What Are You Buying When You Buy Music?

By Jeff Price

What is it you are buying when you buy music?  It used to be much easier to think about when music was being bought on a 12” piece of vinyl in a big cardboard sleeve or a 5” circular piece of plastic in a “jewel box”.  It felt tangible, no matter the fact that what you were really buying was something that when used with a turntable, CD player, amplifier and speakers created in tangible sound waves – the rest was packaging and a way to deliver those sound waves to your ears.   It somehow just made sense.

With a download, things changed; no more physical packaging, just zeroes and ones downloading to a flash or hard drive that also came with virtual images. So when you buy music via download what is it you just actually bought?  Is it those specific zeros and ones that when played on you computer creates the sound of the song or is it something greater?  Have you actually bought the “song” itself no matter how it is delivered to you?

Or to take it a step further, if in 1967 you bought Days of Future Passed by the Moody Blues, do you have right to get it for free in another format, lets say CD or MP3s?

If you already own the complete works of U2 on CD, are you actually doing anything illegal if you download all of the same music via a peer to peer or bit-torrent networking or are you simply saving your self the trouble of having to “rip” your CDs to your computer?

To get even more complicated, different digital stores sell the music in different formats – i.e.–  Amazon sells music as MP3s, iTunes sells music as AACs, Napster sells music in the WMA format etc. You can even buy music in one format and change it into another.  For example, you can purchase an iTunes AAC file and convert it into an MP3.

Whereas previously there was difference between what you could do with, let’s say, a CD vs. vinyl, this difference does not exist despite a song being in a different format - songs can still be: started and stopped with a single click, be fast forwarded to a later section, be included in playlists, burnt onto CDs, put in customized song orders etc.

So again, what is it you exactly bought?

I honestly do not have a complete answer.  I do think that if you buy a song via download, you own that “song”, not the song in a particular format.  And if you already own a song via paid download, and then download the song again via a peer to peer network, you have done nothing wrong.  I am not sure yet what I think if you own the music on CD, after all, a CD is “digital” music.  Does the fact that its burned onto a CD as opposed to downloaded onto your hard drive really make a difference?

And even more important, should we even care? 

Let us know what you think….

Comments

[Justin West]

You are buying a license to play the music in whichever format you've paid for. That is all, and nothing more. A license and 15¢ of plastic.

[True free markets - not marxist corporate monopoly - are the key to arts & culture]

The good news is that the digital revolution decentralizes the creation, production, & distribution of a number of things, not least obvious, music. Lest anyone misinterpret the news dis-interpreters, the more concentrated and centralized things get - the less direct accountability and integrity any given system has to the free marketscape of products, services, & ideas.

The bad news is that there is no clear effort or plan for digital distributors to simulate in any way what was so beautiful about the vinyl album... Its scale, its artwork, its complete identity as an object of value. That’s not ALL bad, but rather than thinking of how to reduce the options, why not think in terms of expansion?

If one thinks of how digital photography evolves to simulate the warmth of print photography; even lap tops evolve to simulate the intimacy of a book. A digital "record" might also evolve to simulate the complete object of a vinyl disk.

One seemingly obvious way to achieve this would be to format a record album much the way we format a dvd/movie. One complete digital file… artwork & all.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy the a la carte menu - it's a brilliant, affordable, and revolutionary way to build a vast library of one's preferred choice without being forced to acquire every last filler enforced by a deaf & dumb A&R soldier, corporate tyrant, or other such malignant narcissist naturally attracted to pop culture.

Choice is the key to liberty, markets, arts, culture, & the level playing field. Rather than regulate or narrow the format, the natural evolution should be to further broaden the means of delivery. We're all educated by Prussian Authoritarians to believe "money is the root of all evil." The truth is, whenver an individual spends a shekel they are voting for something & someone. The fewer controls the monopolists have over what consumers are exposed to on the first display case - when the choices are as maximized as reality, this is when our money is transformed from something "evil" into the voice of, not least of all, the greater number of us in the world who have the least amount of it. It is counter-intuitive, as the truth can be. This configuration, the price system, is the closest We The People will ever get to having true Democracy.

However, there is no reason why an mp3 should be infinitely duplicated from one host to another. It would seem fairly easy to protect the artist/producers from degrading the price/value of their work by simple encoding. It used to work fine the way Mac was set up so a consumer could share purchased music with each of their own computer/pods and any friend they might feel generous enough with their password. Gifts & charity - not theft, coercion, & re-distribution - are the essence of a truly free society.

Why do I think there is some corporate conspiracy going on between the dinosaur record co. monopolists & iTunes?

