The Civil Wars have previously discussed marketing with free music and the importance of fans sharing the duo's music with their friends. However, I had not heard their take on piracy as a form of marketing prior to E.D. Kain's interview with The Civil Wars for Forbes. It's yet another example of the growing body of evidence that artists are finding ways to benefit from piracy when they approach it as another form of music sharing and discovery.
E.D. Kain says he first found out about The Civil Wars, Joy Williams and John Paul White, via a blogger who posted the music video "Dance Me to the End of Love." As it turns out, that video was their introduction to the world via YouTube.
Dance Me to the End of Love - Uploaded by The Civil Wars on Feb 13, 2009
John Paul White told Kain that they were "surprised by the immediate reaction" to that video which they uploaded in February of 2009. That summer they went on to record their second live show which they releases as a free album, "Live at Eddie's Attic," that's still available on their website and has seen over 100,000 downloads.
John Paul White states:
"We've also encouraged people to upload and share their footage from our shows via their social network of choice...It's become a powerful medium for us. It shows many different sides of us that an audio-only format can't."
Not only have they released lots of free music, from the live album to numerous YouTube videos, but they've come to recognize the power of piracy in building their fan base. As Joy Williams shares:
"Sure, piracy has it's drawbacks, but it also has positives...We've had people admit to us before that they were given a burned CD of our record from a friend. They'd go on to say that, once they heard the music, they bought tickets to the nearest show. And there, standing in line afterward to say hi – wearing a band shirt they bought that night – they recounted how many friends they'd turned on to our music. In short, we try not to be curmudgeons about piracy, but to embrace this shift in culture."
Note that she states that "piracy has it's drawbacks." The Civil Wars aren't taking an all-or-nothing everything should be free stance as some tech writers present in almost cultlike fashion. But Williams reveals that they've used the fact that live shows can be a way to monetize piracy as incentive to give great performances:
"One thing is true, you can pirate music, but you can't ever pirate the actual experience of going to a show and seeing someone perform live. We try to keep that in perspective, and it motivates us to make each night on stage count."
Life as a musician can be really tough, just as it is for any entertainer or artist. Embracing inevitable change rather than simply capitulating to Web myths is key if artists wish to move forward and build careers as such change accelerates.
More:
- The Civil Wars' Success Formula: Live Shows + Social Media + Music Placements
- Musicmetric's P2P Data Tour Planning App
Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and music industry resources at Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
