We all remember the horror stories about Metallica suing their fans, and the RIAA suing… everyone. Their goal was simple–stop the illegal download of music. At some point, they woke up and realized it was bad business to sue their customers. That was great timing for iTunes who quickly dominated the market by offering reasonably priced digital downloads. Everyone is thankful of that. But the legacy remains.

There are still countless musicians out there who get hot in the face when they hear that their fans are burning CDs, posting videos using their music on YouTube, or send MP3s to others. Then there's the fans who approach those same musicians and tell them to their face, “I illegally downloaded all of your music.” That musician is ready to deck them in the face.

That is one side of the coin. The other is me.

In 2000, I posted the Brobdingnagian Bards music on MP3.com. We gave away ALL of our music on that website. I recorded music exclusively for MP3.com, just to give away, because each listen, each download of our music helped us climb the charts. That meant more visibility, more sales, more fans.

It all came to a crashing end in 2003 when the record labels successfully sued and dismantled MP3.com. By the end, we were one of the Top 20 most-downloaded bands on the site. Literally, we had millions of plays on our website… MILLIONS!

We were faced with a choice. Do we go on giving away free music? Or do we reign in control and just sell our CDs?

I made the scary choice of giving away music for free. It worked great on MP3.com. We rejoiced when we found people were illegally downloading our music on Napster. It was my whole marketing plan. So why change it?

Please share my music

I've never wholly embraced the Creative Commons license, but my philosophy is the same. If you like what I do, share it.

When you go to my shows, set up a video camera and record it. Post it on YouTube or Vimeo or the latest social network.

Bring a digital recorder, capture it. Share it on archive.org. Email your favorite song to a friend. Ask if other Gunn Runners want a copy.

Yes, that's right. You are welcome to blatantly post on my social network sites and ask if anyone wants a copy. I'm okay with it. In fact, I'm downright happy about it.

I also offer a similar “license” with my recordings. Pick your favorite recordings of mine. Burn them to a CD. Give them to a friend. Email some MP3s. Yes SOME MP3s.

Make a video using one of my recordings. Post it on YouTube.

Yes, I do want people to buy my music. But I have about 20 albums for people to buy. There will almost always be new music.

For now, it's up to you. There are websites like YouTube which make it easier to share music publically. But I can't reach everyone. I just want to talk to you.

Come to think of it, I don't want to reach everyone. I want my music to be heard by the people who WANT to hear it. I bet you know who those people are. Thus, I pass the reigns to you. It's your job now to get the word out. I give you permission to use all of my resources to do that. Share my music. Share my podcasts. Share my bumper stickers.

Just Share.

Thank you for all your help. Slainte!