Burning Your Favorite Artist
Jeff Deyo

OK. Think of your five best loved musical artists. When you think of them as people, what do you think of? What have you heard? Are they nice? Are they rich? Are they godly?

Of course, unless you know them personally, it’s hard to know for sure. Even if you had a bad experience with one, you might have simply caught them at a “human” moment. Regardless, I imagine part of the reason we like their music is because of something we fancy about them as people. Most people are intrigued at least and fanatical at worst about musicians and artists, and many feel endeared to them to some degree.

If this is so, why would anyone set out to deliberately hurt those who provide so many with entertainment, encouragement and enjoyment? Of course, no one would go out of their way to “burn” their favorite artist intentionally . . . right?

Here’s the deal. Whether we realize it or not, when we burn or copy artists CD’s we are not only breaking the law but we are seriously crippling them and jeopardizing our hopes of continuing to enjoy great music.

So, before you get defensive, just hear my heart on this. I was talking to a friend of mine’s father the other day, and he was discussing his music collection and how much he enjoyed listening to many different types of music. For some reason we got on the burning topic, and I began to share casually how difficult it has been for us to survive financially since people began burning CD’s.

After talking for just a few minutes he brought up how bad he was feeling, because he had never thought of burning from the artists’ perspective. He had tons of burned CD’s and always just had the common perspective that (1) all artists are rich and won’t miss the sales of a few burned CD’s and (2) that many artists are pompous jerks and don’t “deserve” the money anyway. He said he never thought about artists like me who were trying to make music for the Kingdom of God who might be struggling to some degree, and how burning CD’s is not only stealing but also takes away the opportunity for the listener to sow into artists’ ministries.

Of course I want to be clear that I am not writing this so people will feel sorry for me. God is my provider, and even if no one ever bought another CD of mine, he would take care of me! That said I believe people need to understand the reality of burning and how it is a boomerang that is coming around to bite the consumer. (Whether or not it will bite hard enough in this big world to truly make a notable impact remains to be seen.)

When I was in Sonicflood from 1998 through May of 2000 there were no major issues with burning. By the grace of God, we sold somewhere around 900,000 CDs, which is an amazing blessing. I am humbled to have even been a part of something like that! But then, technology began to change, and CD burners became less expensive and much more common in most computers.

In 2002 I released my first solo CD, Saturate. It sold somewhere around 80,000 – a huge difference from Sonicflood. Then in 2004 we released Light, and it sold 30,000 copies. Finally in 2005 we released Surrender, and it has sold around 25,000 so far. And we are poised to release Unveil in the spring of 2007.

Obviously, I am not going to suggest that all the drops in sales are a result of CD burning. In fact, at first, I refused to consider this at all, wanting to take full responsibility and pushing myself to simply make better music. But as time has passed I’ve realized that people really are burning CD’s more than I realized. I began hearing and hearing about many people (Christians included) discussing buying fewer CD’s and “sharing” the cost of CD’s with friends. They would talk about buying one CD and then plan to burn a copy or copies for their friends. This always amazed me, since they were discussing this at our merchandise table right in front of us, seemingly without regard to the law or our well-being. At first there was obvious ignorance on the part of the consumer, but with all the suits in the news and such, it is now widely known that burning is illegal.

I suppose some just choose to look away and ignore this, while others still don’t realize exactly what they are doing. For that reason I want to share a couple of examples of why our economy could not exist if copying was legal with other everyday products.

Imagine if it was possible to go to McDonalds and purchase a Big Mac, take it home and make as many copies as you wanted. You might just make one and give it to your mom or dad. Or you might make a few and give them to all your friends – or you might make some and set up a stand on the corner and sell them cheaper than Mickey D’s does!

OK, now imagine if hundreds of thousands of people began doing this around the country and the world. Obviously this would cut significantly into McDonald’s profits. I suppose part of the rub is the thought “well, copying one sandwich isn’t that big of a deal.” But when thousands and thousands of people begin copying one sandwich, McDonalds is going to take a big hit. You might think, “We’ll they are McDonald’s – they are the biggest restaurant in the world – what difference is it going to make?” But we forget that McDonald’s is made up of individual people trying to support their families. The people who raise the cows, the farmers who grow the lettuce and tomatoes, the people who manufacture the paper for the sandwich rappers – they all have families, and many of them have children. When you think of it that way, it’s a little different. Then you realize that copying a sandwich doesn’t just affect the corporation or the rich executives, but the moms and dads trying to support their families.

What about Chevrolet or Ford? What if you could go buy an Avalanche or a Navigator and go make a few copies for your friends? Do you think these companies would be able to afford to continue to exist and make nicer and nicer cars for us to drive? Of course not. If people could make copies so easily, why would anyone buy more than one between a group of family and friends?

