Rewarding Bad Behavior

You wouldn't know it from looking at my iTunes library because I haven't added any new music in months but apparently there are people out there who still opt to buy music rather than just listen to a free internet radio station which emphasizes whichever artist they are in the mood to hear that day. Even more surprising is that there are still people out who still engage in piracy, illegally downloading copies of music for free. Internet piracy was a real problem a few years ago but it does feel things have cooled considerable on that front (at least for music - movie piracy is still going strong). Now, one of the most brilliant Tweets ever was when a comedian pointed out that the music industry's plan to fight piracy appeared to be to not release any more good music but I think the real reason behind the reduction in illegal downloading is that the music industry went very hard after a few of the more enthusiastic downloaders, having one sent to jail while another was fined millions of dollars. No one thinks that sort of thing will happen to them but there has to be a small part of everyone's brain who wonders if it is worth the risk before going to look for a free copy of a song. As for me, I don't download much music anymore is because I have severe trust issues when it comes to my computer. Many of these music sharing sites are filled with pop-ups and other equally shady-looking issues so I just stay away. Since my personal computer is often the one I use for work I have far too much to lose to gamble it all over a simple MP3 file that I am not totally sure will be a good copy of the song I wanted. I'd rather pay the $1.25 and not worry about waking up to find my hard drive infected with malware because I downloaded a corrupted file of some new song I'm going to be sick of in a week anyway. Many of the people in the music industry are saying the labels finally won this battle but that is only because they are looking at the short-term fight and not the whole war because one band out there is learning to embrace the pirates and coming out much better for it.

Iron Maiden has been a successful heavy metal band for decades despite never getting much airplay through traditional TV and radio mediums and they even pulled off the rare feat of staying relevant after switching lead vocalists (though they did eventually switch back). Thus you would think a band like Iron Maiden, who has had to fight for every hit they have ever had, would be diligent in trying to protect the mainstream hits they have made to make sure they can keep the money flowing in. There are only so many way to make money through music and those avenues dwindle pretty quickly when you only have one song people want to hear. However, the fact that Iron Maiden is even still touring makes it pretty obvious that they didn't hang around this long in a business which chews acts up and spits them out by being stupid. That is why, rather than go after people who illegally download their music the band went the other way - hiring two different internet data firms to look at the download numbers, find out where their songs were being the most-pirated and then scheduling several concert dates in that area. The band figured they had nothing to lose so they may as well cater to the people who want to hear them play because it is not like advertisers were beating down their doors asking to use their tunes in commercials. What's even better is that all the shows are packed and the band has made more money with this strategy than they would have if they had sat back and just let the old tunes continue to sell a few hundred copies a month.

Now, as with any good idea there are some naysayers, mostly the people who work in the music industry who contend the band is rewarding piracy when what they really should be doing is joining in the fight to shut down music-sharing sites. However, that view fails to take into account two very key things - who the band is and who their fans are. You have to remember that Iron Maiden is among the heaviest of the heavy metal bands and as such they have a reputation to uphold. I don't care how manufactured it may be, the truth is that bands in that genre are supposed to have a devil-may-care, the-only-thing-that-matters-is-the-music attitude. No one like it when a well-established musical act whines about things like licensing fees but that is especially true when it comes to heavy metal bands. (I still don't think Metallica will ever be able to repair all the damage done to their reputation by being the face of the fight to shut down Napster.) Iron Maiden may not have made the same kind of money as other musicians who have been relevant as long as they have but the simple fact is that they don't have to work for a living, which is all their fans care about. They would never be able to adequately explain to their fans why they were getting lawyers involved, no matter how rational their reason may be because when have rational thinking and metal fans ever going together? Better to be seen as embracing the rule-breakers because even though they probably don't fly on private jets that is what fans are going to imagine they are fighting about and that is not very metal.

Apparently Iron Maiden has been doing this for a while with great success which has prompted some people to wonder if this will become the new way to schedule a tour. I don't think we can quite go that far with it, though I admit it has less to do with ability to collect data and more about where the act is in their careers. Like I said, even though Iron Maiden is an iconic name they were never the most popular act in the world and as such they need to be strategic about where they schedule shows so they have the most impact. The iconic acts don't have as much to worry about that as much because they simply play where ever they feel like it and the shows sell out in ten minutes. Conversely, the small acts who really need to maximize their crowds don't have an expansive enough catalog to produce a large enough data trail to see where they are being heavily pirated. It is just the bands in the sweet spot of having a few hits but no longer sitting at the top of the game who could use this idea and there aren't that many acts who occupy that space. The other reason I can't see this catching on is because I doubt it is the easiest way to play a tour and that at some point you just aren't going to certain venues, regardless of how much of your music they are stealing. So, the music industry can relax and go back to suing the only people who still love music enough to risk their computers and jail time enough to illegally download it, blissfully ignoring the reality that the only thing worse than people stealing your music is people ignoring it. Meanwhile bands like Iron Maiden will keep an eye on the data and make millions playing sold-out shows full of pirates. Of course, if the music industry's lawyers put all those people in jail it will make scheduling a tour much easier.