My album is being bootleged, is this a good thing?

[illynoise]

So The Black Mexican, by Black Pegasus came out this week. We are getting sales, but I noticed that it's showing up on quite a few sites for download like rapidshare and whatnot.

What's your opinion, is this a good thing or bad? We want exposure, but we don't want missed sales. I guess people who steal will steal anyways.

I know Techn9ne had a download my album campaign, I don't think it hurt him but...

[elmolemon]

I hink it's really hard to fight it and in the end you won't be able to stop it anyway.

As long as it isn't bootlegged before it comes out it will be a free promo for you and your artist. Whether you like it or not. Maybe people get attracted to your sound and will go to your live-shows, where you can sell them a ticket, a shirt and the original cd/mixtape/vinyl...









..just my 0,02$..

[pedrodash]

Welcome to the industry!

And I think this is a good thing.
Trent Reznor too.

[beat you down]

nothing you can do really...
at least people find it's worth ripping and sharing.

[WideawakE]

it didn't hurt Tech N9ne cause he was touring his ass off

[Stitch333]

Originally Posted by WideawakE

it didn't hurt Tech N9ne cause he was touring his ass off

that and Merch is where your real money, as an artist, comes anyways...

[PhonoquO]

it's all about records now. get your release pressed on vinyl and include a cd inside the record jacket or link to digital download.

[chris carter]

If you are touring and making decent money at it
If you are moving a decent amount of merch
If you have a publicity machine going
THEN it's good considering how things are in the industry and it will happen whether you like it or not.

If you don't have that sh!t going on, then it's bad, but you don't really have a choice.

[r2danov]

Thats great man. If you get bootlegged your good.

[A-List]

^^also when you get sued for copyright infringement on a sample, your good.

[Tibbon]

Honestly it's probably a good sign in the long term. In the short term it represents a monetary loss (or at least a lack of potential profit) but I actually use this as an early indicator for a band's potential for success.

If a new band is up there on the Pirate Bay for music downloads, but yet isn't making waves yet nationally... I see it as a good sign of many things to come if they are smart and embrace opportunity.

Thom Yorke from Radiohead commented in Wired that they wanted to (in releasing In Rainbows online first) to "create their own leak" since the past 4 of their albums had been leaked prior to release. They wanted to hit it first.

Trent Reznor has been known to upload things (Saul Williams and his tracks) to The Pirate Bay, much against the wishes often of his record company and as part of his viral marketing campaign for the Year Zero album leaked tracks via leaving USB sticks with songs in bathrooms where they were touring.

If you're stupid, it can hurt you. If you're smart it can help. The only person that can answer which it will be is yourself.

[emkay]

Originally Posted by illynoise

So The Black Mexican, by Black Pegasus came out this week. We are getting sales, but I noticed that it's showing up on quite a few sites for download like rapidshare and whatnot.

What's your opinion, is this a good thing or bad? We want exposure, but we don't want missed sales. I guess people who steal will steal anyways.

I know Techn9ne had a download my album campaign, I don't think it hurt him but...

Unless your beats are totally original and not based on previous music or sampled from other artists, you might have a leg to stand on. Good luck.
On the other hand, I think it's a compliment and any exposure or hype should be welcomed and could be a good thing. Artists are giving their tunes away for free just to get out there. the paradigm is shifting even as I write this.....peace...

[Docmattic]

fact is, young kids also dont want to blow $30-$40 on a cd that they might not like, so they download it to find out, others may then go and buy it, others wont. Maybee you could combat it buy having a link on the artists website to download the whole album, (but the tracks only go for like 30 seconds) and then have another link to buy the album.

[cynic one]

Originally Posted by Docmattic

fact is, young kids also dont want to blow $30-$40 on a cd that they might not like, so they download it to find out, others may then go and buy it, others wont. Maybee you could combat it buy having a link on the artists website to download the whole album, (but the tracks only go for like 30 seconds) and then have another link to buy the album.

since when do cds cost $30 or $40???

