Inside the Mind of a 9-Year-Old File-Sharer

This brief interview was posted on the Torrent Freak website, and quite frankly, it is rather eye-opening about how the youngsters - the real computer + file-sharing + fast internet service users and major "downloaders" perceive the phenomenon of "music piracy".

Fascinating at best, but scary at its worst... Because, let's face it, this is our reality TODAY - and tomorrow, all of this below is bound to multiply itself x100!

TF. Hi Hannah! How old are you?

- I’m 10 in 12 days

TF. What sort of music are you listening to right now?

Sean Kingstone, Shayne Ward and High School Musical 2

TF. Where did you first get into music?

- On the music channels, on MTV.

TF. When did you get a PC?

- People had computers but I couldn’t go on them but my Dad bought me one last year. I have internet.

TF. What do you do on the internet?

- MSN, talking to friends and cousins, games and dressing-up games [dolls]

TF. When did you first start using the internet to get music?

- My cousin showed me YouTube and then LimeWire and I was like “whoa cool!”

TF. What was cool about it?

- Because you can put anything in and it will come up and you don’t actually pay for it. Well you have to pay for the internet and LimeWire comes with the internet but you have to pay for that so LimeWire isn’t really free.

TF. Ok…I see….Do you get music from anywhere else?

- My cousin gets it from BEBO. She copies it from other people’s pages and puts it on her own.

TF. Do you think it’s ok to copy the music?

- Yes it’s ok because she only does it to make her page better.

TF. So you’re sure that it’s ok to copy it? What do you think about copying?

- I suppose it’s not ok to copy but people copied it off her site so she just copies theirs. It’s like, you’re copying my t-shirt so i’m copying you on shoes.

TF. Ok, so a bit like copying school work?….Hmm….ok, let’s talk about copying on the computer again. When you started using LimeWire, did anyone ever mention that if you did certain things you might be breaking some laws?

- Why would they put it [music] on the internet and invent mp3 players if it was against the law?

TF. Confusing isn’t it?….You mentioned you like Sean Kingstone - what if I told you that Sean Kingstone’s boss might send you a letter asking for money because you shared his album on LimeWire? What would you say to him?

- W.E! [whatever!]

TF. Come on, play along with me. What would you say if he did?

- I’d say “tooooo strict!” and anyway he can’t make me do anything. He’s not the boss of me, he’s the boss of Sean Kingstone.

TF. What do you think might happen if you didn’t pay him?

- Nothing. I’m too young to be charged by the government so he can’t charge me.

TF. Would you carry on using LimeWire after he sent the letter?

- Yeah!

TF. Why?

- Because you can get good albums off there. Duh!! My CD’s don’t work in my mp3 player so LimeWire is the only way to do it. I bought High School Musical 2 on CD but it won’t go on my mp3 [player]

TF. How would you make LimeWire better?

- To speak to the person sending the music to make sure they send the right one, sometimes they send stuff that doesn’t even play.

TF. Do you know what a pirate is?

- They have parrots [effects 'arrrrr']

TF. Do you think its legal or illegal to copy a CD or DVD?

- Some men right, they sell you a DVD at the market but when you get home it doesn’t play, that’s illegal.

TF. Why is it illegal?

- Duh!! Because they tell you it works and when you get it home it’s rubbish and jumps in the middle and its a waste of money!

TF. Do you think you should be paying for stuff off LimeWire? You have to buy CD’s from the shop…

- You have to pay for CD’s because they’re actually on a disc not on the computer. My cousin, right, she uses LimeWire when she doesn’t have any money for CDs.

TF. Did you ever download anything by anybody and then go to see them?

- I got stuff by Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe and then I went to see Blue. Why don’t you ask me what my favorite hobby is?

TF. Ok, what’s your favorite hobby?

- Dancing to music, it’s fun!!

A Modern Day Babylon - Major Record Labels

Some of you may have already heard about the "free album" giveaway trend that has really taken the UK music business by storm.

Here's the latest example...

"It's getting harder and harder for bands to make a splash with album releases these days.

So… musicians are thinking outside the box!

British pop-punk band McFly is going the Prince route and teaming up with the UK's Daily Mail to give away its new music in the paper's Sunday, July 20th edition.

