By Leanna Pankratz (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: May 9, 2012
Piracy: It’s a Crime. This statement has perforated our ears since the advent of digital music. It serves as a warning to those to dare to share – music or movie files, that is. Services like Napster, Limewire, (and the recent Lime replacement, Frostwire) have all served as contributions to our need for (and let’s be honest here, folks. I know we all do it) free media files – all unfortunately falling victim to the fact that the music industry really doesn’t like its consumers downloading free songs.
An increasingly popular choice among our media-savvy population continues to be Swedish website The Pirate Bay – self-described as “The galaxy’s most resilient BitTorrent site.” Resilient it is, my friends. So far, the unabashed website has outlasted many of its predecessors and fellow torrent locales in the race to stay in the game. The Pirate Bay has also proven to be a buffer of success for young, aspiring artists who are able to advertise for free on the website. While some may strongly argue against such websites for inhibiting capital gained by artists and the businessmen behind them, several artists themselves have expressed their utmost respect for The Pirate Bay in particular – shattering all illusions of getting paid, and attempting to ground themselves in the public eye as lovers of music, first and foremost, rather than business. This is a move that no doubt has left record companies shaking in their Italian loafers. Artists, it would appear, don’t need big labels any more.
George Barnett, an independent artist featured worldwide on The Pirate Bay, states in a blurb alongside his music (available for free!), “When people ask if it is legal, I say, yeah. I own the masters, and the rights. I’m not tied down to a label, and I can do whatever the f**k I like. Thank you Pirate Bay.”
“We do this for fun, and ultimately for the love of the culture – something the big record labels certainly do not,” states The Pirate Bay’s elusive Winston to the online publication, TorrentFreak.
Local students and music consumers also have something to say about the availability of free product. “I love music,” states Matt Thiessen, a 21-year-old UFV student who keeps The Pirate Bay at the top of his bookmarked websites. “I am a guitarist in a newly formed band,” he continues, “and can really think of no reason why I wouldn’t want our songs available for free download on a website like The Pirate Bay. The one thing any music artist yearns for is exposure – for people to ultimately know about, and want to listen to the music we produce.”
He motions to a file on his laptop that holds his multitudinous finds from websites like The Pirate Bay. “It’s not just the platinum artists I’ve downloaded here. A lot of this music comes from unknowns, not unlike myself, who just want to share their music with the world for the love of the craft.”
While there is little economic merit in advertising a new band to a demographic already perusing a website for free product, one cannot argue with such statements that uphold the purity of the art.
I can’t think of any reason why a young, unestablished artist would turn their face away from free exposure of any sort. The Rihannas and Britneys of the world may not approve, but I certainly see a bright future for young, fresh artists looking for a way to get their names, and ultimately, their melodies out to the crowds.