It strikes me as a strategic move to employ Napster's initially valiant technique of removing the monopoly strangle hold of the monopolists - with minor collateral damage - but this time - maximum collateral damage to the artists as is always the case in big Corp - to merely disempower & punish those artists who are managing to create high quality work without the blessings and divine rights of the tone deaf monopolist & Ponzi payola thugs who are bent on owning the entire dog & pony show.
I am grateful to Tunecore for offering real art & culture (along with junk/amateur culture) a level playing field and an open gateway to the hungry hearts and ears among us who seek quality & integrity based on our own terms, taste, & choice - at an affordable & fair price. In this environment, the cream - not the crap - rises to the top. I hope Tunecore understands the concept and long term value of their role in the market place of ideas. I hope they continue to help in keeping the game clean. This is not only good for art, culture, & "democracy" - but it's also good for commerce & liberty.

[Mark Ryder]

don't even get me started I have been saying this for years about mp3's being air..

So we are now selling air and what does that mean for me....my overheads have dropped and my risk has dropped im looking at potential millions in sales worldwide (once i get all my sh*t sorted).

the problem is just how I sell my 'music' to my fans and what I seem to have to do to sell it

although I can make millions now with little out lay I feel I am totally losing my reasons for doing what I do because the music has become worthless and I feel more like im pimping myself with all this bullshit twitter / myspace/ facebook..blah blah boll*ks..

such a contradiction that I can make more money now but the music has no value to me its just air for sale it better change again into something real that has a real value and sounds good in a club also....

as for 'what do customers own'
its never been legal to copy music whether from record to tape or radio to cd and when you buy something that's what you buy (what ever the package is) . if its sold as an mp3 you cant make it into another format(copy it) at least that's the current uk law although there are person uses that are tolerated but you still have to retain the original purchased version.

what's changed ..now the music has to be crushed into a mp3 format and that is plan crap! they call it a compression format for a reason..
its a crap format for club sound system especially but im having to move into this invisible digital format because that's what customers want and I have since 1988 owned all my music entirely for the world which is around 500 plus tracks and many albums worldwide making me quite unique in this bizness
a sort of mini independent dance music scene.

AKA ukunderground

but I wonder if I have lost my mojo on the music because its not got that magic associated with buying collecting & searching out hard to get vinyl and just playing vinyl or getting that that limited pressing all those added value things which are being replaced by a 'bit more of the artist personality' this is drifting but im sure you get it
People need to buy into something and now they expect more from the artist and that might be fine for a lot of you but its a bit too much 'pimping out side the box' to me ..ok so im an old skool purist about music but that to me is what its about MUSIC that's all I want people to buy and if they want it in the 'air' format that's ok then but like this blog suggests what are customers getting (or maybe expecting)? the question is asked because we don't know but I can already see it and im not pimping myself to sell a few more downloads...

20 yeas in the game but like most people just not sure about this format or its evolution and what people are expecting from it and the value they place on the music has changed because of it..

Mark Ruff Ryder
Strictly underground records
true to the scene since 1988

[Victoria Salato]

It's really simple, my friends. What you are buying isn't the record itself, the 1's-and-0's, or any other nonsense. What you are buying is your own emotions. You liked how this music made you feel when you first heard it, so you buy it. This is no different than the principles used in all marketing, including drug dealing.

[Skip Hahn]

It used to be so simple, you buy a record and you own it. You could tape it to play in your car, or you could buy the packaged tape for all the extras like j-card for the playlist. Pictures sometimes would come with the packaging. Now you have people trying to make money or what( more friends)? Spreading it all around to their friends and family by copying (- the packaging) and basically bootlegging the stuff. Downloading and emailing etc from internet makes it so easy to screw the ARTISTs out of money that should be rightfully theirs... who knows if it will ever be safe to release your music on any future format again? Then you still have music download companies wanting to own your music once you offer through their download mechanism, just like the record companies of yesteryear, this is what I personally have observed just trying to offer thru even this site. I did not like the fine print at the end of the upload process, so I pulled it off of there...
Just print your own copies and sell from the trunk of your car. There will still be the buyer who abuses the copyright and makes copies for friends, hopefully on a smaller level... Geez Louise!

[David]

What you have bought is no longer definable by type. It is now often down to the artist or company selling it to you. Take NIN for example, they encourage their fans to share their music, they give away a free MP3 version of their latest album, but by doing so managed to sell millions of copies of the same album via a special CD edition.

Some artist don't want their music shared. Some retailers 'allow' you to rip copies into different formats. Some retailers only sell DRM versions, some sell DRM free versions.

Nothing about the music industry is dying, except the control on it that some companies and record labels had over it.

The price paid for a song is changing, but who's to say that the original price that was basically controlled by the big labels wasn't overpriced in the first place? Only now the consumer has the chance to buy the same songs for much cheaper, sometimes for free, because some artists and companies have changed direction of the industry by offering different formats with different price points, often based on costs to them.

