Why music artists are encouraging a generation of freeloaders

With record deals no longer perceived as a revenue model by music artists, bands are dishing out their music free of cost through online downloads, even encouraging you to rip CDs to share with friends. Bhairavi Jhaveri finds out why online piracy is the perfect strategy to expand fan base

Delhi-based Pop-Rock group Them Clones encourage you to rip their CD and share it with friends. You get a free download of a track that didn't make it to the album, each time you burn a copy

They want you to clone their album
Them Clones are encouraging you to rip/burn/clone their album and are slapping it right on the CD cover; the face of the actual CD also reads: Don't Forget to Pirate this CD. The reason behind this audacious propagation of piracy is intriguing. Currently, the Clones are giving out the first single on the album, My Life as a free download on their website.
Along with this, they have devised a "vote-which-tracks-will-go-on-the-album" campaign, that allows fans to choose 10 favourite tracks that should make it to the album out of 17 recorded in the studio. "Fans can log onto our site and listen to two-minute clips of tracks before voting.
When they buy the album, and go ahead and clone it for a friend, they get a code number that gives them access to a legitimate free download of one of the remaining 7 tracks that didn't make it to the album," explains the band's drummer, Surojit Dev.
The chain reaction will make sure the music reaches out to more people out there. It's not about spreading piracy, it's about channelising free music in a defined manner. We are making fans work for it: surojit DEV

On October 10, 2007, when English alternative rock group Radiohead released their seventh studio album, In Rainbows, online on www.inrainbows.com (well before it hit music store shelves in December) with a blatant pay-what-you-like policy for download, from zero to 212USD, it had music companies worried over what this strategy would snowball into. Would it signal the end of major record deals, since Radiohead had decided to go independent with this album? Would it instigate deliberately moving music from CDs on to the Internet? Instead of mulling over CD printing estimations and number of records they would sell, releasing online took the band just 24-hours to shout out and reach fans beyond the US and UK. Did it bring in the moolah? Statistics reveal that despite a huge fan following, 3/5ths of the million downloads were made for free and the remaining at an average of 6USD. But, it still managed to make more sales than the physical release of their previous album, Hail to the Thief.
Like risk-fuelled Radiohead, Indian bands are deploying the same strategy. It may be out of lack of choice, but they've realised what only a discerning few perceived long ago not to rely on record sales as the sole money-making kitty that it never was.

Zero did it first
Mumbai-based premier rock 'n' roll group Zero have been championing this trend well before Radiohead branded it their marketing strategy. Ever since they got together in 1998, Zero was clear about "Performing live as our focus." They put up a few tracks of their second album, Hook as free downloads on Gigpad.com in 2002. "Peer-to-peer sharing was big and we encouraged it. We wanted more people to listen to our music," says bass player Girish "Bobby" Talwar, also co-founder of Counter Culture Records, one of the first independent Indian record labels.

A sister company of artist and event management company Only Much Louder (OML), Counter Culture Records understands its range of artists well and can give them more than a physical album release. "We concentrate on artwork, packaging and deciding what else the listener can get on buying the album," says Neysa Mendes, Label Manager, Counter Culture Records. One of the artists currently on their radar is Delhi-based Pop-Rock act Them Clones.
Known to have won various rock contests, and an extensive fan base thanks to incessant gigging for 8 long years, they are finally ready to release their debut album, Love.Hate.Heroes. "Them Clones have performed at close to 500 shows; they obviously have a loyal fan base that will buy the album.
But that's how much it takes before coming out with an album today a few dedicated years of live performing," says Neysa. Besides, gigs are the best way to encourage impulse album buying, artists and label managers have figured out. At Bangalore-based folk-fusion group Swarathma's album launch tour, the group sold close to 300 CDs at one venue alone.

Scribe doesn't rely on music career to make money
When former Director of Content and Communication, MySpace India, Tarun Tripathi approached Indian metal band, Scribe to release their second album titled, Confect on MySpace as a free download, page views doubled in just two hours. MySpaces around the world, especially in Norway and Spain, also picked it up. "It was phenomenal to see how such a small band that had little visibility outside Mumbai, was making a noise in other continents," says Tripathi.
The six-piece band's members are all professionals in fields like online gaming and filmmaking; music is their passion. "We want to charge money for our music only when we think we deserve it. I am guilty of downloading so many albums. So, giving away free music to people is my way of giving something back to the community," says Scribe's guitarist Prashant Shah. The group had sent out free albums with every issue of Rock Street Journal, a Delhi-based monthly rock magazine and they reached out to 30,000-odd subscribers.

But Raghu chucked microbio to make money in music
On the other hand, Bangalore-based guitarist/ singer/ composer/ songwriter Raghu Dixit, front man of Raghu Dixit Project, dropped his career in microbiology to play music professionally. While he doesn't support piracy, there is no controlling it either, he shrugs. "There is a lack of media support. Music channels barely stream English music. If they do, they stick to one song or video. There is no consistency. So, you have to take it on yourself to reach out to your fans," he admits.
For their debut album released in association with Vishal & Shekhar Music and Counter Culture Records, the pack contained a free CD that comprised two full tracks from the album, to tear out and gift your friends. Dixit thinks the onus of producing a great album that makes it worth the listener's money, is on the band. Why should they pay for mediocrity, he asks.
"You can't depend on record sales to fetch you money. Every music artist who wants to survive on music alone, must explore various avenues like live shows and film music," says Dixit, who is currently composing music for Kannada films.

The record album is promotional tool today
When Arjun S Ravi, editor of online music magazine, Indiecision.com checked the last download figures of the second version of Stupid Ditties, a compilation album to promote new bands, that could be downloaded free online, they had crossed 21,000.
"It is a platform to make sure new artists gain visibility; nobody would pay to hear them otherwise," says Ravi. The album is a steppingstone to something bigger. The online magazine is also curating legendary albums of bands like Indus Creed and Rock Machine, that are not in production anymore. They will be put up a new one as a free download every month.
Them Clones' first single, My Life has been used for a Yamaha commercial. The track is also available for free download and they have designed a tour around their single to gauge how many will end up buying the album. "They are big, but they still have to go through the grind." Right now, it isn't an either-or case albums and freebies need to go hand-in-hand.
"We have given away free tees and CDs, organised free concerts, and dished out a ton of other value adds with albums," says Neysa. Till an artist establishes loyal fans who will buy anything you put there for years to come, this is a must. At the same time, you can't afford to disappoint those few fans that are ready to pay and are waiting for your album to release. It will be sometime before albums become obsolete altogether.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

Some rights reserved. Ripping is legal
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