, greedy record companies on down to the small-time independent artists like me. Just look at the closing of Southwest Wholesale. Not only are hundreds of Texas artists left without a distribution chain for their music, but they have LOST the product (and revenue) that's already out there. This not only represents a devastating loss of revenue for these artists, it also means you won't be seeing their CDs on store racks anymore.

"It helps shake out the weaker indy artists from the real stuff we want to hear." Unless the real stuff you want to hear is Shania, Eminem, or standard fare from the current Nashville dung heap, that's wrong. The artists who had distribution through Southwest Wholesale can't fall back on glitzy videos portraying them as space hookers, multi-million dollar techno-tours, TV commercials, or other non-musical revenue streams. They are singers and songwriters, and their craft is their trade - music - songs - live performances - and very importantly, CD sales.

"But you should be able to rely on live performances for your income." Okay. But if there's no longer any incentive for me to write or record songs, then what current Top-40 material should I compose my show of? Do you prefer a series of Garth Brooks medleys, or should I learn a few hours worth of "Skynyrd"?

None of these arguments work, but I hear them and others constantly from otherwise good, honest, reasonable hard-working folks. It is amazing how a man will look you in the eye and tell you the sky is not blue - if a blue sky is not part of his agenda.
IT´S STEALING.

Obviously, I feel very strongly about this issue. If you love Texas Music, support it - don't give your favorite artists´ work away to your friends. If you're going to steal, at least make it worth the effort: steal Cooder Graw´s tour bus or something worthwhile. Handing a friend a burned copy of the latest Davin James CD is like saying, "here, Leonard, I like you enough to screw Davin James out of fifteen bucks, but not enough to spend fifteen bucks on YOU." ;-) If you've come onto an illegal copy and you like the music, go out and buy a real copy: it's only fifteen bucks! If you've burned a copy for a friend, ask that friend if she likes the CD. If she does, bring her a real copy and have her pay you for it.

And if you really want to get involved, report criminal web sites such as www.txrebel.com, www.audiogalaxy.com and www.kazaa.com to the FBI.

Scream - loud as you can!

That's it. I'm done. Thank you for letting me vent.

Brian Burns
http://www.brianburnsmusic.com