The only people really complaining about the changes which they state are "killing" the industry are those that can no longer reap big profits from products that were over priced in the first place, controlled by a select few that had access to the right equipment and resources.

The only thing that is really dying is the level of album sales. That's because consumers now have the ability to buy the 3 songs they like on an album separately rather than having to buy the whole album to get it, why should the customer have to abide by the label's means of extorting money from fans by only letting their favorite songs be part of an album and not a single sale?

There is still as much, if not more money to be made, but the methods to do so are changing, selling less of more is now the way most successful artists and labels are making their money, by adapting to changes that are largely consumer driven, and listening to and accepting what the consumer wants and how they want it, you can achieve a living in music.

I own a small record label, we are doing quite well, I believe that's because we aren't shy of the changes happening, and are listening to what the consumer wants, instead of forcing old, dead, practices on them.

If all we did was cling on to old values, methods, and practices then we'd still be banging on log drums around a fire for entertainment.

[Ted Moniak]

I have enjoyed hearing various opinions, and thought I'd share mine: I do not believe that music can be bought or sold, because I do not see how one could buy or sell the excitation of air molecules. It seems to me that one can only buy the packaging. So in a sense: music is a "service", rather than a product. You can pay for the service, or barter for it, or someone can decide to provide the service for free. You can sell a vinyl record, a cd, a tape that makes it convenient to listen to certain musics; you can sell "sheet music", but really you are selling the paper and ink. You can't sell notes. So if music is in truth a service-sector job, you can only get paid for it if someone is willing to pay for the service. It is sort of the same with money itself: those little green pieces of paper are only worth something if we all agree that they are. Enron stock that 15 years ago was worth $300,000.00 is now worth ZERO. What music is worth and how it should be valued is ultimately up to each listener. That just seems to be logical. If you make music, and you hope to be paid for it, you are working "on spec" as they say in the business world.

[Jason J. Martin]

So I own the entire Metallica rocord collection.

I think it'd be cool if you could show off like a proof of purchase or some kind of recorded reciept to be able to download a song that you technically already own on a different format (cd vinyl cassette) to begin with. As an artist, I'd think it's a great answer to solving an epic problem. Genius, then all first timers still get the opportunity to buy the song however they seem fit.

Can I copyright this answer? I know someone's gunna rip me off any second. Damn pirates.

[Mark K.]

As long as the musician gets paid for their efforts(i.e.after THEY pay for the training,time,and production costs just to get YOUR talentless ears fed.).Musicians are in the service industry just like your favorite chef or bartender.They may love their job but they still need to pay their bills just like you.SO PAY YOUR TAB AND TIP YOUR BARTENDER! Or, go try to make your own music like the rest of us did before recording technology made you lazy.Making music is not as easy as it sounds.And,those who don't care are like those who keep driving after running some kid over and take it for granted that they wont get caught.

[Andrew Apollos]

Hmmm.... I really feel that many of us are missing this whole thing. It is always popular to complain about how technology is" killing" this or that when what we are actually refusing to admit is that technology is just "changing" what is going on. Most of us are taking a stroll down memory lane thinking about the old days which yes were cool but there was and will always be a gripe about things changing and if we are really the artist that we like to think we are then we would accept that art thrives on the challenge of change. All of these previously mentioned complaints serves as a chance for artist and I mean "artist" to take these limitations and push the art of music making forward which means that we will have to better people, better composers, better performers,better thinkers and furthermore see the commerce issue not as an antagonist but as part of the artistic challenge as well because artist complaining about the ways of the masses and the elite is nothing new. Mozart had to struggle with how to stay ahead just like you as well as many other artist in various different times within various different styles and genres, period.

The truth is that the best of us will always find a way to be heard and enjoy our lives. The rest will just complain when the truth is that your ideas and your music most likely don't merit all the fuss your making anyhow regardless of the style or genre you may create within.

Furthermore, it’s pretty immature to blame certain genres (i.e Rap) for it’s effect on the music business or the current state of the art. In all styles you will have the real artist and those who seek to exploit an art for profit. You have Common and then you have 50 Cent, get it? These types are what Bach called the beer fiddlers. It’s not the style or genre it is the age old problem of exploitation which exist in all areas of business and society.

The point? Set real standards for your art, don’t compromise, rise to the artistic occasion, be savvy and the rest will take care of itself.

Good Luck,

Andrew Apollos

[John]

For twenty years, I've made a good living writing and producing recorded ambient music. Today--TODAY!--as I signed the contracts for my 14th studio album, it was with the knowledge that I must also start looking for a near minimum wage job because at 40, the only discernible job experience I have can only get me in the door at Tower Records -- how's that for a harsh reality? They are long out of business.

