The Reveille gets free CDs – hundreds of them every year; rock, hip-hop, country, techno, jazz – anything we want. Everyday we receive dozens of new CDs from the hottest artists as well up and coming groups. We get to hear music that most people don’t even know about – months in advance.
And it is all free.
Guess who sends it to us? Let me give you a hint: it is the same people who are suing thousands of people across the nation for obtaining free music. That’s right, the record companies.
Somehow, The Reveille and other media outlets alike get free music without penalty because, in turn, we are supposed to give them publicity.
I think this is wrong.
Although The Reveille does have a code of ethics marring employees from engaging in such activities, there is no telling what an employee could do with it. I could obtain advanced copies of CDs and post them on the Web for download. Of course, I do not participate in these actions, but that’s not the point.
The fact is that the scenario is entirely possible.
So, why do the record companies trust me? After all, I am roughly the same age as the four college students who were sued in April for illegally obtaining and distributing downloaded music. In those cases, the students paid sums in the range of $12,000 to $17,000.
But, for the sake of a little free publicity, these record companies take that risk. They know it is a gamble because they have long suspected the media of pre-sale music leaks.
Their suspicion is rightly warranted.
Last year, when Tori Amos was doing promotion for her album “Scarlet’s Walk,” she took the precaution of sending journalists advance copies of her record in portable CD players sealed shut with special glue. This was to prevent her music from being prematurely leaked.
Increasingly, music albums are being posted to the Internet prior to the on-sale date or even worse – before the record even is complete.
Bands like Radiohead and Audioslave have suffered from Internet leaks of their albums before they were completed.
Brad Wilk, drummer for Audioslave told a Montana newspaper, the Great Falls Tribune, that “[file-sharing] is the worst part of the Internet. It’s not when people download your record, it’s when people download your demos and say it’s your record.”
Wilk sums it up saying: “If you’re an artist and you do a sketch and you’re not even close to getting started or finished for that matter and all of a sudden it’s out there for people to see … as an artist, that sucks.”
I agree.
Okay, so that’s an extreme case, but who are the record companies kidding when they say one form of free music is better than another. Essentially, the record companies are my form of KaZaA.
A few weeks ago, a member of our staff called a record company and requested a few CDs we wanted to review for our newspaper. Two days later, The Reveille received a box of CDs from the industry’s hottest artists.
It was like taking candy from a baby.
Of course, the record companies trust that we will use the music in a responsible fashion, but that is not always the case.
Most CDs The Reveille receives come with this warning on the package: “For Promotional Use Only. Sale or Transfer is Prohibited. Must be returned On Demand of Recording Company.”
In the five years I have been a journalist I have never heard of a record company requesting the return of a CD. However, I have heard of record companies pursuing music fans for downloading music off the Web – the same music fans they are trying to reach when they send me free CDs.
I am an illegal music downloader, who also receives free music from record companies. Both means of obtaining music assist me in my writing and appreciation of music.
Sue me.
It seems to me the recording industry is being hypocritical. Free music obtained through KaZaA is bad, but giving free music to the media is okay because the record company will benefit monetarily.