Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Independent SF-based musician Thao Nguyen on filesharing
I had an opportunity to interview up-and-coming independent artist Thao Nguyen (of Thao with the Get Down Stay Down) for the 2009 Noise Pop Festival a few months ago. During our interview, I asked Thao what she thought about filesharing. She told me a pretty funny story—at least I think it's funny—which I captures the attitude of a lot of artists who realize that album sales are no longer the end-all-be-all measure of success.
J: This isn't even necessarily for the Noise Pop piece, but I'm just curious: do you have any feelings when it comes to filesharing, in terms of somebody giving me your album and me not buying it, but maybe me going to see your show because I love the album so much?
T: I don't have an opinion either way. I think I would be a hypocrite if I boned it because I certainly have participated in that, and I do think that exposure is probably a lot more valuable than the retail price of the record, or however much I might get from it. So in a way, I support the dissemination, but now I see the other side and now we're trying to make a living as musicians, and when we're on tour... I think people can do it but there has to be a level of awareness when you do. And so if you come up to me at the merch table—I say this only because it's happened multiple times, and it's always younger people because they're younger than us, they're like in college or high school, I don't know if they've listened to music outside this medium, filesharing—and so they'll come up and say "I really like the record, but I'm just going to steal it."
J: Oh god!
T: Or, "I'm just gonna burn it off my friend, they downloaded it."
J: Right.
T: I know that it's happening and I accept that. But if you really think you can go to the person and tell them to their face that you're stealing from them? That's absurd. People are going to do it, I can't stop you, but you have to not tell me. You can't tell me to my face that you're doing it. That would be the only request I have at this point but I think it's reasonable.
J: I think so.
T: But they came out to the show, you know? And maybe they bought a t-shirt (probably not) but yeah. I support it but I don't know, it's tough. I would like to think that if someone liked my music enough they would purchase it out of support.
J: Yes, like donating to a cause they believe in.
T: And so I guess the true way that I support it is if I can get the chance to win you over, then we can go from there, you know what I mean?
J: Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And the next time somebody says that you can just be like, "Great, now buy a t-shirt."
T: Yeah, instead I was so passive aggressive and I was talking to the guys in the band because we were all standing back there and, SO loudly, I just like roleplayed it. And I walked up to the table and I was like, "Hey! I'm a [jerk], can I steal your music?" And they heard me and then I felt bad and it was so unprofessional. And I could tell, because they kind of slinked away, but I really didn't care at that point.
J: They deserved it.
T: Yeah. Jerks.
For more about Thao and the band, check out their MySpace page and the band's homepage. The interview is available here.