AC/DC torrent downloads prove the demand for digital formats
By Dave Parrack
AC/DC are an old school, classic rock band from Australia that has been going since the early 1970s. Being of that generation, the members can’t really see the need for digital formats, choosing instead to stick rigidly to physical formats. Not that it matters because their new album, Black Ice, has been downloaded over 400,000 times in just five days. Does this prove the error of their ways?
AC/DC is releasing its new album, Black Ice, its first release in eight years, on October 20th. The band is refusing to release anything in digital formats, including the new album, but who needs an official release when we have BitTorrent?
As TorrentFreak reports, the new AC/DC album was pirated and released on to the Internet last week, and has since racked up downloads of more than 400,000. New albums get pirated all the time, of course, but what’s different about this one is that it comes amid the band’s utter contempt for anything other than physical formats.
AC/DC sold 1.3 million albums in the US last year, which isn’t exactly a poor figure, and the band’s CD sales actually are staying steady in the face of an industry downturn. But, those 400,000 downloads (and counting so far) count for almost a third of that figure, and AC/DC won’t see a penny from it.
This clearly shows that AC/DC fans want to own their idols’ albums in digital format, and are willing to ignore the band’s wishes, and the law, to do exactly that. Most of the downloaders are likely to also buy a copy of the album when it is officially released, but why isn’t AC/DC catering to them in the first place by offering its music online?
AC/DC is a rock dinosaur in the same way that Metallica was, but at least the latter only had a problem with not making any money for its efforts – the Australian metallers won’t even allow law-abiding, paying customers to access its songs online.
The world of music is evolving, and the sooner bands, and record companies, realize this, the better. Music lovers want to be able to choose what songs they own, and in what format they want to own them in. Until the legal channels become affordable and user-friendly, then torrents are going to continue to dominate proceedings.
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October 13th, 2008
I disagree.
AC/DC fans will buy the CD anyway. AC/DC fans are nostalgic as much as the band. We want to have a CD in our hands, put it to the collection, with nice artwork and booklet. We want to OWN it. For real.
>>This clearly shows that AC/DC fans want to own their idols’ albums in digital format<<
nope.
Like many fans I have already pre-ordered Black Ice for weeks. But I downloaded the album from a torrent as well. ‘Cos I couldn’t WAIT to hear it. A lot of people did this as well. I used a torrent because you could download it BEFORE the official release. AFTER the release you’ll own the CD – no need for torrents or iTunes or anything.
People who had other reasons than me to download Black Ice from torrents (because they don’t want to spend the money e.g.) won’t buy the CD and wouldn’t pay for an iTunes download as well. Do you really believe that someone would use illegal torrent downloads just because the music isn’t available in legal digital format? Nope. If you are willing to PAY for AC/DC’s album – you will do so with buying the CD and use a program to convert it to mp3 or whatever format you want to have. The fact that you have to rip the audio files on your own or have to go out to buy it won’t chase anyone away from spending the money on a CD. AC/DC won’t lose any money here, the album will sell millions anyway – without being digitally released.
Their reason is that they don’t like the idea of people downloading particular songs and not the entire album – which is understandable from an artist’s point of view. This means they will lose money from people who only want to download “Back in Black” or “Highway to Hell” – and the band just don’t care. It’s not about money – maybe for the record company (who urged them to sign with iTunes) but not for the band.
This might not apply for other bands of course. And yes, I use torrent downloads as well. I use it for bands I’m not a huge fan of or if I want to check out a particular band (or if it’s from Metallica). If I like an album or a band, I’ll buy it. But I don’t have the money to buy everything I like (or think I might like). Loads of people entirely use torrent downloads – and they haven’t stopped (and will not stop) doing so only because music is available in (legal) digital format. They just don’t want to spend money at all – no matter which album or which band.
October 14th, 2008
Artists? The artists who penned the immortal lines: It was one of those nights when you turn out the lights and everything comes into view.
They richly deserve everything they’re getting—a well earned metallic moment.