We couldn't have said it better... Support your scene !
As the music industry grapples with the reality of the illegal proliferation of music and film content, that is in actuality the intellectual and fiscal property of its artist creators. As a musician who has come from the 'pre-internet age' and seeing the impact first hand on my own income source, which has been lessened. Whilst I am for the industry developing as many protective measures as possible to remind the public that illegal downloading is in fact virtual theft, I also understand the reflex to take something that appears to be 'free' via any and such rogue web sources. I personally trust that the free radical nature of the internet in this respect will evolve towards a more controlled culture where both the artist and fan will reach a middle ground as we see more and more artists offering many free content to audiences. From my 'artists' perspective, I'd say that I am concerned about a worst case scenario whereby the uncontrolled illegal free pilfering of art (the property of the Artist) will lead to the nigh on radical decline and dissuasion of budding artists to even begin to surface, as well as rendering present artists redundant and, ironically, being destroyed by the very same fans that enjoy the work. Fans might want to be careful about this syndrome. In essence, the WWW does offer fantastic new ways of sharing art, through ever budding new ways to continue that wonderful conversation between the artist and the audience.
Peter Murphy
September 2012.
