Chevelle’s Pete Loeffler Sees ‘A Lot Of Good’ In File Sharing

Chevelle frontman Pete Loeffler is one of the few artists you will talk to that says there have been some positive effects caused by the rampant increase in illegal file sharing over the past decade.

The music industry has been drastically affected by the exponential growth of illegal file sharing. So much so that very few records reach platinum status (a million units sold) anymore -- something that was fairly commonplace in the early 2000's. In a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar, Chevelle frontman Pete Loeffler explained his mixed feelings about illegal downloading:

"It has obviously affected every rock band out there not just us. But there is a lot of good that comes with the internet too in regards to sharing and all of that. I guess I don’t like the fact that it is in our human nature to steal things like music, and I wish we could change that. But one good thing that has happened is that there was a change that needed to be made as artists have always been taken advantage of, it’s the way its always been unfortunately. If you don’t watch your back you’ll really lose out and so there was a big change that needed to happen, where now if you can, you can start on your own and do it on your own and that is a good thing for artists. And that’s one of good things to come out of the whole file sharing thing. And it is wholly different world now too because of that."

The most recent effect of our nation's widespread abuse of file sharing was the creation of the dangerous SOPA bill (Stop Online Piracy Act), which caused several websites to go dark in protest yesterday (1/18). The anti-piracy bill is now losing much of the support it once had -- the main complaint being the power it gives corporations to shut down entire websites if they feel there has been some sort of copyright infringement. Many experts have warned that if the bill passes, it could be devastating to the internet as we know it.