In this article, I’m going to go over some things you can do to protect your music from thieves. The truth is, and I guess you can stop reading here, there’s no sure fire way to prevent theft. In the digital age, where everything is so easy to make and upload, it’s just as easy to take. With this technology, you have to take the good with the bad. Having said that, you don’t leave the front door locked so that anybody and their grandmother can just walk in and take the family silverware. At least try to ward off would be thieves by taking some kind of action. What kind? Well, that’s where this article comes in.
At the top of the list, especially if you are selling royalty free music like I do, is to watermark the tracks that are actually on your site. What I mean by watermark is to have some kind of voiceover playing while the track is playing. You could use the name of your site like some other sites are doing. This way, if they want to take your music as is, they’re going to get it with the voiceover and it’s not going to sound very good. In order to get the clean track, they have to download it from your site.
Now, you’re probably wondering why I don’t do this. If you go to my site and play my tracks, there are no watermarks of any kind. The reason I don’t do this is strategical. Yes, there is a method to my madness. I actually want my music stolen. Why? Because the more it’s taken, the more it gets around and is heard by other people. The more it’s heard, the more traffic I get to my site. The more traffic I get to my site, the more people share my music and bring other people to my site. In turn, the higher up the SERPs my site goes. Increased traffic means more ad revenue. My friend Kevin McCleod makes 6K a month just off of ad revenue and he pretty much does the same thing. But if you really want to keep your stuff from being stolen, watermarks are the way to go.
What about people actually hacking into your downloads? It’s not hard for people to find out what your URL links are. Once those links get around, the watermarks no longer matter. They’ll just directly download the real files. Well, the way you get around this is by using something like DLGuard. How does DLGuard work? I’m glad you asked that.
DLGuard is a download protection piece of software that runs on your server. I’ve been personally using it for years. The way it works is simple. You install it. Installation is very easy. Then, you go into the software and create a download record for each of your songs. In the record itself you tell DLGuard where the download file is. After you create the record, DLGuard will encrypt this link and create a link on the fly that the purchaser will get access to.
So let’s say your real download link is www.mysite.com/mylink.mp3. DLGuard will encrypt it so something like sdl3962vda97.mp3 so that the buyer never really knows what the real link is. That way they can’t pass it around.
Okay, you’re probably thinking that all they have to do is pass around the encrypted link. Well, they can. But what you do inside the DLGuard program is tell DLGuard to have the link expire after so many hours. This way, anybody who tries to access the link after the expired time won’t be able to download the file.
No, this doesn’t completely eliminate theft but it does cut it down significantly.
Of course you can always go through the legal process of copyright. I know it’s a royal pain, especially if you’re creating a lot of music like I have. Imagine copyrighting 5,000 pieces of music. That can get quite expensive. Of course you can do the old mail a package of the copyrighted material to yourself and leave it unopened until the time comes when you have to sue somebody. If it’s all digital music, all you have to do is zip it all up, put it on an external drive like Passport and stick it in an envelope. Make sure you pad the envelope as we are talking about hardware and not pieces of paper.
So why do people steal things? If I had the answer to that I’d run for mayor. I’m not an expert on human psychology. Some people just do it to see if they can get away with it. Others do it because they know they can get away with it. Then there are those who are really bad off and can’t afford to buy things. So they download torrents of everything that they can get their hands on, especially if it’s creative software. Me? My conscience won’t let me go that route. All my software, from Adobe Photoshop all the way down to every VST that wasn’t free to begin with (thanks to the creators who do make free stuff) is paid for. I sunk over 10 grand into my current business. I don’t think I’ve made $10 yet.
But I recognize that there are thieves in the world. You can ignore them. You can fight them. You can accept what they do and move on. You can’t stop them, not completely. They will always find a way to take your stuff, especially the ones who are that determined.
I have therefore chosen not to bother wit them. I have a new product coming out that’s targeting a market that isn’t infested with thieves. These people, for the most part, actually buy the things that they need. I know it’s a novel concept in today’s world but it does happen. Those are the people I’m concentrating on and building my business around.
Anyway, there you have it. Those are a few of the things you can do to keep thieves from taking your stuff.
Good luck with it.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim