Why Peer-to-Peer Sharing Deflates the Ego of the Music Industry (and of the Artists).

When I was ten years old, my older sister brought home a copy of Siamese Dream from the Smashing Pumpkins. I recognized this name because MTV played their video with people making out in the fields, and some dude driving around in an ice cream truck, painting himself and others amok. The video was cool, and the song was fun. While she was off at work or with the boyfriend, I would sneak into her room and listen to the entire disc. I remember being frightened at the sounds of “Silverfuck,” headbanging to “Quiet,” and enjoying the lush melodies of “Sweet Sweet” and “Luna.”

            I thought my sister was coolest for listening to such incredible music. Except she never listened to the entire album. I would watch her throw on Siamese Dream, and finish it ten minutes later, or the span of both “Today” and “Disarm.” Instead of waiting around all day for the radio to play them, she got her fix on the two hit songs, and then CD would be put away. What about layered majesty of “Hummer?” Or the heartbreaking “Spaceboy?” What was wrong with her? In fact, what was wrong with the six million people worldwide who bought the record? I ask this last question in lieu of the 500,000 people who bought Smashing Pumpkin’s Zeitgeist CD in 2006.

How does a band go from selling six million to 500,000 fourteen years later?

            The culprit according the music industry: Peer-to-Peer file sharing networks. People are stealing music. It’s not the artist’s fault. People loved Siamese Dream, that’s why it sold six million.

            Or did they just love “Today” and “Disarm?”

            What the music industry doesn’t want to admit is that albums are like books-everyone has a few in their home, but rarely do they read them from start to finish. There was a time when people gave their time to an entire album like The Wall or Revolver. But something happened along the way. Starting perhaps with the mega sales of Thriller, album sales were part of an inflation, which corrected itself with illegal downloading and iTunes. In retrospect, the numbers sold before the Internet do not reflect the number of people who listened to an entire album. This led to a gross overestimation of fans for a given artist.

            Let’s go back to the Smashing Pumpkins example. Siamese Dream sold six million plus, but out of those millions, how many heard every single song routinely? I would estimate 500,000, based on the Zeitgeist figure. My sister was never a hardcore fan. She just liked “Today” and “Disarm.” But those other songs on that CD? Well…

            But, if you were to ask her how times she listened to Depeche Mode’s Violator album, she would throw a figure in the thousands. She had each lyric memorized, knew all the band members names, and knew who produced it (Flood, who would then produce Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness), where it was recorded and when. She knew how many copies it had sold and somehow, without the Internet, bought all the music videos, the EPK, interviews of the era and bootleg concert footage of the Violator Tour. Now this is a true fan, but she paid the same amount for her Depeche Mode CD as she did for the Siamese Dream. It’s easy to understand how this cross-pollination makes it difficult for someone like Billy Corgan to overestimate his true fanbase. My sister didn’t care about the Smashing Pumpkins-she just wanted “Disarm” and “Today.” And I would estimate more than half of the people who bought Siamese Dream felt the same way.

            When an artist today complains that his or hers or their sales are down because of illegal downloading, they are actually disillusioned like Charles Foster Kane, in that they actually believe that all of those millions who used to buy their records are (not were) hardcore fans, who listened to their entire albums like previous generations listened to the entire Dark Side of the Moon. The reality is, there was an inflation of record sales for a very long time, because you wouldn’t want to go out and buy all the singles for Michael Jackson’s Bad album (no pun intended), and having to put one tape or CD in after another. If you get the album, you can hear “Dirty Diana,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Bad,” and “Smooth Criminal”. But “Librarian Girl” or “Just Good Friends”? Just the hardcore fanbase would be able to hum those tunes. And the number of those are likely the same as the sales of Michael Jackson’s 2001 Invincible album. In 1987, Bad sold over thirty million, while Invincible ten. That leaves about twenty million who bought Bad as casual listeners who wanted to hear the hits, not true fans of the artist, and the numbers are most likely higher for Thriller.

            The present situation in the music industry is this: people download songs they like, either on iTunes or illegally, because they don’t want to buy the entire album, because people have the choice today of picking and choosing from the menu of an artist’s musical fruits, instead of buying everything and letting the leftovers rot in the fridge. True, there are still people buying albums, but this reflects the true fan base of a given artist. Depeche Mode recently released a new album in 2009, and while I can easily download it illegally, I prefer to buy it because I am a true fan and wish to support them financially so they can continue making music I love. My sister feels the same way. But my friends who are casual fans? Before they would be forced to buy the entire album just to hear the singles being played on the radio, but now they can cruise to iTunes and get to the point. The same with the Smashing Pumpkins. The 500,000 consumers who purchased Zeitgeist one way or another are in fact their true fan base, even during their Siamese Dream era where millions bought the album more due to fashion and mild interest than because of the band’s artistry.

            Illegal downloading exploded with a rebellious fervor because people were sick of being made feel guilty of being casual fans of a particular artist. I like some Steve Vai songs, but I wouldn’t want to drop sixteen dollars on an entire CD to get one song or two at the most. And I shouldn’t be made to feel guilty if I don’t happen to like Steve Vai’s entire output. Artists and the music industry must stop complaining, and be more appreciative of those buying their albums, because all that is left for artists are their true fans, the people who listen to every second recorded, every note played, the ones that read every single word of the booklets and know who produced their record and where they recorded it. Frankly, it’s annoying, insulting and slightly insane when someone like Corgan complains about the good old days, and flirts with the idea of not releasing albums anymore. In today’s climate and economy, there is no more room for the casual fan. Sure, they are making millions less, but the money they were earning before was based on an imaginary fanbase, and whatever marginal dollars made today is reality.

            Bottom-line: people want to hear a good song. They don’t care if your David Bowie, or Madonna, because fame isn’t enough to make your album marketable these days. Just write some good songs and sell them for a buck, or even better, sell your entire album for a dollar and just record it at home using Pro Tools, a couple of Macs and some good Microphones and Equipment. Avoid the expensive studios in Los Angeles and NY. Why go to Starbucks when you can buy an espresso machine for your home? Your second option is just giving it away for free. The Rosebud in this story is the idea that everyone that used to buy your albums loved every microsecond of it, and nearly every artist successful before the advent of the Internet holds on to this idea. Sadly, this was never the case. Peer-to-Peer sharing revealed this reality to the consumer. It’s time the music industry caught up.