Because they are thieves its like why do people hurt other peoples feelings cos they are mean or someone has hurt theirs maybe someone got something they were selling for free. Like say someone was selling a new software and some person trying to be kind buys it and makes it downloadable for free on a webhost they may get annoyed and think if they dont get in trouble why should i or something is his like an essay
I’m not sure, I have a feeling it’s not that they’re thieves. Lots of people do it, and most of them are not the thieving type. It’s like it doesn’t even cross their minds as being wrong - it just *is*.
Mostly I think people do it because of a combination of it being easy to do, there are no penalties for it, and the idea of anyone being hurt by it seems too abstract to be real. Such people don’t think of themselves as thieves. They honestly don’t believe they are hurting anyone.
Personally, I like rewarding artists that I enjoy with my cash.
It wasn’t perceived as being “wrong” when downloading first started. It was a legitimate way to share music and files with friends; directly akin to bringing a new CD over to a friend’s house and playing it in their stereo. Since it has grown into a worldwide entity, it has espoused the true nature of the recording industry, and the nature of human greed itself.
The incorporation of worldwide sharing has now changed the ‘business model’ of music. Rather than having the artist go through some huge publishing corporation, sharing allows the music to go directly from the artist to the public, and the public will reward the artist as they see fit.
The “wrong” nature of it comes from the fact that the sharing goes against the ingrained way that the RIAA makes it’s money. Internet distribution negates the need for a massive publisher, and they are doing everything they can to keep a stranglehold on any profit sharing they can make off of the artists who still subscribe to them.
Internet anonymity propagates the use of sharing and makes it less “wrong” in the eyes of the downloader.
I, too, feel that it is not inherently wrong as long as you go out and compensate the artist for their effort if you like their music. Go see a concert, donate, spread the word about them, etc.
I could go on about my advocacy of free music, but now’s not the time. :)
Honestly, as a musician myself - I know for a fact that free downloading may help you at first, to get known - but in the long run it does nothing. You don’t get paid every time someone downloads your song for free, and honestly, people are cheap and usually don’t want to support the artist for their hard work. Usually, they just get the free music and run.
Music is not a free entity - it takes work to produce something even as simple as a recording, not even counting the time spent writing the song, or even the lifetime spent making oneself a better musician with the abilities to even produce the song.
I don’t think that it hurts the artist.
Actually, might make him happy,lol.
But yeah-it kinda hurts to know that an artist wants to raise money-but instead people are enjoying his or her music for free.
But-at least ppl like the songs..
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I am a musician. Not famous, not greedy, but an inspired music loving devoted musician. I am the person that file sharing is supposed to help theoretically. I have a solid fan base in New York, Paris (France), and less so other places along the east coast. I use myspace and other sites to help spread the word etc… But let me just tell you how an artist makes money. Playing shows is not enough to live on. For many acts playing up to 2000 person rooms, you lose money on tour if you just include what you get from tickets or the club. The only thing that gets you to the next gig is merchandising (t shirts etc…) and cd sales, which amount to about half of your pay. Tours used to be seen as a way of promoting record sales. Live performance doesn’t pay any more than it used to, but people don’t buy cd’s anymore. The major labels are often disgusting, yes. But that doesn’t excuse downloading stolen music and copying it without the artist’s consent. If the artist wants to give it away for promotion, great! But they shouldn’t HAVE to because someone else decided it wasn’t stealing. It is harder to make a living as a musician than it has ever been I suspect. Lets not pretend like the indie musician is benefiting from this. Not yet at least. The internet will help indie musicians when artists don’t need big labels anymore to sell music AND people pay for what they put on their ipods. all my best and happy holidays
ct
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OK, So, I’m going to play the antagonist for a minute.
People download music because it’s simple and it’s there. Some of these people buy the albums after hearing the downloaded material, some don’t.
When the first records were being sold people said it was going to destroy music. That musicians would not need to exist anymore because people could just listen to recordings and nobody would be needed to play the shows. Wow, were they wrong. The Beetles and elvis touched more people in a decade than any of the Baroque composers did during their lifetime. So now we are loosing the recordings as a source of revenue, the musicians of our generation take a hit. It sucks, but it’s the evolution of the industry and will lead to a new musical revolution.
