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CNN Live Saturday
Musicians Hold Spectrum of Views on Music Downloads
Aired June 29, 2002 - 18:25 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, when it comes to getting access to music, old time Rock n' Roll just isn't what it used to be. Rather than purchasing tapes or CDs at music stores, people are turning to the Internet, downloading their favorite songs.
It is a controversial topic, one that came up often at the Bonnaroo Music Festival that occurs just outside Manchester, Tennessee, drew a crowd of about 70,000 people. More now from the people closest to the debate, the artists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
LES CLAYPOOL, MUSICIAN: The industry is in a state of flux right now, trying to figure out what they're going to do about the Internet, digital trading, and whatnot. Because, it doesn't really sell a great deal of records.
MICHAEL KANG, SRING CHEESE INCIDENT: You know, this is in a lot of ways so much of an underground thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They sold what? 70,000 tickets with no advertising?
(CROSSTALK)
KANG: This is probably one of the largest concerts of the entire summer in the United States.
BRAD WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR OF CUMMUNICATIONS, GATEWAY: Digital music technology has a huge role to play in helping to evolve how fans get their music, how artists and labels distribute their products. And, we're conducting the music-sharing village, as well as the cyber cafe here, where people can come in and burn CDs of some previous live performances by the bands that are here at Bonnaroo.
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, we're done with it. Let them have it. Once we're done with it, it's theirs.
Needless to say, our record companies at the time were kind of against that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it was the best kind of word of mouth advertising the band could ever have had. It was better than records.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Internet helped us in a lot of ways. It gave us the opportunity to take a lot of risks on the stage.
Via the Internet, people were trading these tapes around, so if there was a great moment, that was the moment that would get passed around.
(MUSIC)
KARL DENSON, MUSICIAN: I would hope that people aren't using the Internet to trade the actual CD that you spend all your money recording with the purpose of selling a really fresh product.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe in downloading for one reason, not for free, stealing, or any of that. I don't believe in downloading because downloads sound like (AUDIO GAP).
JOHN BELL, WIDESPREAD PANIC: Police yourself on actually what you're ripping off, essentially. If it is sharing or if it getting a freebie.
JACK JOHNSON, MUSICIAN: You can get turned on to new stuff and it's not through radio it's not through MTV, it's through just purely kids talking about what they like.
ROBERT RANDOLPH, MUSICIAN: Do you seriously think in a couple of years, you know, the whole mainstream TV, radio, video thing will come to this -- true music, real music lasts forever.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: Views on the Internet from a few artists.
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