We Are Family We Are Family A.K.A. (WAF, or "the crew") are a group of friends, many of whom live in the Vancouver area. We all have one thing in common, we love making stuff, we love the process. Whether it's making music, videos or graphics. And this blog is a way to share those projects, so check it out and enjoy! The music you find on this blog is a result of original music I've written. Please support the artists by purchasing their material on itunes, or perhaps don't and just keep the music playing in the background while you do stuff. Or just burn it to your computer and delete it immediately. I really don't care what you do with it. Just listen and enjoy. And in the case of having a download or an album link, please check out the cdbaby database for the rest of the songs by the same artist. Thanks. Wednesday, February 27, 2013 "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!" Roughly translated from the Bard (though I admit I took poetic licence with the first line) Yes, after my little "experiment" post last week, I'm hoping that most of you will now have a better grasp on the fact that the music you download, like most of life's finest experiences, comes with a price. In other words, it isn't free. Whether it's you, me or someone else who is footing the bill for the music, chances are your ears are gonna have to hear something to make that magic happen. So how do we pay this bill, and avoid being screwed in a very literal sense? A few common sense principles will be used to help us out, starting with.... 1.) Respect the artist. This is self explanatory. If the music is truly something you enjoy, just like the artist, then try to keep it legal. You can still get your little "taste" of the band every once in a while, but if you go that route, respect the band. I don't know how many times I've seen a post saying "I bought this off of [insert band name here].com and then pirated it". Well guess what? The artist had to buy equipment, pay their own gas, pay their dues and more to create that music you're downloading. That guy with his guitar playing in the garage that's getting a sound check before they go to the gig isn't going to be able to make any money off of that show, yet we can go into that same room, download the songs and walk away with it for free. So it's best to support the band when you can. Support their shows and anything else they do. Support your friends and your local music scene. But if you can't, no one's saying you have to. You do however have the right to "pass it on", even if that means just sharing the link with your friends on Facebook. 2.) Don't be a d-bag By "d-bag" I mean a jerk. If you rip off someone else's work without even trying to pay them back, don't be surprised when they do the same to you. If you rip off an artist and then tell them that you bought it from a site (which may or may not be the truth) and they go to that site and realize it's a rip off, then you're kinda screwed. The d-bag moves up a rung on the ladder to "stupid", which means that the internet hates you and tries to run you over with a car. If you feel that the artist has put out an album with songs on it that you love, even if you have no intention of ever buying the album, maybe just go get the album and listen to the songs and then you can go to "that" site and listen to the album without actually downloading it. 3.) It's free music, but it's not free "Ok you say you're all just getting it for free, but I don't get it." Ok. First off, no, it's not free. There's a cost associated with that music. If you get it for free, then you're not paying for the price of the music or whatever that may be. You're paying for the cost of downloading it and that can be a very expensive thing. You see, when you get a CD in the mail, you can read the track listing, pick your favorites, buy those ones and then throw away the rest. If you listen to songs on the radio, most likely they're going to be three or four minute bursts of musical excellence, or you can turn it down a bit to hear the whole thing. Now with the Internet, it's hard to get that feel of the music. Especially for a song that's 15 or 30 minutes long. So what happens is that most people stop listening at the point where they're not paying any attention. So they hear the first minute, and if they don't like it, they're never going to listen to it. I've seen a lot of people do this. There was this huge band that was all over the charts for about a year or so, and they all disappeared off of youtube because they weren't really that good. People who heard it all but one minute probably like them, but people who listened to the entire song probably didn't. On the other hand, with something like piracy, you can listen to the whole thing (for the most part) and it's so easy to just listen and ignore when you have to use the bathroom and you have a couple of tunes in the background while you're working or whatever. And unless someone happens to hear it, no one is going to be bothered to buy the album. So it's free for everyone else, but the artist is missing out on the financial reward that they should be making. This is why in our house (I'm not telling you who exactly, since it's not necessary) we have to pay our bills when we get them. For instance, if you pay your car off every month, you'll eventually pay it off completely, or at least in full. The same applies with music. Once you pay for a CD, or a few CDs a year, there's really no excuse for downloading music. It's as simple as that. 4.) Listen to the music and share the link There are plenty of ways to get your music without having to pay anything. Some sites allow you to check out the song and a couple of other tunes for free. I've used this method more than once and it's usually only a couple of minutes and you have a pretty good idea of whether you'll like the band. And at the very least, if you listen to a few songs, and you just hate it, you can save yourself the trouble and just go back to your usual music. Other sites have podcasts, or you can go to your local community radio station and check out a show or two, even though you can't hear the whole thing. I also recommend music blogs. There are some pretty good ones out there. Not to mention YouTube. If you're looking for specific things, there are a lot of sites out there to get your music, look on youtube first, but once you find a good selection of songs that you like, check the comments out to see if they have any links to their work. 5.) Look at the artist's website, even if you're using torrents I just want to throw this in there