Question: I live in India. Music piracy prevention is my main concern. If I work hard on an album, when it becomes a hit I don't want my hard work to be handed out on the streets. Can you tell me how to prevent music piracy?

Tom Hess's Answer: Developing a solid music piracy prevention strategy is a challenge for musicians all over the world, not only in India. Although there is little that any individual can do to entirely prevent music piracy from occurring, there are several things you can do to protect yourself from its effects.

First, you must diversify your income streams as I explain in this article about how to make money in music. If you don't rely on all of your income to come from a single source (such as album sales/royalties in this case), you can be a lot more secure in your career in regards to music piracy.

Second, you need to give your fans more of a reason to purchase your music from you directly instead of downloading it illegally. One strategy for music piracy prevention is to offer an incentive that can ONLY be obtained by those who can prove they bought the album from you. This can be a special bonus item or exclusive access to you (such as a backstage pass for example) that is NOT possible to 'duplicate' via downloading. True fans who want this incentive will now have much more of a reason to purchase your music to receive the bonus item. The specific things you can offer are up to you (and are dictated by your specific situation), but this idea has many applications.

Thinking creatively about overcoming challenges such as these is one of the most powerful tools you can have for navigating through your music career and it is one of the core skills I train musicians to develop in my music career development program.

Work with a music career success mentor and learn how to grow a career in the music business.