Piracy Offers Heavy Metal a New Business Model 246
hessian writes "Despite being extensively pirated worldwide, Iron Maiden have managed to put themselves in the £10-20m for 2012. This means that despite the growing popularity of the band on social media, and the extensive and pervasive torrent downloading of the band's music, books and movies, the band is turning a profit. This is in defiance of the past business model, and the idea that piracy is killing music. In fact, piracy seems to be saving music in Iron Maiden's case. One reason for this may be metal itself. It has a fiercely loyal fanbase and a clear brand and identity. The audience identifies with the genre, which stands in contrast to genericized genres. It doggedly maintains its own identity and shuns outsiders. As a result, fans tend to identify more with their music, and place a higher value on purchasing it."
Re:Maybe, but... (Score:5, Informative)
I know it's anecdotal evidence, having seen Iron Maiden at least 15+ times live since the late 80s, one thing you notice today that on their live shows there are a huge number of young teenagers. Their shows are not filled with old fans like myself. So there is this new wave of Maiden fans that probably don't even know what it is like to buy a CD. They did establish a strong reputation, sure, but their fans are not only the old ones form the 80s.
Also, unlike other big 80s bands, they don't sue their fans for downloading. They also didn't hop on every possible trend in music, they kept true to their origins. They also didn't became born again christians who refuse to play at festivals because some 'satanic' band plays. They also didn't create drama. When members left or where fired, it wasn't publicized and criticized by other members.
Despite making some of the most memorable heavy metal music, Iron Maiden was always ran as a business, since their early days. And this focus allowed them to go through the download era without issues. They never had major video exposure on MTV (yes, back when there was music on that channel) so music downloading didn't really impact them.
Up the Irons!
Re:Maybe, but... (Score:5, Informative)
That's because Metallica are a bunch of whining undertalented primadonas. Metallica, the original Nickelback.
Wait second (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Maybe, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Do you ever see any anti-piracy posts that are modded up on Slashdot so they can be read without drilling down?
When the post is actually rational, does not involve assumptions, does not involve being hostile, does not involve taking people's words out of context? Yes. It's not often it is seen, however, because a lot of the posts flame people, take their words out of context, or just try to pass off opinion as fact without any citations... so no shit, they get modded down and responded to w/ hostility more often than not.
Re:Maybe, but... (Score:5, Informative)
So had Metallica...and we all know how that turned out for them.
Metallica cut their hair.
Then they went on a rampage against napster.
Then the quality of their music started to suck.
But the biggest problem? They cut their hair.
Rockers have long hair. Anything else is just posing.
Cutting the hair isn't an issue...Bruce Dickinson not only cut his hair, but went on to get his commercial pilot's license to fly a Boeing 757. He flew the plane on the last couple of world tours that Iron Maiden did.