Thousands of Australians download their music from the Internet, and don't pay for it. Some say it’s stealing, others say sharing. But who's making money from these downloads?
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Artists come face to face with the young people who freely download their songs, and Internet industry stakeholders meet performing rights authorities.
The Audreys, Mahalia Barnes, Tim Levinson from the Herd, Jenny Morris and hip hop act Phrase are all concerned music is being devalued. But for young Internet users, downloading free music is acceptable and cool. Some have never bought a CD in their lives.
Australia's music industry claims it's losing $200-million per year as illegal downloading causes CD sales to slump. New media industries and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) say the world has changed, and the music industry must change with it.
Insight asks: How should the music industry respond to new technologies which are making free music easy to access?
Meet the Guests
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The Audreys
Their critically acclaimed 2006 debut Between Last Night and Us picked up an ARIA Award for Best Blues & Roots Album, with sales now approaching gold in Australia.
Two years since it all began, The Audreys have released their second album, When The Flood Comes. They are on a national tour at the moment but Taasha Coates (voice, piano, ukulele), Tristan Goodall (guitars, banjo) and Michael Green (violin, lapsteel) will make a special pit-stop at the Insight studios to perform for you.
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Tim Levinson (Urthboy)
Tim Levinson keeps himself busy as a solo artist, better known as Urthboy, and as MC of the eight piece hip hop outfit, The Herd. 2007 was a big year for this Sydney based singer and songwriter, with his second solo album The Signal gaining several album of the year nominations. The catchy track, We Get Around so came in at number 25 on Triple J’s Hottest 100. For a limited time only, Tim is giving Insight viewers the chance to download an exclusive Urthboy track, Over Before It Began (featuring Mia Dyson) from our website. It's from his album 'The Signal'.
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Mahalia Barnes
Not just the daughter of Australian music legend Jimmy Barnes, Mahalia is a stand-out soul singer in her own right. After eight years and almost a thousand gigs, Mahalia is releasing her debut album, Mahalia Barnes + The Soul Mates Volume 1 on June 1. Mahalia has recently completed a national tour supporting Lionel Ritchie after similar gigs with James Morrison and the Roots. She has also been singing with her father’s band and squeezing in Soul Mates club shows.
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Phrase
Phrase is the only hip hop artist signed to a major label in Australia. Growing up in the suburbs of Melbourne, Phrase's love of hip hop kicked off in his early teens when he began to listen to the likes of Ice T, NWA, Ice Cube, and 2Pac. It wasn't until he began listening to community radio and new Australian rappers that he started to feel an affinity with hip hop as an art-form. His debut album Talk with Force was released in 2005.
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Jenny Morris
Born in New Zealand Jenny Morris gained national attention in the late eighties and early nineties with a string of platinum albums including Body and Soul, Shiver and Honeychild. Throughout her career she has sold in excess of 500,000 records and is the recipient of back-to-back ARIA awards for Best Female Artist. She has toured the world with artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Prince and INXS and played at Wembley Stadium in London and Le Bercy Stadium in Paris.
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