They Just Might Sue You, Too

File sharing is here to stay. Even if the RIAA wins its lawsuits this month, techies have already come up with new file sharing programs that make anonymous the identities of users, Filetopia (http://www.filetopia.org) and Freenet (http://freenet.sourceforge.net), to name just a couple. So it looks like the music industry will have to adapt to file sharing, whether they like it or not. The question, however, is whether fans should like it or not: can we take part in the anarchic free-for-all of the web with a clear conscience, or should we be worried that downloading mp3s is immoral or will ultimately harm music's standing among the arts?

By now, you've all heard the oversimplifying arguments of both sides: Madonna's pleading public service announcements ("file sharing is stealing; stealing is illegal") vs. the indignant justifications of Kazaa devotees ("it doesn't really hurt the musicians, who make all their money from concerts and merchandise; it only really hurts the record companies, who have been screwing us for years, so excuse us if our pity is limited"). It seems to me that the biggest immediate problem with file sharing is its effect on local/non-mainstream musicians, who do rely on CD sales for a living. Fortunately, most local music isn't available on Kazaa; I think fans realize that if they want their local artists to continue making music, they will have to support them financially.

I would argue that file sharing is justified by a more compelling logic: it has opened up an opportunity for pop music to mature as an art form. To appreciate pop music and to understand its critical foundations requires, as does any kind of art, a lot of exposure. The only effective way to learn about pop music is to listen to as many songs and as wide a variety of musicians as possible. By allowing a level of access to pop music that has been denied through other cultural institutions, file sharing will ultimately make better listeners. Pop will finally be able to generate a broad, educated audience, the kind that previously only more "elite" art forms have been able to build.

Pop music's availability is limited in comparison to other art forms (and even other music forms). To learn about visual art, for instance, you don't have to buy paintings; you can check out anthologies of reprints or tour the galleries. A similar accessibility exists for other forms of music: chances are, non-pop (i.e. classical and jazz) music was integrated into your elementary or high school curriculum, at least to some degree.

So it seems that if I want to learn about Picasso, or James Joyce, or Beethoven, I have plenty of options: I can look at paintings online, head to a museum, or pick up Ulysses or the Fifth Symphony at the public library. If I want to learn about Iggy Pop or Bruce Springsteen or Missy Elliot, however, I have to buy the albums (without file sharing, that is). The radio as a resource here is ridiculously beside the point; you can get only what is fed to you (mostly the Top 40 playlist). You can get a very limited selection of pop CDs at some libraries, but not anything close to the access you have to books, or even film or classical music. Pop music seems to be caught in a vicious cycle. Historically devalued as an art form, it hasn't received the same kind of public support as other arts; in turn, pop has not been able to cultivate enough of a thoughtful, informed audience to attest to its aesthetic merits.

By arguing for free and unlimited access to recordings, I don't mean to deny either the crucial role of the music industry or pop music's foundations in consumer culture. Money and power should and will always have their places in the pop music domain; this aspect of the industry is part of the appeal and the fun, in that it is largely through power and money that bands create their images.

Ultimately, a music industry could still exist and profit from the shift to file sharing; not the industry as it functions today, but a reorganized, musician-centered one (and a better one entirely, many would argue). So Madonna, Elton, and all you other RIAA cronies: if you care about music the way you claim to, stop suing your fans and start thanking Kazaa for elevating those fans' appreciation of your art form.