Chapter 44 Question ○38

Why do independent musicians, especially the most talented, favor free music sharing programs, while established artists tend to resent them? (Gili Broco, Chris Frank) When Napster (a peer-to-peer music sharing software) sparked the first Internet music sharing trend in 1999, established artists such as heavy metal bands and Madonna immediately condemned it.Instead, many aspiring independent musicians applaud shareware.Why are indie musicians so eager to see their songs go viral? Since established artists earn considerable income from CD sales, it is understandable that they would object to the idea that consumers would receive their music for free.The situation faced by independent musicians is quite different.These musicians haven't attracted a large following, so don't expect to get a decent cut of CD sales.And because the performance opportunities are extremely limited, but there are tens of thousands of independent bands participating in the competition, the chances of getting ahead are very slim.

Of course, a band with enough quality can eventually become popular in the local music market, but the real difficulty is going from a local band to a band that is popular in the entire region.Shareware seems to speed up the process.Local fans can email songs to friends in nearby cities, increasing opportunities for the best bands to play in out-of-town markets. Even if an indie band's song is free to download online, it can still generate a substantial share of the revenue from CD sales as long as it becomes a hit across the region.Die-hard music fans will not hesitate to do it when they see free downloads of artists’ albums under mainstream commercial brands on the Internet, but if they see the CD release of their favorite indie band, they will also take the initiative to pay for it.

In short, the attitude of various artists towards music sharing software makes economic sense.Established artists lose from it, while independent musicians, especially the best ones, gain. Unless the opportunity cost of your time is zero, mowing the lawn and ironing your own clothes will always cost you something.Whether you are an individual or a company, you must decide whether to provide the service yourself or outsource it to others.The following examples illustrate the economic reasons for making the decision to do it yourself or to have someone else do it in different circumstances.