BitTorrent music downloads helping artists: report
Downloading music illegally using platforms like BitTorrent is the enemy of record labels, but a report suggests it might actually be good news for the musicians themselves.
BitTorrent is a way of sharing files – music, movies and TV shows – between different people on the Internet.
While there are some legal uses for BitTorrent transfers, a majority of traffic is illegal file sharing. In fact, Musicmetric, a group which tracks torrent traffic, found the most shared file in Canada was Kanye West’s album ‘Watch the Throne.’ Strangely, it was the Americans who were after Canadian rapper Drake’s single, ‘The Motto,’ making it the most shared music file in the U.S.
But while recording companies might cringe at the thought of losing tens of millions of dollars in lost sales, some musicians say file sharing is good news.
“You get people who actually want to listen to your songs and come to (a concert), who wouldn't necessarily buy the album,” he said.
“"You can live off your sales and you can allow people to illegally download it and come to your gigs. My gig tickets are £18 and my album is £8, so it's all relative.”
Meanwhile, music guru Alan Cross wrote a blog post about how streaming music is better for the environment than physical music sales, such as CDs.
Between the energy used to make the disc itself, package it, ship it and sell it – streaming a digital file direct to your phone is much better for the Earth.
How do you get your music? Via BitTorrent? iTunes? A physical store?
- Maurice Cacho, MSN Tech & Gadgets
Comments
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Posted by: Ramesh | Sep 25, 2012 8:33:11 AM
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Posted by: Mike | Sep 28, 2012 11:15:46 AM
I tend to use torrents as research. When I hear of an artist that I'm not familiar with, I'll download a sampling of their music. If I judge it worthwhile, I'll buy the music, if possible directly from the artist.
That way I can avoid the dreck that permeates corporate music and skim off the top 1% of truly worthwhile music.
I have no love of giant music conglomerates but I am willing to pay an artist for his or her work.