McFly's super dreamy singer/guitarist Tom Fletcher says, 'We want to get our music out to the widest audience possible and working with a massive paper like The Mail On Sunday will definitely help us achieve that. We’re very excited about this great opportunity.'

This partnership will give the band access to the Sunday Mail's reported 5.8 million readers."

Interesting, but where does that leave record artists? Back in the day, in fact - not too long ago - record business was one thing and the performing industry was quite another... Yet the latter has taken over the former as of lately. Less and less people are willing to pay under 20 USD for a new album by their favorite artist; however, you'll find the same crowd queuing up to purchase tickets to a live show of this very artist, which can easily cost over 100 USD - 5 times the price of a full record. Bizarre or what?

Increasingly worrying signals of internal collapse and unrecognizable changes within record companies are plastered all over the media lately. The EMI/Guy Hands saga that made the headlines in NY Times earlier this month is one of the numerous examples, and in many ways, the very tip of the iceberg. Or so they claim within the showbiz circles. There's no denying that the humongous monopoly of major record labels is fading bit by bit... But what's the alternative? Lots and lots of indies, right? Exciting and adventurous times for artists and musicians in general, but the "suits" aren't in a great shape by the look of it. Shame, really.

What happened to the traditional A&R professionals with traditionally musical ears, the instinctive gut feeling and vision of the bigger picture? Obviously not all of them have vanished, although most of them have been replaced by accountants, attorneys and other bureaucratic figures. Every company needs a lawyer and an accountant, no doubt, but it would be nice to nurture and take care of the few musical ears that are still around and wondering up and down the record label headquarters.

It's a mess, really, there's no denying of that! Someone was saying the other day that he should have gotten into A/C repair business not the music business! There might be more demand, at least :-)

Undoubtedly, it's interesting to see how it all unfolds... It'll be a couple of years at least before things start falling into place again like back in the day. Although, no doubt, it will never be the same again - it can't be. But like most other musicians and artists, I'm curious to see what happens in the nearer future. It was a strange time to start getting involved with the major labels right at this moment - my timing was really something! - but it is exciting deep down, albeit unpredictable.

Time will tell... And patience may come in handy, too! :-)

My Soviet Correspondence

It was a cold winter’s day in Moscow in 1999. I still remember being wrapped up in a warm pullover with a cup of cocoa on my desk, as I surfed the internet on my brand new computer that my dad had just brought to me as a Christmas present.

I started searching the web very actively, looking at various “White Pages” for musicians, both well-known and completely unknown ones.

Some of those names rang a few bells here and there but one particular listing caught my eye almost instantly. I will let you, my readers, figure out who the legend was, but he is an amazing musician - truly. I was convinced that it was either a typo or perhaps a different musician with the same name…

As I kept on staring at the listing, I remembered my childhood when my father used to play X's records at home back to back. It was at the time when foreign music, especially Jazz was forbidden in the Soviet countries, and buying a Jazz record was close to committing a serious crime.

One day Dad showed me a newspaper article in one of the soviet papers when I was a little girl: “A certain well-known Georgian architect/painter is buying numerous Jazz records throughout the Soviet Union as well as high-end sound equipment (i.e. expensive speakers, valve amplifiers, etc.) - beware of the gentleman and anyone else who is hugely involved in promoting American music in the USSR, which, we believe, corrupts our nation as a whole - they are DANGEROUS." It was about my father, a rare music lover.

Carried away by those memories, I accidentally double-clicked the link on the webpage and ended up sending an empty email to "him". But thinking (and secretly hoping) that he would ignore the blank note from an unknown address, I decided not to worry about it too much; there was no way he would even consider replying to a completely unknown .ru email address, clearly located somewhere in distant Russia.

I somehow managed to quickly get over the accident and carried on surfing the internet for hours on end…

The accident seemed so passé by the end of the day, but something was prompting me deep inside to check my email “just in case.” I couldn't sleep, it was almost 2 am and let's not forget - I had to be up within a few hours to make it in time for an early lesson at school the following morning.

Yet, that gut feeling, or intuition, coming from nowhere eventually took over and I quietly got up on my tiptoes and walked over to my new electronic friend to check the incoming mail.

