There is no music without an author The view advocated by pirates that their activities are aimed only at the big bad recording companies does not convince singer-songwriter Kaija Kärkinen. “How lovely if that were the case, but it isn’t. I’m not defending the big recording labels, which have blundered out of the music downloading business, but to the maker even the peanuts he gets are vital.” “The music makers and performers are talking about something totally different. The pirates forget everything else and just talk about the artist, but this is also about the music makers. The Robin Hood phenomenon doesn’t hold at all.” Kärkinen emphasises that proceeds from record sales are a completely different thing from royalties. “I write the lyrics and Ile Kallio composes the music and the copyright income is a really big thing for us. Record sales are poor these days: one year’s total revenue buys us food for one week. What we get paid for gigs helps a bit, but it’s not enough.” She finds the logic of piracy absurd. “It’s as if everybody accepted that anybody’s work can be taken advantage of for nothing and you are free to help yourself from anybody’s pay packet. Then of course we should have that right too. Free music is not a fundamental right. It’s possible to listen to music for free in many places.” “It’s no good disguising stealing as opposition to the big companies. You can make records in a small studio and do your own marketing, that’s quite ok. But if someone writes a good piece, they must be paid.” “Piracy is morally intolerable, it is stealing out of other people’s pockets, It’s awful if we as parents train our children to be pickpockets from childhood on: it’s all right to download music, games and films for free off the Internet.” “Just as there’s no free lunch, there’s no free music either”, says Kärkinen. “There’s always someone who made it, stealing it is always someone’s loss.” Text: Heikki Jokinen Translation: Joan and Henrik Nordlund Photo: Johanna Viljakainen This interview is a part of the article "Pirates ran around in Sweden" in Teostory 2-2009. Read more >