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Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am Says Piracy Can Be 'Good Thing'

Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am talks about the future of the music industry during the Seoul Digital Forum, Wednesday. The forum is sponsored by local broadcasting company SBS. / Courtesy of Seoul Digital Forum By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter The music industry blames rampant piracy for declining record sales, but Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am chooses to see piracy as a ``good thing.'' ``Piracy should not be a bad word. I don't call them pirates. I call them promoters. If I were the King of Spain, they (pirates) would be my Christopher Columbus who found new land. I make music and pirates spread it on the Internet. ... The record companies shouldn't chew them out, but rather embrace them. I think piracy is and could be a good thing. If fans download our music, but still come to our concerts, that's cool,'' he said, at the Seoul Digital Forum 2008, Wednesday. The forum is sponsored by local broadcasting company SBS. Despite piracy, will.i.am noted the Black Eyed Peas have sold more than 12 million records in the last five years. While countless people may have downloaded the Black Eyed Peas albums, he chooses to see the positive aspect of piracy in that it helps spread their music. Even if record sales are down, he notes concert attendance is up and fans remain very supportive of their music. Will.i.am suggests the music industry should look beyond CD sales, and focus on becoming a ``music experience industry,'' where artists and companies make money from concerts and other forms of multi-media. ``Its not about the CDs, as crazy as that sounds since I sell a lot of CDs. The music industry should try to make the music experience into a better experience and monetize it. You need to define what type of music you're making, and it's not necessarily just music. The options are limitless. We can't be held back by yesterday because yesterday has no place in tomorrow,'' he said. He cited the example of his music video ``Yes, We Can,'' where he took the words from U.S. democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's speech and set it to music. The music video featured celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Herbie Hancock and Kate Walsh singing Obama's lines. The video was uploaded on the Internet, and within one week, it got 20 million views. ``This showed me that music industry is not about CDs anymore. We should inspire people's imagination to look at the world and make it better. We should inspire you to make the best out of yourself,'' he said. Will.i.am also created a Web site called DipDive, which describes as a ``home'' for music. With the combination of music and technology, he believes the next big superstar will come from the Internet. ``The next Michael Jackson will be a multimedia artist who can make records, do viral videos, and not just an album but 30 tracks a month. It's going to be a bombardment of content on the Internet,'' he said. When asked what he thought about Korean artists and their prospects of making it in the American music market, will.i.am said he thinks pop star Rain is ``huge.'' ``Korean music is dope. I think the only problem is why Korean artists should only be big in Korea. If American artists can be big in Korea, why can't Rain be big in the U.S.? But I would also love to work with non-famous Korean artists for the Internet and mobile. That would be a wonderful thing, to make a Korean artist famous everywhere else,'' he said. The Black Eyed Peas made a name for itself by creating catchy, hip hop music with socially-relevant messages like ``Where is the Love.'' However, fans may have to wait a little longer for the Black Eyed Peas' next album. will.i.am said the group will reunite on June 10 to start recording the album, which he hopes would be released before the summer of 2009. cathy@koreatimes.co.kr