Hot Chip Question Free Downloads

May 8, 2008

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The latest trend for musical acts is for them to make their songs available for download - either for free (a la Nine Inch Nails and Coldplay) or for 'pay what you can' (a la Radiohead). Although this works well for these big, established acts, one singer has come forth and voiced his concerns.

Alexis Taylor, lead signer of Hot Chip, recently told BBC Newsbeat that giving away music for free hurts smaller bands and the music industry in general:

"It's a strange one but I think at the moment no-one knows what's really going on and the record companies are really searching for a new way to do business," he said.
"It's all kind of in turmoil and people are just trying things out. Probably in the next couple of years we'll see a new kind of business emerging."

Taylor added: "People can get music for free on the net so to give it away to people and admit that is a sensible thing. Big artists like that can make their money in other ways and they can still have a great career.

"But it only really works if you're a massive act. If we turned around and offered our single for free I don't know how many people would bother."

I have to say that I don't fully agree with Taylor. I mean, as a music-lover, I appreciate when a big band like Nine Inch Nails will give their album away for free. (Hell, who am I to turn that down...?) And although the smaller acts can't really afford to pull a stunt like that, it shouldn't matter because, again, as a music-lover, I'll always be willing to fork over the dough for a bangin' Hot Chip album.

Agreed?

Posted by Soja at 06:24 PM | Comments (1)