I am not for the illegal downloading of music, but I didn’t learn how to play guitar to get paid. I am kind of interested in seeing what happens to the music industry when the money isn’t in it anymore and the fame is only small and temporary. Musicians will have to find a new reason to play.
ok, the blindfold is on and the cigarette is lit. take aim…ready..FIRE
Listen - there are people out there who aren’t looking for fame (big surprise, right?), there are people who just want to make a living doing what they love, making music. Point blank, as czerner33 put it, illegally exchanging music does nothing for the one who creates it. And if you are cruel enough to say that someone should not make a living doing the art that he or she has worked countless grueling hours on, you are the bottom of the pit of humanity.
I am not saying that someone should not make a living making music. I am just saying that (as with any business), you have to be adaptable and create innovative ways to drive revenue. It wasn’t that long ago when CD revenues were not even a part of musicians income. Again, I am not for the illegal downloading of music. Not at all. But music sharing has been around for a couple decades and it is probably here to stay, so we need to move on and begin working on a new way to drive revenue.
Also, I am a musician who pulled an income (for a short period of my life) touring and playing shows without the assistance of merchandising, so it’s not a just statement to say it can’t be done. It can easily be done with proper management.
Also, why is it that nobody is stepping up to ticketmaster for all the increases in ticket revenue (to the point that we are seeing decreased concert attendance) without a larger portion of that revenue going to the musicians?
It’s a foolish thing to think that music downloading hurts musicians, people want to know if what they are planning to purchase is worthwhile or not. The thing the music industry should be complaining about is places that sell used C.D.s That is what is hurting the business. The downloading problem is only a negligable factor unless your band is big enough that you shave no right to be worrying about your money. I’m not trying to say you, or anyone is spefically like this but you(not necessarily you) shouldn’t be blaming music downloading for lack of sales.
ALso, I’d like to say that the radio does just as much to hurt sales as illegal downloading. If it wasn’t for downloading I’d only have albums of Elvis Costello and the beatles as opposed to the many lesser known stuff and the Indie stuff I currently and someday will have along with beatles and Elvis Costello.
Where I’m from it’s not wrong, in Canada it’s nice and legal to download and even if it’s illegal in the U.S. I don’t thinks it’s wrong. and I don’t believe that it hurts musicians at all, people who download and don’t buy are the people that don’t buy anyways.
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2 years, 11 months ago (3 days, 2 hours after post)
This reply from czerner33 disappeared since he did not confirm his membership. I’m copying it here since it’s intersting.
I am a musician. Not famous, not greedy, but an inspired music loving devoted musician. I am the person that file sharing is supposed to help theoretically. I have a solid fan base in New York, Paris (France), and less so other places along the east coast. I use myspace and other sites to help spread the word etc… But let me just tell you how an artist makes money. Playing shows is not enough to live on. For many acts playing up to 2000 person rooms, you lose money on tour if you just include what you get from tickets or the club. The only thing that gets you to the next gig is merchandising (t shirts etc…) and cd sales, which amount to about half of your pay. Tours used to be seen as a way of promoting record sales. Live performance doesn’t pay any more than it used to, but people don’t buy cd’s anymore. The major labels are often disgusting, yes. But that doesn’t excuse downloading stolen music and copying it without the artist’s consent. If the artist wants to give it away for promotion, great! But they shouldn’t HAVE to because someone else decided it wasn’t stealing. It is harder to make a living as a musician than it has ever been I suspect. Lets not pretend like the indie musician is benefiting from this. Not yet at least. The internet will help indie musicians when artists don’t need big labels anymore to sell music AND people pay for what they put on their ipods. all my best and happy holidays
ct
Since peer to peer sharing has come around, CD Sales have consistently declined and a lot of the revenue that professional musicians enjoy is generated from the CD Sales. Fact is, stealing music does take money out of the hands of the musicians. There is no way around that. But if we are really concerned about helping musicians, we need to take a serious look at ticketmaster. The reason bands can’t make a living with live shows anymore is because of ticketmaster. Any musician that’s been around for more than 15 years has seen ticket prices (for the average show) rising steadily to the point where attendance is dropping exponentially. Yet it’s ok for one corporation to steal from another, just as long as it isn’t delivering anything new to the people.
