Marketing: Why I Pay For Music (or, Why Piracy is Good for Business)

I remember it like it was yesterday:

It was 1999, and I was 13 years old.

I’d been on the Internet for about 5 years at that point, and I had only recently gotten into Web Development (more specifically, programming javascript) and started to immerse myself in the technically-advanced underbelly of the Internet, and the communities of hackers and tech savants holding it together. I was enthralled.

Trends were a bit different than they are today. If I remember correctly, the hot singles of the time were Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and the first mp3 I ever downloaded – Take a Picture, by Filter.

The mp3 format was brand new, and it was quickly taking over in the technically-advanced (read: nerdy) web underground I was so proudly venturing into.

In no time flat, I went from spending hours to download low-quality .wav clips of my favorite songs that I had to delete after listening to because they took up too much space on my 90 MB hard drive, to downloading an entire song in a convenient 5 MB file in just 30 minutes.

Free Mp3′s Changed the Music Industry Forever

Not too long after that, Napster burst onto the scene, brought the mp3 format to the mainstream, and quickly devastated and infuriated the music industry (especially this guy). We, the consumer, had been emancipated – we got our first taste of “free”, and we weren’t looking back.

Now, if you’re wondering WTF you’re doing reading this, read on: there’s a marketing lesson in this post that will have drastic effects on your bottom line if you learn how to use it.

Fast forward to 2010, and I now regularly do something I vowed at 13 I would NEVER do: I pay for music.

Not only am I on an iMac (I’m a recovering PC evangelist), and not only am I using iTunes (I used to proudly whip the llama’s ass), I pay for music.

…and for someone like me, an open source fanatic who likes free stuff (and expects the best things to be free), who can easily find anything I want for free online, that says a lot.

Why I Pay for Music

Why did I make the switch from downloading music for free to paying? Here’s why:

1. I get to support my favorite artists. If I hear a song, and I want to keep listening to it, I want to pay the artist to continue making music like this song. It’s no larger a gesture than throwing an extra $1 in for a sweet waitress, but it adds up quickly as hundreds of thousands of people just like me make the same decision, and gets the artists extra perks on the back end when the label discovers that their stuff sells.
2. This is even more important: paying for music is easier and more convenient than downloading it for free. I can find any song I want for free, but Apple has programmed me to expect a streamlined, one-click experience to get the song I want.  With one click, I can login to iTunes, find the song that’s stuck in my head, and instantly charge my credit card the small fee of $.99 for the song. With iTunes, Apple was able to take something that’s easily available for free to anybody (you can find any song you want on youtube and listen to it as many times as you want to, for free), and discovered a way to charge for it.

What this Means For Your Business

This is a groundbreaking lesson for you and your business. Think about it. If you can create an easy, convenient experience for your customers, they’ll pay you for the same thing they can easily get for free.

Marketers do it every day. I have never bought a course on Internet Marketing or Search Engine Optimization that wasn’t entirely composed of information I could find elsewhere, for free. There is NOTHING in a $2,000 or even a $10,000 course that you can’t find for free.

The difference is, savvy marketers make it convenient for you, and program you to understand that while they’re not the ONLY option, they’re the BEST option to fulfill you and your needs.

So next time you’re presented with a buying decision to buy any software, information, or other digital data, consider this: what you’re about to pay for CAN be obtained for free. You can get the same exact thing, without paying a penny.

Is it worth it for you to give money in return for the salesperson or company selling the product to package and conveniently deliver the product for you? In most cases, the answer is obnoxiously clear: YES!

Check Out These Examples

Every year, thousands (or is it millions?) of new students enroll in college. They can get the same exact education (and probably an even better education) themselves, just like the person who created the subject they’re studying did. Is it worth their time to spend possibly dozens of years of their lives digging through books and hunting for the next piece of the puzzle, without having a clear, step-by-step roadmap? Usually, not. That’s why we’re willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for an education: it’s easier, and more convenient than educating ourselves.

I’ve seen stubborn open-source supporters, including friends of mine, spend days of their lives “acquiring” licenses to software that they could get for $100. There’s a word for someone who does that: idiot. Pay the $100, get your software, GAIN an extra two days of your life, and get ahead on your project. When you do the numbers, it’s not worth you working for less than $5 an hour just so you can save $100. Take the saved time and use it to put yourself in a better financial position.

Two years ago, I was broke. I was living on a friend’s couch, and studying a $2000 marketing course that I “obtained” because I couldn’t afford it. I applied what I learned in the course, and out of nowhere I had a $300 day, which was like striking gold when you consider how broke I was.

The next month, I generated $15,500 in sales from my friend’s couch, and was able to start paying him rent.

So what do you think happened to my relationship with the marketer who created that $2000 course?

Let’s just say I’ve paid as much as I can for every single product he’s come out with since then, and I’ve given back far more than the $2000 in value I initially received.

Can I still get his courses for free? Absolutely. But I now pay him because he changed my life, and I can never repay him for the impact he made in my life.

Why You’re Reading This Today

The reason I wrote this post today is three-fold:

1. I want you to re-think your belief system surrounding the term “piracy”. Do you think it’s generally “good” or “bad” when someone “pirates” your stuff? In my experience and all of my studies (including months spent researching Engineering Ethics while in college), “piracy” only boosts companies’ bottom lines (see this article for more information). I’d be honored if someone pirated my stuff and started to give it away for free, and I look forward to the increase in leads and die-hard fans when this happens. I know that the people who can afford my stuff happily pay me for it, and I want to be the guy who changes the lives of future couch surfers (just don’t ask me for a free copy of my stuff, you at least have to work for it
2. Ask yourself, how can you re-package free things to raise the convenience factor and make your market willing to pay for your stuff, even though they know they can get it for free? Also, how can you re-package your paid stuff, and give it away for free?
3. I want you to seriously dig into your business and ask yourself what would happen if someone “obtained” your paid stuff for free. If you’re doing the right thing, then your stuff will change their lives, and they’ll become a die-hard fan who WANTS to support you in the future. If they get your stuff and it only validates their concern that “maybe your stuff doesn’t work”, it’s time to seriously check yourself and ask yourself why you’re in biz in the first place.

Thanks for listening to my rant. I’d love to see your feedback (especially if you have a different opinion) in the comments below. So tell me,

What can you give away for free?