How to stop your fans file sharing your music

I am not against file sharing.

However, I do believe that teaching a generation of fans and consumers that music has no value and that they can trade it freely is a slippery slope - there has to be a happy medium for the future of music.

If you are the person controlling the free dsitribution of your music (in exchange for an email address or similar) then at least you're getting some value. Let's not forget either that 'free' isn't free - you're still asking a potential fan to invest their time and energy in listening to your work and deciding whether to become a fan. That has a value - something the major labels do not undersatnd.

This article looks at ways that you can help to reduce the file sharing which ultimately should drive fans back to your site where you control the way that music is delivered to them.

They should be happier and so should you.

If you follow the arguments surrounding file-sharing close enough you’d assume that file-sharers are the kind of moral lacking scum of the Earth that would consider pushing their own grandma into moving traffic or, that on the weekends, they shoplift from Best Buy and are slowly working up the confidence to start robbing banks.

Of course, we all know that’s simply not true. Most fans that file-share are like you and I. With the slight exception that they don’t even have an idea that folks like us have invested thousands of words debating, contesting, and trying to make sense of how we feel about the notion that music fans think music, the most beloved and precious thing that we have, should be free and not be paid for.

Read the article at Music Void.