The price of tickets, CDs, and anything else related to music has skyrocketed to ridiculous values since the controlling companies have found increased revenue flow from them.
Not every brand new CD is worth $16.99. It’s really up to the musician to determine their fan base, plus realize that if it’s money they are looking for, music isn’t a lucrative career.
I’m a musician that gives music away for free. I enjoy making it, and I give it to people who enjoy listening to it. To be a modern troubadour, you need to be really good and utilize the methods available to you today to get yourself known.
People do it so they can get the music free. If you are truly committed to this artist you will buy the music. If you just like all music in general you download it illegally.
2 Reasons… They are cheap.. and lazy.
Because they aren’t thinking.
People don’t think. Sad but true.
The age of selling music is over, excpt to a select few people. Unfortunately any rubbish can now be passed of as music and people are taing full advantage. If I download, it is rare tracks unreleased or unavailable in this country-and my music education is all the richer for it so when I sing I have more to give. Times are changing and all musicians can do is sit back, let the uneducated masses mess this up and wait for the next wave
I think the problem that we’re having in this discussion is that all of us are generalizing a great deal. We can’t have a good discussion if we generalize, and thus the lack of good discussion so far.
Jazzyje, I have to disagree with the age of seeling music being over wholeheartedly, we just need to find a new way to keep it under control.
Little Josh, you’re pretty darn accurate for the people who oly download and not buy music.
Lastly, I believe very strongly that C.D.s ARE worth paying twenty dollars for. However, the problem most people see is that the cost of the C.D. itself, not te work behind it, isn’t worth nearly that much.
I couldn’t see paying 20 for a crappy cd that’s mass pressed and sent out on mass distribution when every local band sells CDs for 6 to 10 bucks around here (pressed of the same quality) and still profits a buck on each CD. Fact is, the record companies take too much of a cut. I won’t pay 20 for a CD, but what would I know, I still collect old vinyls for 4 or 5 bucks a piece.
Musicians survived before the days of recorded music and will continue to. Besides, anybody who listens to the radio is getting their music for free. Also, isn’t it about time for some layoffs in that industry? Most of the people complaining are crappy musicains that could easily be replaced by people who don’t mind sharing their music for free.
i gotta admit, i jumped to the end here without reading all the posts first. here is how i see it… i do download music… quite a bit and i listen and make cds to fit my own personal tastes just the way i seez it and to be quite honest there is soo much music out there and i personally have such a diversified taste that it sometimes takes a bit to find a good mix…
when i personally find an artist that makes me take notice i buy the cd. here is a small list of what ive purchased in recent yearsl irn maiden mudvayne, pink flyd, zeppelin, rage against the machine, bush x, stp, system, tool, … ok so my point being is that just because people donwload tunes for free does not mean they dont suport the artist. here… how many cds, tapes, albums have you bought for one single tune, only to discover the rest sucks… me… a few. fear factory most recenly. point is i do my research first. course i cant speak for most but this is still a good argument.
happy ‘puting.
Is the music industry really suffering? Or is there just less sales for the big bands, I’m sure sales for the little and/or indie bands have gone up. I’m guessing the sales are about rremaining the same.
What nobody seems willing to mention is that there hasn’t been any money in singles sales anyway for the last 10 years- the videos and promo often only break even. The real money is in merchandandise, endorsement and concert tickets….
And the local music scene is not even the same discussion, thats a cottage industry which has no reason to be affected by file sharing.
And lastly… everybody knows they’re stealing when they file share. If they like the artist, they’ll support them by buying the album. The ones who don’t are probably the same ones who steal CDs from a store anyway and there isn’t an attack on here against them!
omg you ppl talk so much bo**ox!u can buy 12-15 tracks on 1 cd or download (or steal if you prefer that term)twice as many in less time than it would take to walk to the shop!i think in this day and age we can use a little bit technology to make our lives easier rather than watchin america use it all to kil ppl.if a musician is true to the “trade” they will only be interested in how famous their music is,not how much money they can make from it (sadly %99.9 r like this)-once again another bad trate of today’s selfish jumped up inbred capitalist society in which every1 scrambles for the top rung. ultimate solution?….remove all technology and strip us back to being cavemen-then see how important it is if you’ve payed for music or not!!!
