Martin Atkins: ‘If People Aren’t Stealing Your Music, You’re Fucked’

Former PiL member and music industry author Martin Atkins has opened the Face The Music conference in Melbourne this morning, with an irreverent and funny keynote speech that relied upon a key theme of “you're fucked”.

An apt intro speech to the two-day conference, he provided general insights into sustaining yourself in the industry. Touching on everything from social media to touring, he told an ever-filling audience, “If you've got the vibe, and you've got momentum – you can get anything else you need.”

Having played with the likes of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, Atkins' has adapted to the contemporary industry and cut through bloated arguments to highlight basic principles of a largely-online industry.

“It's not a problem if 20,000 people illegally download your music,” he argued, “it's a problem if they don't. Why aren't people downloading your stuff, because they can.”

Atkins – who at one point threw muffins into the audience – urged artists to create their own success and look at opening up opportunities for themselves because no-one else cares enough about 'your band' or 'your new album' to do it for you.

“You need to make your own rules for your own unique specific situation… if you have momentum, you can do anything you want.”

He finished with, “If you know that you're fucked – then you're not. If you think that you're not – then you are.”

Check out our interview with Atkins here.