Plugging the Leak

Dillinger Four: C I V I L W A R

There’s been a bit of a story coming through the waves.  Dillinger Four, a band who’s been around for a while and put out a few great albums, recorded a new one for the first time in six years.  There’s a bit of a buzz surrounding it.  Record leaks.  Label understandably not happy.

This happens quite a bit.  Scott Heisel, Music Editor for Alternative Press, has an account of the situation here.  The leaker in question has an account here, thought admittedly, I couldn’t finish reading it because Mr. Hale did everything in his post but own up to the responsibility of being the person who leaked the album in the first place. Mitch Clem has a cartoon he’s drawing about it for Nothing Nice 2 Say.

The truth of the matter is this.  Trying to cry foul at the punk music industry for trying to sustain business is a bit back handed.  Sure it seems odd that Brett Gurewitz plays in a band that sings about the social horrors that plague society but lives in a large house in the suburbs with a pool; we have to face the fact that we reside in a capitalist society.

If you want to listen to an album from a band, you have to realize that the band has to purchase their instruments and equipment.  That’s money.  The band has to record their album.  That’s a shit ton of money.  Band’s don’t have that kind of money, so record labels provide them with that money.  Record labels then go on to pay the artist for the album cover and liner notes, and for the production of the medium used.  The way the label recoups these costs is by selling the album.  It’s the basis of how the business works.  Michelangelo didn’t complete the Sistene Chapel because he needed to create art for himself; that bitch got paid.  Artists have patrons — that’s how they make money.  Record labels are the privatization of the patron system that distributes it to the masses.

Mr. Heisel’s response to Mr. Hale’s request is the only viable response for liability.  As a publication that makes its money writing about music, Alternative Press is reliant on label’s providing media support in confidence in order to generate content.  Racket’s response is also justified.  Supporting a staff member who leaks an album is a liability for legal action.

It sucks that Mr. Hale’s decision to share the album with his friends turned out this way.  But he is directly responsible for the leak and needs to accept accountability for his actions.  You can’t place the blame on everyone but you because they were forced to react to your initial actions.

As an editor for Punknews.org, I’m offered promotional copies for some albums (granted, usually not before the release date, but sometimes) and have been put in the same predicament.  Now Punknews doesn’t pay.  We do what we do because we love it, and labels respect that.  My decision not to leak albums doesn’t come from a fear of consequence, but from a respect for the band’s and labels themselves.  I’ve had the new Akimbo record since about July, and it doesn’t come out until October.  I’ve been dying to get people listening to it, but I haven’t made one copy, and I won’t.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t played it in the coffee shop I work in, or played it for people in the car.

It’s a tricky situation with the state of the music industry these days, and it’s a fine line to walk.  I don’t even want to get into the pratfalls of the music industry.  But being a writer is akin to being an artist.  Mr. Hale seems to think that he can avoid capitalistic transactions for his craft, but is dearly wrong.  His day to day actions are engrossed in the exchange of money for goods and services.  Until our clothing and food comes free, we’ll all have to work for money.  Nobody pays a writer just to write what he wants — you have to satisfy an audience.

It’s hard to complain about not making money doing what you want to do with your life, and at the same time be the source of potential business loss from someone doing what they want to do with their life.