“The world couldn’t wait,” the official website of misogynistic,
gay-baiting, Kerry-supporting rap star Eminem enthuses. “Due to
overwhelming demand the new Eminem album hits stores Friday the
12th!”
Actually the release date was only moved up four days, from a
traditional Tuesday release on November 16 to this Friday. Are we
to believe the “Eminem Show” has gotten so out of control that
wannabe-tough-guy suburban kids in baggy pants would have rioted in
the streets if Eminem’s new record, Encore, was kept out
of their hands four more days? Would their have been massive sieges
of Tower Record stores? Or sit-ins at FYI? Or picketing in front of
the Interscope Records offices?
Well, technically that last might be possible due to content.
Eminem’s past songs have, after all, included lyrics about
murdering his (now) ex-wife, raping and killing his own mother, and
murdering gay people, all metaphorically, of course. Artistic
license, they call it, I believe. Are the youth of America so
desperate to find out which family members the Grammy-winning
rapper will rape and murder this time around that the record
absolutely must be released four days early?
Um, probably not. This, kids, is what we call putting a good
face on a bad situation. The truth is, a stolen copy of
Encore has already debuted on the Internet. Millions of
fans have likely downloaded the songs. As you read this, some
enterprising youth is probably at work furiously breaking U.S
copyright laws, burning dozen of CD copies of the record on his
laptop to sell at cut rate prices to his friends at school or
elsewhere. Others have saved them on their iPods and are bobbing
their heads furiously, and thousands of mad-at-their-dad teenagers
are learning new ways to cuss out their folks. I suppose it could
be worse. They could be listening to Satanic Norwegian death metal
and burning down churches. (Yes, this really happens in Europe.
Check out Michael Moynihan’s Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of
the Satanic Metal Underground for the details.)
In the aftermath of the leak, executives at Eminem’s label,
Interscope, went into a cold sweat. And wouldn’t you? Millions of
kids are in their bedrooms right now surreptitiously milking one of
the company’s most prized cash cows. Worse, the whole situation is
like reliving a nightmare: Eminem’s last record, The Eminem
Show, also had to move up its release date because of piracy.
The silver lining, of course, is that that record sold more than 19
million copies worldwide. This is no isolated incident, either.
Geffen Records was just forced to push up the release of Snoop
Dogg’s R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece a
week and Sony is taking the somewhat awkward step of moving
Destiny’s Child’s Destiny Fulfilled release ahead a single
day.
NEVERTHELESS, HOWEVER ONE may feel about Eminem —rational adults
must find it hard to get warm and fuzzy about him — this sort of
situation is not a positive development for American capitalism,
intellectual property rights, or even the arts.
Market forces have stepped in with a partial remedy. So if
you’ve wondered why as of late major music releases have come with
a cornucopia of bonus features — DVDs, CD-ROM features, discount
concert tickets, free T-shirts — wrack your tired brain no more.
It’s not that the record companies have suddenly fallen in love
with their buyers. It’s that they are terrified of your computer
and its cable modem line, and they believe the only way to bring
you back is to sweeten the pot. If this is the future, woe to the
artist then who is only a musician, rather than a marketing genius,
maven of controversy, or a woman prepared to bare all in record
sleeve photos. Record labels are still, ostensibly, about music,
aren’t they?
And while some might harbor romantic notions of sticking it to
The Man, the truth is that, like it or not, there is a moral
component to all of this. There is a word for taking without
buying: Theft, and it aptly describes the mischief going
on here. Most understand this is completely unconscionable with
regard to local or independent acts. Burning copies of the CD of
some starving artist who might only sell 5,000 copies of his record
is a depraved act that suffocates the very musician the thief seeks
to spread the word about. But many lose their inhibitions when it
comes to superstars. Still, just as a general rule of fairness, if
Eminem can sell 19 million records or more on the basis of his
work, why should he not get paid for every one of them?
THIS, HOWEVER, GOES BEYOND Eminem’s well-being. As mentioned
before, he’s going to do all right, and so will most other
mega-stars. But the sales of those stars dictate more than their
own destiny. The profits created for record companies by these
stars are what creates the capital necessary to nurture smaller
acts of all stripes. For those of us unimpressed with Eminem,
Britney Spears, or any number of other stars, their success in
these days of massive music conglomerates nonetheless helps
determine the operating and advertising budgets of jazz, blues, and
classical imprints. It’s true that these genre labels are already
often marginalized and overlooked, but that’s no reason to help
pull the trigger by turning a blind eye to theft.
It’s often said that the greatest trick the devil pulled was
convincing the world he does not exist. Likewise, an entire
generation has come under the mistaken impression that stealing
from musicians is not theft. It is a crime so commonplace it has
garnered a sort of unofficial sanction. Hopefully, now that major
artists and labels are feeling the sting, a more concerted effort
to change attitudes and encrypt CDs will be undertaken. It’s a sad
state of affairs when we have to encourage supposed music lovers
from killing the thing they love.