The rules of the game have changed and I accept that. I've always known that artists come and go, but it is sad to me to see entire genres go by the wayside because they don't translate to live shows.

At least I had a good run. At least I got to do something very few people get to do. I traveled the world doing it and I had fun.

Good luck kids, I'm out.

[S R Dhain]

i hope to god that in the long term, what David Steele (above), says, is counterbalanced. It's a sad day that the physical medium of music is now dying such a rapid death. The rationale of "its on the net, so it must be free", is killing everyone who makes music.

Regardless of where you stand on the corporate side of things on this - eg some people believe that big name acts and labels deserve to suffer etc- the common man (and woman) who makes music for a living ( myself included), suffer along this chain. Just like david, i also produce and write a lot of music for soundtrack and jingles et al, with the odd e.p. via tunecore. Now two things are invariably bringing the prices down

1) the advent of technology and economies of scale have brought the cheap, BUT GOOD QUALITY home studio within reach of anyone who has musical ideas. This means the sheer volume of music made and available is now on a scale never seen in any pre millenium decade. invariably quality control is a subjective opinion cause EVERYONE who can make music can do it all themselves.

2) Internet torrent and other p2p sharing has without a doubt made it astonishingly easy for anyone to fill their hard drives and save hundreds or thousands of pounds/dollars etc. Policing is even today, too difficult. I know this as ive had my own music end up in places where i certainly didnt sell or even know about any hint of consent.

Like i said at the start, i hope to god things change within the next few years, otherwise ALL music will eventually become a law of rapidly diminishing returns.

S R Dhain

www.myspace.com/thek2plan

www.juicyaudio.com

[Robert Seagrove]

No you didn't even buy the digital information. The music (CP) and the song, lyrics, composition (C) are owned by whomever writes them for as long as the writer holds on to those rights. The rights and or part of them may also be sold to another party at any given point in time if they are worth selling at all. What you are buying is only the right to listen to what you have bought. You do not ever own the song, only the right to listen to it as many times as the physical means to listen to that piece remains intact. An individual does not have the right to "rip" copy the music in any way shape or form. Ripping - copying is totally illegal and always will be. Sorry to be the bearer of this news folks and if you do so and are caught you can quickly be prosecuted for such action. We have somehow with technology come to accept this as normal but it is not legal. Secondly, we are living in an era of fast cars, fast food, fast people, drive through's fast this, fast that and music is no exception. I know for a fact that most people know shit about what sounds good or what sounds bad, sorry folks thats just the way it is. As soon as music hits a 16 bit CD which is pretty damn good in this day and age as compared to an MP3 at whatever KBPS its over. The best of the best is still out there in the best analogue and digital studios but how many people ever get the chance to hear that or even anything close is almost nill. The closest the mass majority ever came to great audio was through listening to vinyl on the best turntable man had invented, the best preamp, power amp and monitors money could buy in the "Hi Fi" market. Nope, sorry folks an ipod, shitpod, cell phone, shitberry whatever just don't cut it. 16 bit CD players aren't even that great. Unfortunately thats what it comes down to. Quantity, not quality. How many songs do you have on your shitpod ? Then there is the creation of the music itself. Heck, you don't even have to know how to play anymore. We've been graced with rap. Then there is the studios, oh boy what a real mess that is. Anybody who can get enough money to buy some cheap mics a cheap mic pre and a cheap computer can become a record producer. No, I am afraid the only way this problem is going to get fixed is if the assholes that created it in the first place fix it. Oops, I think they might either be brain dead or just plain dead by now. Well unfortunately all we can do now is enjoy the stink. The upside is we aren't really letting anybody have anything good anyway. It sits safely in our vaults.
best regards,
Robert Seagrove

[Six Lowa]

We walk with mp3's, plug a mp3 into our cars, and into our home music systems.

The CD era is on its last toe.
(I actually went straight from cassette to mp3 and skipped the whole Cd Walkman thing because of it being to bulky)

Tunecore is the best out of all online digital distributers.

Of course you can sell your own music on your website. But people trust the online stores more.

Let them take care of the business end so I can focus on the music.

Six Lowa

http://www.myspace.com/sixlowa

[Jeff]

Interesting question. Before digital, I understood what I was buying, and if that thing -- record, CD, tape, etc. -- got broke or lost, it was fair that I should have to buy another. With digital, though, I should be able to buy an "eternal right" or something, so that I can always at least download the music again gratis. It just kills me that on iTunes, you can buy songs more than once. What? In fact, given all the confusion around physical vs. digital, I'm embracing the lala.com model, in which I simply pay to have the right to listen to a particular song as often as I want as long as I'm logged in. Neat. No liner notes, though...

Jeff
www.cerebellumblues.com