I propose another question: How do you define music? LOL!
Seriously though, I am a musician with a degree in music and plan to compose free works for anyone to download, even if I get famous for my work (I'll post the website if this is made possible). I just ask that credit is given where credit is due. In my opinion (and I am not the first and foremost authority in the subject but I do have knowledge and experience), music and business don't mix. Music is about the spirit and a work of music is like the fingerprint of a person's soul. You can't put a price on that. I'm not saying they should not get anything for their work, I am just saying there has to be a better way. Of course, a lot of today's music doesn't seem to come from the soul. There are deadlines to meet and people to please. This, in my opinion, is not music.
Its only stealing if the victim loses something, if I would have paid for it. Otherwise I'm creating the product using only my own resources (copy the file). Sometimes I would have paid for some music, and I shouldnt have downloaded it in that case, but I DO NOT GIVE A CRAP.
Depending on the perspective, I could say that almost anybody is stealing from me or owes me money. Examples:
Somebody swats a fly who carried a deadly disease which would have infected and killed a man who steals my wallet. If the fly had lived, I would have more money.
People vote for a man who increases my taxes and gives them tax breaks.
Weird things happen. Maybe me downloading their music causes them to have more money. I really dont care. There are rules but there is anarchy around them. Who can get the biggest bully to enforce their set of rules? If they cant enforce them on me, its not my problem.
To be perfectly honest, music piracy doesn't 'feel' negative. I think the only real music piracy is trying to convince people that something is your work when it is not. I think it's more of an attitude thing with our country. Musicians in certain countries are not taxed by the government.
Its not legally stealing to copy inventions (music is a kind of invention) after 20 or so years in USA. The patents expire. I think by there being so much downloading, the people are demanding that number be reduced for music. It couldnt legally happen since they want it reduced to 0, but the definition of stealing changes.
The RIAA is filled with agenda-pushing propaganda-making whores that are just using this "filesharing is bad" message to make money. Every nerd/geek on the planet knows this.
Somewhere on wench.little-gamers.com there is a really good strip to demonstrate this. Not only does it include an excellently well-written rant at the bottom, it provides a yahoo news search for filesharing impacts and so forth, which provides sufficient information that the RIAA is full of crap.
Anyways, sorry bout the harshness.
~FT
That is totally legit FT. The way you're feeling about the topic is similar to thousands of other users, might i add, esp the ones that are being sued!
Excellent point Enderwiggin. Music has totally lost it's pure nature and has been corrupted by money...like many other things in this world... I totally agree that you can't put a price on someone's soul, or emotions...which translate into music.
I have SO much respect for the artists out there that are making music for the love of music. THAT should be the primary objective, not money first then music. They should be damn thankful that their music is WORTH stealing! Instead, they should be paying us [^] (maybe not to that extreme...).
~ivan
ARRG MATEY! IT BE THE MP3 I'VE BEEN LOOKIN FOR ALL ME LIFE! SET FULL SAIL LADS, WE'RE GOIN AFTER 'ER! ARRG! BEIN A MUSIC PIRATE IS HARD WORK! [:P]
I don't think downloading a few songs here or there is that big of a deal. Going along with EnderWiggen and Wantsumrice, those artists have sooooo much money already, and even if they are losing a little bit of money from file sharing, its not going to affect them that much. Downloading movies on the other hand......and don't think that's such a good thing to do.
www.negativland.com/albini.html
here in canada its legal eh.
but musicians do have to make a living too,
and music industry makes it so that the Image of the band is worth more than the sound or talent.
I haven't made a concerted effort to do so, but it turns out most of the music I listen too, the artists or bands are happy to give it away for free
Im a little weary of any "musician" who says he's all about the fans and the music, and then they charge 120$ for a ticket to see them play for an hour/
What I find OUTRAGEOUS, is the "anti-piracy" levy on tapes/CDs that is forced on us! At least in France and Canada, you have to pay a tax to the equivalent of the RIAA, even if you're not going to make a copy (SINCE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ILLEGAL IN FIRST PLACE)!!!
Why should I pay the RIAA tax to backup my hardrive or burn a Linux distro on a CDR?!?!?
