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With the Internet's ever-growing availability of free, legal music, students are no longer forced to decide between breaking the bank and breaking the law to listen to many of today's newest albums.
Emerging Web sites such as www.live365.com and www.pandora.com - two databases that help users find new music streaming online - are making it easier than ever to find quality music at no cost. Another new trend is to make full-length albums available online. Earlier this year when rock band Of Montreal released its latest album "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?," it followed a growing trend in the music industry by streaming the entire album online for free, allowing fans everywhere to listen to the new release as many times as they wanted without paying a dime. Although many major record labels might view such a move as financial suicide, companies practicing the new trend call it the perfect marketing strategy. "It's an excellent marketing tool to draw in or help bolster a fan base," said Emily Erickson, mass communication professor. Michael Kaufmann, assistant director at Asthmatic Kitty records, said streaming albums online for free is gradually becoming the standard for his label. The trend was highlighted last year when Sufjan Stevens - the label's most well-known artist - released his album "Songs for Christmas" and agreed to allow fans to hear the record for free online. "[The album] was getting very heavy, very consistent traffic," Kaufmann said. "It drove a lot of traffic to our site, for sure, and I think that's one of the reasons why we liked it." Despite the attention the marketing strategy brings to a new album, Kaufmann said there are several reasons other labels are hesitant to follow suit with Asthmatic Kitty's new trend. "Some people will say that one disadvantage is that people will just listen to the streams and never buy the record," Kaufmann said. "But realistically those are the people that probably would have never bought the record regardless; I'm happy at least that people are going to hear it." Kaufmann said his label is more interested in spreading good music than in making money. "First and foremost, as a label, I'm excited about getting good music out there in any shape or form," he said. "It's great when we can make money off of doing that, but first and foremost it's a love for the music." Although free online streams are mostly limited to independent labels like Asthmatic Kitty, Kaufmann said he thinks larger labels will eventually be forced to follow the trend. Erickson agreed that major labels are gradually being forced to embrace the Internet as a marketplace for music. Erickson said today's consumers are more likely to purchase music legally through services such as iTunes and Napster than they have been in the past. "What the numbers suggest right now, simply based on a humongous increase in the number of legal downloading, is that people are switching over and going to the pay services," she said. However, Erickson said she thinks many college students are fighting that trend and still using illegal file-sharing to obtain their music. Many students around campus echoed those sentiments. "I haven't purchased music since I was probably ten years old," said Ryan LoCicero, psychology freshman. "I'll stop downloading it when the FBI actually comes to my house." LoCicero said free online streams of albums would not dissuade him from downloading music illegally, since those albums cannot be transferred to his MP3 player. Other students said online streams could persuade them to purchase new music. "If I really liked most of the songs, I'd go buy the CD," said Melissa Rodriguez, psychology junior. "But if it's only like one song, and they sound like a one-hit wonder, probably not." Other students said they obtain music from the Internet however they can find it - legally or illegally - as long as they do not have to pay for it. "If it's free, the answer is always yes," said Samantha Chapman, biology freshman. Unlike many record labels, Asthmatic Kitty does not condemn illegal file-sharing, according to Kaufmann; he said they see it as another form of promotion. Unfortunately for file-sharers on campus, Kaufmann said most labels do not share his sentiments. "I think there are going to be a lot of things that are inevitable that the record industry will do that's anti-music lover, anti-music fan," he said. "The RIAA is going to continue to try and find out ways to crackdown on people and go after people and police this." In the end though, Kaufmann said the Internet will prove to be invaluable to the music industry. "Before where you were limited to the radio to tell you what you're interested in and what you like, now you have this kind of limitless pool of information," he said. "Although more music might be being shared for free, I feel like more people in general are going to be buying more music." Kaufmann said even major labels will find ways to benefit from the Internet. "It'll probably challenge some major labels, their ideology and the way things are done," he said. "But they'll adapt." Erickson agreed and said the Internet and the emergence of indie labels will force the bigger labels to change. "If you're an old-school, cumbersome, giant label, you have to work harder for your dollar," she said. "Sometimes the better music is going to win out over the crap you tried to market last month."
----- Contact Michael Mims at mmims@lsureveille.com
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