The Song Was Reportedly Illegally Downloaded 20 Million Times A Week For 3 Years
โShake it for the birds, shake it for the bees, shake it for the catfish swimmin’ down deep in the creek โ for the crickets and the critters and the squirrels โ shake it to the moon, shake it for me girl.โ
Nearly 15 years later, country artist Luke Bryanโs hit song โCountry Girl (Shake It For Me)โ still endures as a fun and carefree song of the summer.
Released in 2011 on Bryanโs third album, Tailgates & Tanlines, the song โCountry Girlโ is not only the first track on the album, but it was also the first single released from the album.
However, thereโs another side to the success of that songโฆ one more nefarious.
The song never reached No. 1 on the charts, despite becoming one of the most successful songs released by a male country artist.
The culprit? Illegal downloads.
Illegal Downloads Of “Country Girl”
โI donโt think people really understand how much that song was getting illegally downloaded,โ said Bryan in a recent interview with Elaina Smith on Backstage Country.
โCountry Girl (Shake It For Me)โ made its debut on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at No. 52, and eventually peaking at No. 4.
The song has since been RIAA certified Platinum in the United States eight times, selling over 3 million copies.
Placing his song in the context of the wave of illegal downloading which was prominent in the late aughts and early teens, as well as the early music streaming platform controversies regarding artist compensation, Bryan said his song falls directly in that period of time.
โThere were times that my record label predicted [โCountry Girlโ] was getting downloaded illegally, you know, 20 million times a week for three years,” he revealed.
That estimated 20 million downloads a week for three years comes to, approximately, 3.12 billion downloads of the song which are unaccounted for.
Noting the loss from those illegal downloads is something he โcanโt go backโ and reclaim, he did admit, โWhat a life-altering song for me that Iโll get to play until Iโm a, you know, 80-year-old man walking out there getting to make some country girls have fun and dance.โ
At the thought of being 80 someday, Bryan paraphrased the sentiment of Waylon Jenningsโ 1979 song โI Ainโt Living Long Like This,โ saying to laughter, โIf I knew I was going to live this long, Iโd took better care of myself.โ
Watch Luke Bryan discuss the illegal downloading of the song “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” on Backstage Country, here:
Watch Luke Bryan “shake it” for the audience in his official live video for “Country Girl,” here:
โDonโt Copy That Floppyโ And Other Anti-Piracy Movements
In the United States, there have been several anti-copyright infringement campaigns, which have sought to compel residents, often young people, to resist the temptation to illegally acquire physical and digital creative assets.
These campaigns have inspired some humorous advertisements, such as “Don’t Copy That Floppy” from 1992:
There was also the “Piracy. It’s A Crime” campaign from 2004, which famously stated, “You wouldn’t steal a car.”