But, if car companies don’t have enough money, they won’t be able to compete, because they won’t have the finances to continue to do the research or to pay their designers, manufacturers and other employees. They won’t be able to increase their technology or continue to add better options for our safety and enjoyment. We will be stuck driving last years’ model for years to come.

I always find it interesting that copying is mainly a problem only for products like CD’s, software and movies. But my make believe scenario could easily be applied to almost any product, from books to lawnmowers to bicycles to shoes to light bulbs to shampoo to jewelry to suitcases. If we could copy these items legally (or illegally) we would make it very difficult for their creators, manufacturers and distributors to continue to exist.

Of course, we haven’t even taken into consideration that it is wrong to take something someone else has designed and/or created and produce copies with blatant disregard for their welfare or their ability to continue to survive and with the hope of gaining personally from a product we did not design or create. I suppose this perspective is what I hope to raise awareness about.

It may be true that many mainstream artists are very wealthy – and even a very few Christian artists. But does this give us the right to take something from them – just because they have a lot of money? Do we think God will look favorably on us for taking from the “rich” – like we’re some sort of Robin Hood? Even still, most Christian artists are NOT wealthy. In fact, surprisely most of them live on middle to lower middle class incomes, but are still dedicated to God’s calling in their lives. You may have a hard time believing this, but the Christian market is very small. Most artists receive only a very small percentage of each CD sold in the stores – and over the course of 1 year with several employees’ salaries to pay, managers, booking agents, publicists, bookkeepers and such, this doesn’t go very far.

In 2003 I was nominated for the second time for “New Artist of the Year” for the GMA Awards. That year there were six nominees, and these artists represent the artists “most likely to succeed” in the coming years. Out of the six nominees, just a year later, including myself, there were only two of us left in existence – that is, only two of us that still had record deals and/or who hadn’t “quit”. On top of that, the 2003 winners, The Paul Coleman Trio, officially broke up only a few short months after receiving their award, publicly citing financial difficulties.

The only reason I share this is to let you know how challenging it is to survive in the Christian Music Industry. If even those who are “most likely to succeed” can’t make it, how is anyone supposed to survive – especially when people are stealing their music?

Imagine the best case scenario: where most families used to purchase at least two CD’s of their favorite artists – one for the home and one for the car – let’s assume most of those families are only purchasing one CD these days, as a result of being able to burn as many as the want in their home for pennies. If this is the best case scenario, than if an artist used to sell 100,000 CD’s, they are now only going to sell 50,000. That may not sound like a big deal, but that means everyone’s salaries get cut in half. That means some artists just aren’t going to be able to afford to come to your town. It means that artists are only going to able to spend half of what they used to spend on making CD’s for our enjoyment. That means that you may notice a significant drop in the quality of the music and the performances (lighting, sound, etc). It also means some band members are going to have to quit or will be asked to leave for financial reasons. And this is the best case scenario!

If we add to this the many CD’s that are burned for people outside the immediate family – friends, coworkers, church members, etc, we’re likely going to see that number drop by another 50%, meaning that artist is now only going to sell about 25,000 units. And that is a BIG hit to take!

I’m not sure, of course, but I believe that is about where we are as a band. I believe Light and Surrender would have sold around 100,000 units or more if there were no such thing as burning. Even still, I am so grateful to God, because he has blessed us and miraculously given us the ability to continue to minister!

Of course, this article is in no way meaning to point fingers at anyone or to lay guilt upon our fans. We just want to challenge all you music lovers out there to invest in your favorite artists! Just think, when you purchase a CD you are helping that artist accomplish their vision, the same as when you partner with missionaries by contributing to their ministries. (Actually, this may be one reason to NOT purchase or listen to some artists’ music as well. Just a thought . . .).

You might say, “But I would never be able to afford to buy all the CD’s I have burned.” And I would say, “Yes, that is exactly right.” Just like we can’t afford to have 10 cars or 7 TVs, if we want something that is valuable to us, we have to save our money or else do without. We have to understand that burning CD’s is exactly like putting on a ski mask, breaking into a music store at night and stealing as many CD’s as we can grab – there is NO difference – except that you are doing it from the comfort of your home. If caught, you can still go to jail, and even if you are NOT caught, burning still falls into the category of stealing, which means you are breaking the 8th Commandment.

Again, please know that I am NOT mad at anyone, and that I write this article from my heart with the hope that you will partner with us for reaching people with Jesus Christ! When you purchase our music, you help us connect people with their Savior! You will be blessed on earth and in heaven for doing that! Plus you will stand proud, knowing you are blessing, not burning, your most fav artists!

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