[Docmattic]

in a lot of australian stores. How much do they cost there?

[gsilbers]

Originally Posted by illynoise

So The Black Mexican, by Black Pegasus came out this week. We are getting sales, but I noticed that it's showing up on quite a few sites for download like rapidshare and whatnot.

What's your opinion, is this a good thing or bad? We want exposure, but we don't want missed sales. I guess people who steal will steal anyways.

I know Techn9ne had a download my album campaign, I don't think it hurt him but...

well you can do the same that many artist where doing....

just flood the P2P sites with mp3 files of the same size and label that your new album has but put whatever.... you talking. a clasical song.. anti piracy propaganda.. etc..

if you uploaded to enough p2p/torrent sites... you can deter some of it by getting those compulsive add kids bored with searching. not the best but works a little

[cynic one]

Originally Posted by Docmattic

in a lot of australian stores. How much do they cost there?

$10-15 USD...

And as weird as it seems, I think seeing that the album is being bootlegged is actually a good thing. A lot of people can't even give away their music. Be glad people are pumped on your new release!

One thing I've seen some cats do is upload their entire album online themselves, but record them talking over the top of it. Stuff like "PROMO MUTHA****A, BUY MY SHIT"...Might give that one a try.

Also - being able to sell your mp3 album online for cheap will usually prevent stuff like that. I set our LP at $5 for the whole album on CD Baby.

[emkay]

Originally Posted by cynic

$10-15 USD...

And as weird as it seems, I think seeing that the album is being bootlegged is actually a good thing. A lot of people can't even give away their music. Be glad people are pumped on your new release!

One thing I've seen some cats do is upload their entire album online themselves, but record them talking over the top of it. Stuff like "PROMO MUTHA****A, BUY MY SHIT"...Might give that one a try.

Also - being able to sell your mp3 album online for cheap will usually prevent stuff like that. I set our LP at $5 for the whole album on CD Baby.

exactly.....

[illynoise]

Originally Posted by cynic

$10-15 USD...

And as weird as it seems, I think seeing that the album is being bootlegged is actually a good thing. A lot of people can't even give away their music. Be glad people are pumped on your new release!

One thing I've seen some cats do is upload their entire album online themselves, but record them talking over the top of it. Stuff like "PROMO MUTHA****A, BUY MY SHIT"...Might give that one a try.

Also - being able to sell your mp3 album online for cheap will usually prevent stuff like that. I set our LP at $5 for the whole album on CD Baby.

I'm not trippin on it, I think it's a good thing too. I don't see it as a monetary loss right now, just promo. I remember when we tried to put some of the older stuff on a sharing site and nobody downloaded it, so I guess you guys are right.

We'll see...

[tonyscarbones]

why ur name illynoise when u from colorado?

[illynoise]

I live in CO. I started Illynoise, in Illinois. I'm from there close to East St. Louis.

[cynic one]

...Funny. I thought of this discussion today when I noticed my CD Baby page getting tons of hits from Russia and Poland. Did a blog search for my CD name and found out it got ripped and uploaded to like 4 blogs today.

[FossilTooth]

Originally Posted by illynoise

I live in CO. I started Illynoise, in Illinois. I'm from there close to East St. Louis.

What if the number of people sharing of your album is only increasing because they all downloaded it thinking it was a Sufjan Stevens album....

Would that make you feel better or worse?

[illynoise]

Our theory how it got out there: Black P was on tour with Ying Yang last week, they were doing all of the big ski towns, Aspen, Winterpark, etc...

They presold to a lot of college kids, there you go. Probably ripped and zipped and rapidshared it or something.

It's not even on iTunes yet!

oh well....

[jb4play]

Originally Posted by illynoise

So The Black Mexican, by Black Pegasus came out this week. We are getting sales, but I noticed that it's showing up on quite a few sites for download like rapidshare and whatnot.