To my amazement, there was one unread message in my mailbox – a quick note from "X" in response to my “blank letter”. He politely apologized for his “low-tech” email and asked me to kindly resend the letter once more as he could not decode the characters the first time. Needless to say, I could hardly believe my eyes...

I was so excited and ecstatic: wearing nothing but my dad’s XL-size bathrobe and slippers, I immediately ran over to my parents, who, meanwhile, were enjoying some late night tea with my uncle and aunt in the kitchen.

Obviously they were furious to find their daughter so wide awake at first, but when I told them in great detail about the online accident, my dad, especially, was completely thrilled that his daughter had gotten through to one of his all-time favorite musicians, someone he’d admired for such a long time and regarded as a real out-of-this-world genius all of his life.

Clearly, going to sleep straight away so that I could more or less get up at 7 am as usual was well out of question by then – I absolutely HAD to reply to X's note - it was now or never.

Immediately after writing a full-blown letter, I anxiously awaited his response every day but nothing came through for what seemed like forever...

After weeks of waiting for the letter from X, I had almost given up my fantasy about hearing from him again, when to my great surprise, the great musician DID write back to his young fan.

I still remember how warmly and enthusiastically he congratulated me on "all the impressive accomplishments at such an early age" and also pointed out that my family sounded so extremely supportive, which can be such a vital point (I definitely agree!) X told me about his life at the moment and how he had slowed down in recent years but still continued to make music on regular basis. To my astonishment, X also asked me to send my music straight to his home address that he willingly provides in the same email. I could NOT believe it!

As soon as I got the email and read it to my folks, a quick concern crossed my mind... (And being a worrier by nature, it wasn't surprising at all!!!)

“What if he’s expecting something more from my singing than it really is and gets disappointed when he hears the cassette? He doesn’t know that I didn’t make any of these recordings in a professional studio – and that’s something he must be so used to by now…”

Nevertheless, I immediately puts a package together for X – five of the songs that I had recorded on my sound system along with several pictures taken with Mom and Dad.

In my hand-written letter, which I quietly drafted during a school class, I thanked him for taking the time to write to me and also for giving me the opportunity to send my tape directly to my musical inspiration. I think I even apologized for the quality of the demo tape and told X about the songs that I had recorded on my sound system, a couple of which had been his projects originally!!!

The next day my dad sent the parcel to the US via DHL (quite a rarity at the time!) and from then on, I started checking my mail every single evening after school (do you remember dial-up and not being able to "connect" some of the time??? Nightmare!), hoping and praying that one of these days I'd get a letter from him once more – and this time with his opinion about MY singing…

Several more weeks went and the long-awaited letter finally reached the Soviet destination - I anxiously opened the email. I was blown away, and in fact, I have kept that letter to this date... He described his young fan as “extremely musical with a wonderful voice and ‘great ears’ to be able to sing exactly along with the original singers”. As for the pictures, “my wife, and I loved your photos… very stylish! And your parents look terrific, you must be so proud of them! Maybe someday we will all be able to meet in person. But in the meantime, keep singing!!” I was speechless!!!

To my great joy and pride, we actively start to communicate via email on regular basis and engaged into a series of dialogues about music, art and the different lives in ex-Soviet Union and modern America. It was so fascinating and so unlike anything else I had ever encountered!

I actually had the guts to send my songs to this great legend on regular basis for his advice and guidance, always getting his feedback in return, thus developing a musical and also a human bond with this great man without us ever meeting each other face to face - even to this very day, almost 10 years later, we still haven't met.

Bearing in mind that all of this happened at the time when the internet was a brand new communication tool and spam, myspace, chatting were not yet known to the mass audience, it really was a very special discovery and a connection that I still value and cherish so close to my heart. Every time his new album hits the stores, I literally run to get my hands on a copy - not a digital one but an actual "tangible" CD... Can't beat a physical CD with liner notes, credits, etc. if you're a real fan - that's impossible!!!

It's so amazing when those you truly admire and look up to don't disappoint nor demystify your perception of their personality behind the great talent - I strongly believe that true talent isn't always accompanied by huge egos and other unpleasanteries.

Oh, and by the way, I wonder if any of you have guessed who this great man is? He is among my friends on myspace.... Quite a drag to try and figure it out, I am sure!