Urban myth: illegal downloading stealing legit album sales

Remember when people thought the Earth was flat, or that cannabis was completely harmless, that Terry Wogan did not wear a hair piece, and that Coca Cola invented Santa.

If people hear something often enough, they start to believe it. Album and single sales started to decline around the time the Internet started to grow, ergo illegal downloading took revenue from the music industry. Absolute and utter poppycock, complete bobbins, fabricated nonsense spun by lazy music executives who can't come up with new ways to make money in a rapidly changing world.

Jessie J, she of absolutely amazing talent, was heard saying on Radio 1 yesterday "fans don't realise that if they download my music illegally I won't be able to make a second album". Hmmm, let me get this straight. Firstly, and I've said this before, does she really think that every illegal download would have been a single/album sale? She's damn good, and possibly the best new talent to come out of the UK, but really?! Second, surely her "fans" are actually very likely to buy her music in a legit way, be that download or physical, as well as going to her concerts and subscribing to whatever else her mgmt company has the commercial sense to put out there.

What is definitely progress, is the fact that music you hear on the radio will now be available to download immediately. At last! It's only taken the labels a million years to realise that this is by far one of the biggest frustrations about trying to buy music to listen to as soon as you first hear it. Maybe they are finally starting to think about how people consume music, rather than thinking about the transaction - legit or not - these are two completely different things and probably increasingly unrelated.

Don't Care How, I Want it Now!

It was Summer today, so I decided to go out for a leisurely Sunday morning run. Actually by the time I had decided what I should wear as it got hotter and hotter, and what music I should run to - radio, because I was just taking it easy, it was more like midday. So off I went for my run in the midday sun, and did indeed pass a few mad dogs and English men, also out chasing pavements.

Radio 1, Fearne Cotton, to be precise, proved great company and even made me laugh out loud a few times - yes it is difficult to run and laugh at same time. And as aways it gave me the chance to hear the odd new-music track shoehorned in between the current play list of songs, which are generally played at least three or four times every day. You know them - a bit of Take That, FloRida, Rihanna, Kanye, Kings of Leon yada yada. But just occasionally you do get that gem of a song that makes you think - whoaaah, where can I get that? I had one such moment today when a song by somebody featuring GaGa was played. And then Fearne says that the release date for download was the end of August. What???!!! You mean I have to wait 3 weeks to be able to legally download something Ive just heard on the radio? On what broadband-saturated, digital-age planet does that sound sensible? Whatever! I thought, I will just go without - didn't like it that much anyway.

Now rewind to about 3 weeks ago and it was a different story. I'm on my way to salsa one evening, and I hear Zane Lowe battling against some very hip and trendy DJs, when they drop a track which I decide simply has to be the soundtrack to my Summer. Anyway, by Ducksauce (aka Armand van Helden and A-Trak) is just a wicked blend of soul, funky house and harmonising vocals - everything I like rolled into one. That very weekend, I go onto napster to find the track - no joy. I then try i-tunes - same. Nothing, nada, not even a link or release date on A-Traks Myspace page. What is a girl to do? The good weather is all but over, and my soundtrack song, which will paint my Summer memories a lovely rosy hue is not available.

So, I put my googling, interrogation skills to good use and found an mp3 of the track on some random site. Was it an illegal download? To be honest, I really don't know. All I do know is that I was more than happy to pay for it, and perhaps listen to, and buy some of their other tracks, but they weren't ready for me to buy it yet. Hello??!!! And then bands and record companies complain about file sharing ,and not getting paid for digital content. Hello??!! Wake up and smell the coffee. Even Jay-Z said it on Zane Ls show a few weeks ago. Recorded, or digital music is like something that's in the clouds, its free, and difficult to monetise. Get over it, stop making it difficult for people to buy digital content, stop giving the file sharers a good reason to go down the illegal route. When I hear something on the radio, I want to be able to buy it. End of. Get with the program and figure out the new business models. The Internet has not time for inefficiency, and middlemen who add no value. Simply folding your arms, and spending all of your efforts on trying to lock the digital walls after the horse has not only bolted but is enjoying a skinny, soy latte with an extra shot in Starbucks, is getting tiring.