It has to do with the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA), which is such a douche-bag law, since it forces not only the user but also the manufactuer to pay a tax just because digital media devices are "easy to pirate" music. Thank god though, that they cannot impose that on computers, since it isn't solely used for copying media.
I did hear about the Canadians making pirating music legal, I'll have to look into that...But i'm sure the RIAA will somehow find a way to weasel their way into the law.
~ivan
It's nice to know the government doesn't have any real power. They only power they really have is what we allow them to have.They cannot lock up every person who illegally downloads music. I think it is time we showed the businesses of the world what they can and cannot make a profit on.
Big business in general is pretty evil for the most part. Starbucks, surprisingly, uses fair-trade coffee and treats their employees pretty well. They are also enviro-friendly. At least this is the stuff I've heard about them from a friend of mine who puts in the time to research some of the practices of corporations we all (most of us anyway) buy from. I think that is how it should be with all corporations.
Okay, I know I don't speak for EVERYBODY, but, wouldn't you, after downloading some music from a band that you like, actually go out and buy the CD?? It pays tribute to the bands, so they keep making the music, and besides, there are plenty of people out there who have downloaded entire CDs and bought the CDs AFTERWARDS anyways.
Negative impact on CD sales? Wrong. Those stupid RIAA whores are using the government's lack of intelligence against them, and the government in turn is allowing these idiots to sue perfectly normal people for downloading mp3's.
Ugh, if anything, we should be sueing them.
~FT
FT, might I add that Kazaa sued the RIAA [^]
Also, when the RIAA gives some highly inflated $$$ losses due to piracy, it is such a lie! Same with software. An example: 1000 students who pirated 3D Studio Max = $3,500,000.00 lost... Yeah, right. Like the students could afford to buy a $3,500.00 software...
Hypothetical situation.
a) I hear a song on a radio. I like the song and thus go out and purchase the CD for 15 dollars. After listening to the CD, only the one song on it is good. The rest were total crap. I just paid 15 dollars for crap.
b) I hear a song on a radio. I like the song and thus download the entire CD for 99c a song. I only like the one song though. The CD has 18 tracks, so I spent about 18 dollars. I wasted 17 dollars.
c) I hear a song on a radio. I like the song and thus download the entire CD for free. The rest of the CD is crap, so I delete it. No money was wasted, and the band is crap.
But in my case, I don't even download music anymore. It's all about anime now. I think it cannot be illegal because it's a japanese show with japanese words. It was never shown in america, so how could it possibly be wrong?
Whatever. I support good bands. I bought all of Linkin Park's CDs. I could have downloaded it, but I didn't want to take the hassle of burning it to listen to it in my car. Now, since techno is dubbed crap in America and there's no place to buy it, I'm forced to download it. Sucks for you, since techno is ownage.
~Squeek
Since when were you into techno?
Does anyone know how much it actually costs to make a cd? Under one cent. Does anyone know how much money an artist makes off their cds? Next to nothing. The only people who lose any money, are the record execs. Now, seeing as they have millions anyway, I see music downloading as a sort of robin hood type thing. Keep from the rich and save the poor some money. I dont need to spend 15 bucks on a cd, which may turn out to be crap anyway.
Most people download the cd, listen, and if they like the cd/artist, go buy the cd. The real artists are the ones that don't care about the money anyway. They are trying to spread their music, no matter how it gets around. If they are in it for the money, they don't deserve what they have.
I hope I have not offended anyone with these views, but they are only my opinions. thank you for your time.
I must agree with Squeek. It's the best point I've seen made so far. If the RIAA managed to make filesharing itself illegal, then there'd be nowhere for us anime junkies to get our videos, other than those stupidly overpriced DVDs that Madman produces. Not only do we have to pay almost 100 times more than the CD itself is worth, we have to pay extra for crappy english dubs that the anime producers decided to put in because they are leeches that are using anime's popularity to their advantage.
Good on Kazaa for sueing the RIAA, pfeh, I would as well. I just don't live in America, nor do I have the cash for a lawyer to totally pwnz their asses.
~FT
RIAA has been telling us since the dawn of time that sales have been affected negatively by music piracy, but studies have shown otherwise.
Music piracy, whats your view?
~ivan