The city, as with any IT hub sees an extensive internet branch out into every imaginable facet of information sharing. From a musical perspective, there has always been more of an inclination towards torrent usage in the city, but also, a deep-rooted and honest mixture of respect and support for local music.
Album sales used to be the primary means for a band to earn a living. However, simultaneously, the common listener shouldn’t be expected to pay for all his/her music. The increasingly commercialist viewpoints of music are overshadowing some of the key ethical values that an artist would consider central to a creative flow. When a commercialist stance overtakes the actual mentality of creating the music, then it is hardly democratic to be asked to pay for it. There is a thin line between the ethics of selling music and just playing it.
As with international acts, good Indian bands are often downloaded or shared and their albums are not purchased. Yet, more than the sales, local support is what has propelled these bands into stardom. The act of “following” an artist by listening is at least of as much importance as the total sum cost of purchasing albums that an individual fan might do. Many international bands that are highly popular in Bangalore, such as Tool, Opeth, Mars Volta and Porcupine Tree all try and convey the sense of musical flow that fits precisely into an album format. They try to carry aesthetic vision through right to the packaging, to encourage album purchases. However, none of them are typically against downloading music. When Karnivool recently released their third album, Asymmetry, it was on a live stream. This was so devoted fans could hear it online from start to finish, in all its originality and just as the band would want you to hear it.
Another example would be someone who has just purchased the latest album from a rock band but has never heard their music, versus someone else who has gone for all the gigs of the band but has never purchased an album. Thus, while we can accept the democracy of buying music, it is only till the limit of actually appreciating an artist. Recent orders by the Indian high court have barred several torrent sites, yet solely this action will by no means see a direct rise in musical sales. In this day and age where we needn’t get up from our computers, the purchase of real, tangible, physical produce holds little appeal anymore. However, Brit-band Radiohead released their 2007 album “In Rainbows” online for a purchase price that could be decided by the fans themselves. They took a confusing step forward with their next album by pre-releasing it for free online before the stipulated release date. This kind of mentality from the artists themselves shows that the main concern and focal point of musical creativity is not the sales, but the feel of sound.
In this way, a musician can fight back, not only against the economics of album sales, but also against the inequalities of internet file-sharing.
“An entertainer can make music to please his fans; an artist has to make music to please himself.”
–Steven Wilson
