Radiohead's Ed O'Brien - 'Piracy isn't killing music'

Algernon

Radiohead's Ed O'Brien has hit out at claims that piracy is killing the music industry.

Expressing his thoughts on the situation, the guitarist explained that whilst pirates might not purchase music, they are still putting money into the industry.

"I have a problem when people in the industry say 'it's killing the industry, it's the thing that's ripping us apart'," O'Brien said in an interview on Midem. "I don't actually believe it is... [Pirates] might not buy an album, but they're spending their money buying concert tickets, a t-shirt, whatever."

In the interview, O'Brien also added what solutions the industry could be making to remedy the problem.

"It's an analogue business model in a digital era," he explained. "The business model has to change. You've got to license out more music - have more Spotifys, more websites selling more music. You've got to make it slightly cheaper to get music in order to compete with the peer-to-peers."

He added: "I find it staggering that the industry seems to be really dragging its heels on this - this is stuff that you could do in one week. Move quicker!"

Meanwhile, Radiohead have announced that they will play a one-off gig for Oxfam's Haiti earthquake emergency response appeal this weekend (January 24).

So, this old chestnut again. I find myself in complete agreement with him. It is completely disingenuous to state that piracy is killing off either music or the music industry. As far as I am concerned, if people are illegally downloading a bands music, that means more people are out there listening to it, and more people will turn up to your gigs. In addition, as stated above, if you make music more easily accessible for a small fee, you will compete with the P2Ps more effectively.

dasdog

I'd say maybe we are a decade off this "industry" bollix finally withering out. Magazine cvnts and drug fiends who get free drinks your day is coming. File sharing is idea sharing and it will eventually lead to something you might part cash with to listen too.

Jay P

He's a smart guy.

But of course, some people will say "It's well for him, sure he's already a millionaire", but that isn't really the point. the point is that the music industry is changing has already changed, whether big record companies and massive bands like it or not. People aren't willing to pay €15 for an album when they can get it for free.

All that said, I still buy a lot of CDs, and will continue to do so as long as I can. Not to support the bands, they get hardly any of that money anyway, but just so I can have a physical copy of the CD. It's a nice thing to have.

Mars Bar

I agree with him too!

I didn't buy any Elton John albums when I got into him, first thing I did was buy a ticket to see him in Limerick. I bought the Live album of that concert that Concert Live did. I would never have gotten into Elton if I didn't download his music.

Same with Bruce Springsteen. Have seen him twice, but have bought many albums. All because I downloaded some of his music.

projectmayhem

Jay P wrote: »

But of course, some people will say "It's well for him, sure he's already a millionaire", but that isn't really the point. the point is that the music industry is changing has already changed, whether big record companies and massive bands like it or not. People aren't willing to pay €15 for an album when they can get it for free.

Of course, but it's worth knowing that there's stats out there that prove that about 10% of all bands control about 80/90% of the money in the music industry... so small indie bands and artists will never get a piece of that rather large pie simply because they are not U2 or whoever. However small the artist, though, the record label will always stand to gain.

The anti-piracy movement has mainly been lead by industry groups representing the labels, not the artists. For every Bono that comes out and trashes the 'scum' who download music, there's another artist who says downloading has helped him make money through touring and what not.

just-joe

I also agree, and think of a quote that a great musician from my area said a while ago "buying CDs is for old people with lots of money. you've got your later life for that kind o craic".

How can people without tons of cash be expected to choose between downloading for free and buying for 15 euros or more? It really isn't a choice at all?! Thats twice the minimum wage, and people just don't have money to shell out on CDs... So record companies need to wise up and at least make it competitive.
Especially with youtube playlists or sites like jukefly.com, a lot of the time people listen to music these days they're generally beside computers with broadband (the obvious counterexample being in transit with an ipod, but anyway), you don't even need to download, just type and go.

And so I'm in the exact same boat as people who don't buy lots of CDs but then will go to concerts. Ray Lamontagne, Damien Rice, U2 for me...

Charging loads for the concerts is a whole other topic I guess..

The Pontiac

Illegal downloading isn't killing music. Gifted artists aren't going to suddenly stop making music because there's no money in it. Making money from albums (for most artists) is a thing of the past, and live performances are where the money is now. The Madonnas and Lily Allens will just have to get over themselves and accept it. Realistically, do they really think their comments are going to make a difference?

The music industry screwed us for years anyway - €17 for a new release on cd. A cd was cheaper to produce than cassette or vinyl, but they saw the opportunity to screw us. What goes around comes around, I guess..

Jay P

<Ollie> wrote: »

Illegal downloading isn't killing music. Gifted artists aren't going to suddenly stop making music because there's no money in it. Making money from albums (for most artists) is a thing of the past, and live performances are where the money is now. The Madonnas and Lily Allens will just have to get over themselves and accept it. Realistically, do they really think their comments are going to make a difference?

Actually, didn't Lily Allen decide to quit making music because too many people were downloading her shít music for free?

The Pontiac

Jay P wrote: »

Actually, didn't Lily Allen decide to quit making music because too many people were downloading her shít music for free?

It would seem strange to me that she couldn't make money from gigs, radio play royalties etc..

qwertplaywert

Jay P wrote: »

Actually, didn't Lily Allen decide to quit making music because too many people were downloading her shít music for free?

I thought that was because she was on her huge anti-piracy tirade, and once people started posting on her blog about the fact she had[without permission] posted copyrighted material of hers[owned by her record company] on her website for free, she mysteriously stopped her anti-piracy tirade, and 'retired'?



FYI- I'm pretty sure she came out of retirement a few days after that