You realize that musicians need to eat too, right? Being popular is not the goal for most *REAL* working musicians - putting food on the table and paying bills comes first.
You call wanting to be able to live selfish? Working musicians aren’t selfish - it’s you - you want to have free music all the time. You want it? Write it yourself. Go ahead, try to write a song. I dare you.
Try to write a song worthy of publication, that is actually good, then maybe you’ll have some ground for your rash insults to humanity.
Musicians who are “true” to the trade don’t care too much about their fame. At all. People who download/steal music are the selfish ones, unless they buy C.D.s as well. These new technologies have take away not our excuse to buy C.D.s, but make it so that we have no excuse to ever buy a bad C.D. ever again.
Well what’s out there in the record bars to buy anyway??? Crap! Crap music! Show the people a CD that has all the good music in there, for sure they will buy instead of downloading. The thing is, one CD will have as many as ten to fifteen songs and only one to three songs are the ones they are looking for or want to hear. The rest are junks! People are selective of what they want to listen to. If you have a limewire installed in your PC, there’s a feature there where you can observe the live searches that people around the world are making. You’ll realized that people are searching for 50’s, 60’s, 70’s up to 80’s songs. It’s a sign that people crave for really fine/good music. The music industry now should cater to these top searches and put it into their CDs rather than force people to buy new artists’ CDs that are mere addition to ambient noise and confusion. The real singers and composers have become old and some have died. Today, if one can utter a word, he or she is considered a singer.
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A tip to the Music Industry…People who search at Limewire always search for the following (not in order of frequency) Carpenters, Beatles, Perry Como, Olivia Newton John, Mario Lanza, Scorpions, Santa Esmeralda, Styx, Barry Manilow, Paul Anka, Jackson 5, John Denver, Eric Clapton, My fair Lady, Andrew Gold, Elton John, The Supremes, Burt Bacharach……what are these artists? are they new artists? When people don’t find these in the record store, they then turn elsewhere to dig on old but good works even if it means accepting the poor quality of the MP3 sound. It’s not all about the sound quality anyway. It’s all about the quality of the MUSIC itself.
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i am doing a research on this…i think that it may hurt the artist, but some people can’t afford to get songs…or when u go to the store witch usually don’t have the album u want to buy…therefore people download music…and i don’t think sharing is stealing…like if i gave u some candy…u didn’t steal it because i gave it to u…:)
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when CDs cost over 20 bucks and maybe 1 or 2 of the songs are good and the rest filler (and believe me an artist knows when a cd is full of filler just look at Michael Jackson and Quincey Jones when they produced Thriller…they knew that ever song would be a hit and could tell and any songs that didnt feel like a hit they would cut from the CD) but when you have a 13 track CD going for over 20 bucks and 11 of those tracks are complete crap there is no reason to buy the CD when you could either download the two songs you want (I used to buy singles back in the day and that was great I could have the song I wanted without having to buy the rest of the crap but then the recording industry totally screwed up and got rid of the Single format …so really they are the cause of what they are fighting) Most people downloading music arent downloading the whole CD they are taking the good songs of multiple CDs and making their own mix CDs. Enough of whats fair to the artist because they are going to make money either way through merchandising, overpriced tickets, etc. The real people who aren’t going to make the money are the record company executives who are taking too much money for doing jack squat anyway. Whats fair to the fans is what really matters. If you noticed Greatest Hits CDs far outsell the regular cds. All people are doing when they share (or as some of you like to call it “steal”) is create their own greatest hits CDs they will take 2 songs from an Artist’s debut record and then maybe 3 from their third record and 1 from their fifth etc. They make a CD that you cant find in stores and if you were to buy each one it would probably cost over 100 bucks and you’d have 80+ filler songs. Oh and when I had an old Walkman I used to sit by the radio too with my finger ready to press record. I had so many tapes I made off the radio so whats the difference here.
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It’s just dumb there sad mother fukers
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People do it because they like downloading preety much
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