Pirates

Not of the Somali variety.

No, these pirates headquarter out of their basements and bedrooms, planning and hording with hard drives and bitTorrents. They are musical pirates and they have been running amok, plaguing the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) since the Captain himself, Shawn Fanning, launched Napster in 1999.

This week it was announced that several nations, including China and Iran, will bypass any potential legal options and attack the pirates at their source, off the coast of Somalia. It was also announced that the RIAA will take a similar approach to combating online music piracy. Lawyers for the group said that rather than taking offenders to court, they will work directly with internet access providers to shut off access to websites that direct traffic to places where illegally pirated music is available. These websites are not yet illegal because they only direct traffic, not host any content themselves.

Pretty tricky, these pirates.

I'm not really sure how the international community will fair against the Somalian marauders, but I think what the RIAA is doing is a fair step against only the largest perpetrators of online music piracy. I'm sure if the RIAA had means of prosecuting each and every pirate perp out there, they would. But the problem is simply too massive. After all, online content is some of the only free content (or free anything) people get these days.

That is where I would draw the line and help the pirates out. Not because I think people should get free stuff, but because the MAJORITY of musicians out there benefit greatly from the uninhibited file-sharing of their music. Remember that in most genres, musicians make vastly more money off of touring revenues than recording revenues. The Frogs pay rent and buy groceries every month by playing two to four shows a week, every week. (I'm staying in CO while my family travels to TX for Christmas because have a show on the 26th and flying back the day after x-mas is a movie I've seen too many times...)

By comparison I would estimate we sell 10-20 CD's a week, revenue which is still flowing directly to our independent record label, Oh/Ya Records, in the form of recoupable funds.

Another form of band revenue is merchandise. Our shirts are really cool looking and once we have the design ready for some FGF action figures, we can expand the product line.

I truly hope that pirates, musical and maritime, will have some heart this time of year and stop capturing massive amounts of illegal music and large groups of sailors, respectively.


Everyone here at Frogs Gone Fishin', Trevor Jones Music, Oh/Ya Records and For/Sure Productions, hopes everyone out there in the blogosphere and real world have a safe and happy holiday season.