Throwing Ones and Zeros at Glass Houses

2005-11-23

A friend of mine, in an email he sends out every day to an undisclosed list of recipients, offers those on the distribution list a “Song of the Day” in the MP3 format.

The songs are meant to give those receiving them (whom I believe are mostly business contacts) some insight into who he is and what makes him tick.

I have no idea how many people receive his emails, but he’s clearly not sending these free songs to just a couple of people.

There is almost no better way for the music business to thrive than for networks of friends to turn each other on to music. At Rhino, we rely on tastemakers introducing the people in their lives to some of the greatest music of the past, for which we have the distinct pleasure of repackaging and selling.

But where does the line get drawn? Is it OK to send out songs you like to 25, 50, 100, 500, or 1000 people at a time? And, is it OK to do this every day?

Let’s assume for a minute that this guy does send a song out every day. At the end of the year he will have sent 365 songs, or the equivalent of about 30 albums. In retail terms, even at Wal-Mart prices, this is about a $300 value per person (at iTunes prices it's $361.35). Keep in mind; he never sought permission to do this.

Now here’s the interesting part. This person, who’s sending out this free music, is a professional photographer by trade who has zealously protected his copyrighted images by suing people who have used them in the past without his permission – and he’s won in court.

So, I guess in his mind it’s OK to send out free music if he doesn’t control the copyright, but it isn’t OK for someone to use one of his images for a similar “innocent” purpose, say, Rhino.com using his photographs to decorate our editorial content without compensating him (this hasn't happened, it's just an example).

I bring this situation up because I believe it illustrates the complexity of the issue of copyright: When it’s mine, you can’t just do what you want with it, but if it’s yours…

I’m not sure what I should do about this. Copyrighted entertainment elicits emotional responses that make us want to share those creations with others. Sometimes for reasons of vanity (“Hey, look how cool I am”), sometimes for purely beneficent reasons (“This is so cool you have to hear it”).

As someone who runs a new media department at a major label, I’m very well aware of what goes on out there in the real world. Music is being stolen, traded, and shared in ridiculously large numbers. Sometimes these actions lead to legitimate future purchases, but often they don’t. This is something we have to wrestle with every day, and something I’m personally committed to helping figure out: How do we get people back to paying for music in a digital world.

I guess it still stings though when someone who makes their living being paid for the work they create thinks it’s OK to give someone else’s creations away.