What's your opinion, is this a good thing or bad? We want exposure, but we don't want missed sales. I guess people who steal will steal anyways.

I know Techn9ne had a download my album campaign, I don't think it hurt him but...

Yes, it's a good thing. Exposure, next go around people will know you.

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by illynoise

So The Black Mexican, by Black Pegasus came out this week. We are getting sales, but I noticed that it's showing up on quite a few sites for download like rapidshare and whatnot.

What's your opinion, is this a good thing or bad? We want exposure, but we don't want missed sales. I guess people who steal will steal anyways.

I know Techn9ne had a download my album campaign, I don't think it hurt him but...

Its a bad thing, because you potentially lost a sale you might have had if that downloader had no choice but to go out and copp the CD. Its a good thing if all the honest people who download it end up wanting to copp the real thing afterwards, or end up sharing songs with other people who want to go copp the real thing, and whether or not those people actually pay to come out and see his shows when he hits their town. There are so much factors to consider. Its half good, half bad, but hopefully will equal out to be 100% successful in raising a lot of consumers awareness towards the artist.

[1233221]

nice album!

the best way to keep an eye out for r@pidshare type piracy is to create seperate 'google alert's for the artist / album name (this isn't foolproof as people disguise names e.g. 'radio.head') as well as using regularly doing google searches as there is a time lag on 'google alerts'.

[jdjustice]

short answer: yes, usually.
more people that listen == more people aware of you.

[STARSKI]

I've had 2 of my joints bootlegged onto vinyl and looked at it as a good thing although I did wish the bootlegger would have gave me some copies of those to give to djs I wanted to. They were on 2 different 6 song Compilation Albums. One is called "So Turf" Ft Clyde Carson & Kaz Kyzah of The Team and the other one is "Stunnas On". I found both of them googling. I did get one record store to shoot me a couple copies on GP since it was MY music on there. Also if you get placed on some good mixtapes thats good too. That same song "So Turf" got placed on Bay Bidness 3.5 with DJ Whoo Kid, DJ E-Rock, & DJ J Espinosa. That was some good exposure as well. And I have found lots of my joints on Limewire etc. Honestly a good thing seeing as a couple years ago if I did a Limewire search you could find none of my stuff.

[drethe5th]

Originally Posted by illynoise

So The Black Mexican, by Black Pegasus came out this week. We are getting sales, but I noticed that it's showing up on quite a few sites for download like rapidshare and whatnot.

What's your opinion, is this a good thing or bad? We want exposure, but we don't want missed sales. I guess people who steal will steal anyways.

I know Techn9ne had a download my album campaign, I don't think it hurt him but...

You cant stop it really. However what you can do is leak a piece yourself or change a few verses or add a feature at the last minute. Jay-Z has done it and so has Slim Thugg, on the "I Aint Heard Of That" song on his solo album with Pharell on StarTrack, Jay Z was suppossed to be on it and they did the song. But it leaked, so he took Jays version and called it a remix. On the album though he put Bun B from UGK on it at the last minute. That way people who bought a bootlegg felt like the bootleg man "got 'em" and some went back to the store to get a good copy. That obviously eventualy got bootlegged too. But at least some sales were recouped.

You can also beef up your merchandise. Shirts and things like that, also helps promo and sales money to make up for lost money of the CD itself.

Last - DO MORE SHOWS. There is not a clone or bootlegg of a live show, people have to pay to get in to the shows and thats real money in hand I-Tunes, Napster, RapidShare ect.......... cant cut into that. Also at live shows sell or give away merchandise or album material. It encourages people to be loyal fans and support you more.

For me there are certain artists I dont even consider buying a bootleg - I want the real copy period. Jay-Z, E-40, Mos-Def, Jill Scott, and Dr. Dre. When fans like you that much and actually are fans not just people who own a CD of you, theyll stick in with you - other than that you have to do shows to make sure you get some money.

With stem cell research though they may clone you one day and then you loose the live show money too.............