To Free or Not to Free?

The following article from the We Create Music Blog at ASCAP really gets at the heart of our current music industry dilemma. If you're an unknown artist with music to share, I'd strongly advise you to make your music available free to as many people as you can find a way to get it to. You share, they share, music spreads. Everyone benefits. The more people that have the opportunity to experience your music, the more people you will find that resonate with it. You have opportunities today that no one imagined 20 years ago. Fewer artists will become outrageously wealthy, but so many more artists will be heard and that means a vastly expanded supply of different music for all of us to listen to. And not only do we all get to hear so much more music, without being limited by what a powerful few think will or won't make them money, but think of the snowballing effect on future musicians who've grown up listening to so many more and different musical influences. How could future music not be more interesting?

But there is a danger in developing a culture where music is expected to always be free and musicians expected to continue to create without receiving resources in exchange for their time and effort. Creating great music is a lot of work, even if it comes easily to you. We risk a society where instead of having more and more music available, only the independently wealthy or the few with wealthy patrons can afford to devote the time and resources to create great art. Ultimately we would lose a large percentage of that new potential music because so many simply couldn't afford to continue to create it.

We all benefit by connecting musicians and fans directly, making creativity universally affordable for those with the drive to do it, connecting artists from all over the planet, and being exposed to the widest variety of different music. But everything in life comes at a price. We should be grateful to have more and pay less for it, but a cultural expectation that music should always be free would be a losing proposition for all.

So what is the answer to this dilemma? How do we find a balance so we can most enjoy the fabulous opportunities of this brave new world?

To Free or Not to Free?