Why People Feel Entitled to Free Music and What Artists Can Do About It

There's a growing problem in the indie music industry--piracy. I know, not exactly shocking. Piracy has been a serious issue for the last decade or so, but for independent musicians, it's getting worse.

The problem is that people feel entitled to free music. It's hard to say why this is. Maybe it's the fact that since the Napster days, pirates have been a very vocal group, comprised of just about everyone. These aren't Internet deviants or frightening technophiles, they're people we know: your siblings, your friends and maybe even your parents.

As piracy has become more common, the music industry has reacted in the worst way possible. Organizations like the RIAA are infamous for their ridiculous lawsuits, and in suing little old ladies who downloaded one song for thousands of dollars, these organizations have lost the moral high ground. People now feel completely entitled to free music.

That hurts independent musicians the most, because we make a living off of our recordings. Most of us don't get paid to pack huge venues. We sell CDs. When we get even the tiniest little bit of a buzz going, the pirates hit us, and suddenly our albums are out there for free (or worse, they're being sold for pennies by websites that don't pay us for the privilege).

So, what do we do about it? I recently finished an album, but I realized quickly that it wasn't going to make a lot of money, as my last album was torrented and shared within days of release. There's nothing that I can do about that--I could get sue-happy, but I don't have the money for that, and I certainly don't want to punish people for listening to my music.

Instead, I offered a new product on my website: individually recorded cassettes. Each one is made-to-order with a cheap old tape recorder, hand-labeled, with about 60 minutes of music. I talk to my fans directly on each tape and try to give them a more intimate experience than what a traditional album would provide.

The response has been great, and I've made more off of my tapes than my last two albums combined. It's a lot of work, but people see that as value added to the music, and they respond by paying more. Some buyers have told me that they think of it as buying a painting--they're buying unique art that's only theirs, and they love the concept of that.

Artists like Radiohead offer digital versions of their albums for anything that fans want to pay, and I've spoken with several indie musicians who have made good money through websites like BandCamp that take this approach. It's all about declaring the value of your music: you're not saying that your music is worthless by offering it for as little as a penny, you're saying that it's anything but worthless.

Independent musicians will need to look into other ways to add value to their music. It's never going to be as easy as recording an album and putting it out there to make money again. We need to look into things like house tours, inventive merchandise, and new marketing methods, and unfortunately, that means more work. The good news is that adopting a "value-added" mindset means finding new ways to interact and connect with our fans, and that means that it's possible and rewarding to make a living off of music.

If you're an independent musician, I urge you to sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and a notebook. Just think for a while. Find a way to offer a different sort of product than a standard album, or find a way to promote your existing product differently in a way that catches fans' attention.

And whether you're a musician or not, go out and support local music. Your new favorite band is probably playing in a bar near your house this weekend. It would be a shame if you missed them. Oh, and buy their CD.

Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Join the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own articles.