Thousands of users today prefer to download songs online for free using sharing software instead of buying cds from the record stores or paying the artists via itunes or other online stores.
First opinion: This illegal. Everyone gets paid and the same should happen for musicians. Why do we have to accept it? I am a musician, I write songs and this is the service I provide, this is my job, this is my life! If somebody doesn’t appreciate it, they should could go and try to steal cds and dvds from the record stores instead of hiding in the safety of their homes.
If I don’t pay the electricity bills I will be convicted, the same if I don’t pay the rent, my taxes, my credit cards, mortgages? So why do we have to accept the pirates and why do we still allow them to waste the musician’s job?
Some people may say “I don’t pay them, I don’t want to let them build swimming pools, houses with huge gardens and live luxuriously while I struggle for a few money”. The answer is why don’t people complain about the salaries of doctors, lawyers, footballers, supermodels etc? When the musicians provide a product that many people want, they naturally earn a lot, like all those who provide popular products (retailers of all kinds).
The other side: Illegal downloading gives more publicity to the new bands. Some moderate “illegals” would say “even websites like Youtube and Myspace can provide online streaming in very high quality so we can preview thousands of songs before they buy” but most of them I came across have stated that the artists get only percentages from the sales. Most of their earnings go to their record companies and this is not even good for the artists who are treated like “profit magnets”.
There are many who use the file-sharing as a preview and then they buy what they want. This is acceptable indeed. Nevertheless it’s not rare to see top stars collaborating with non-famous artists. An example is the song “What’s really happening”? from David Bowie’s album “Hours”, where Alex Grant wrote the lyrics. Thus downloading illegally his song will deprive him of his possibility to a future success.
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April 28th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
“The only reason why people pirate music from the web is as a reaction against the greedy record companies”
yes you are kind of right here plus there are some users who download songs for preview and then buy them if they like it but they are very few in comparison with the majority who do it because they just find an easy way to get music for free. And of course music piracy will always exist.
I do agree, music shouldn’t be a privilege for the elites, but available for everyone. The prices of Cd look extremely high but this is not the root of the problem. The whole economic system works wrong. The salaries are very low and the prices of the cds let’s say 10-15 euro each, is reasonable for an employee in Ireland, but 10 Euro in Greece is like 3 working hours. It is outrageous!
April 28th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
It’s the same old argument that the record labels used in the early 80’s when they whined about home taping, and Warner Music threatened to withdraw advertising of their products in any magazine that advertised the sale of blank tapes.
The only reason why people pirate music from the web is as a reaction against the greedy record companies, the retailers and the government’s sales tax which causes the high price of CDs.
This is what happened in Australia during the 90’s when music buyers were purchasing albums by their favourite artists via parallel imports which came from Indonesia and other countries at the local 7-11 and petrol stations as well as using sites like KaZaa and Napster to get their music. This put a bit of pressure on the record companies to drop the price somewhat and the sales started to improve again. During the 1990’s up till about 2003, Australians were paying about $8 for a CD single and $35 for an album and most of their buyers tend to be in their teens to late 20’s. Most older Australians have got no interest whatsoever in modern music to either listen to or buy (except as presents for their kids or grandkids).
The problem with piracy is that ultimately no laws can really stop people from getting their music any way they want. My mother used to complain that “music is a luxury that most people cannot afford”. The Internet completely turned that around and providing that people do not download music from the net that is readily available in the shops, whack it onto a CD and then go selling it to their friends or in some dingy little inner-city market then I see no reason to prosecute.
What musos could do is like what’s been suggested above: only allow a taster of songs to be legally uploaded as an MP3 file or on iTunes, thus leaving the listener wanting more.
April 25th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I agree with you bob. Alex Grant cannot perform live, cannot organize gigs as Bowie. He only gets percentages.
April 25th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I didn?t say you are against the artists, However it is not rare to find out just ordinary people who would express their “lovely” believes towards us. Follow this article for more.
What I really demand is cheaper cds. I think the record companies are out of control.
April 24th, 2009 at 2:51 am
My apologies for my long-winded soapboxing. When I said that “…You can’t legislate away my unwillingness to support your corporate greed!…” I wasn’t speaking to you personally, or to the readers of this fine blog, but to the “elite” of the music industry.
If prices and content offered becomes more reasonable, will all people quit illegal file-sharing, a practice which deprives artists of any income? No, sad to say.
I think perhaps the biggest difference between our viewpoints is that I don’t see an alternative. It’s market forces – if the record companies’ profits suffer, and they can’t legislate away the competition that file-sharing provides, then they must change their business model to survive.
Perhaps I am lacking sufficient empathy for the artists? I still go to shows and even buy merch if I’m really into the band….
I don’t know. I’m willing to keep an open mind, though.
Saul
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Hi Saul thanks for the comment-essay and your time to spend for contributing to this blog.
I don’t know why you reacted like that. We almost agree. The above post was written as a sarcastic (slightly satirical) article, where I was ?channeling? the “voice” of a SOME illegal downloaders (those who would not stop downloading music even cds would cost 3$ someday), not those with the same attitudes like you. It is supposed to take the piss out of them everywhere, whether moderate and hard line, their stupid, excuses filled rhetoric and everything they stand for. The ?views? expressed do not represent our attitudes at 100pc towards the very complex phenomenon of music piracy. Further more it does not reflect the views of the artists towards the audience.
“It’s not genuine artists doing this, it’s a record company hoping to maximize their profits by cashing in on fashionable trends.”… I simply call it globalization (as it is promoted) and both the leaders and the people who don’t resist but accept the situation are to be blamed.
I have to complete you, the record companies work like dictators, they package us and generally do whatever they want. Paying 20$ for a cd is not worthy. This is what we support, cheaper cds available for all the people, like it used to be 30 years back (even more). Give the music to the people. Unfortunately the record companies became more greedy while greed has no limits.
I really tell you that I deal with record companies a lot of times in my daily business and I regret to say I have met the worst people there. The most greedy idiots without culture without good taste just money growing overpriced morons who think they can have an opinion for almost everything and present themselves as “the elit” of the music industry! I have downloaded songs as well not a few times, but whatever I found good, I bought it later.
“I want artists to be paid fairly”, me too that’s why I neither support piracy neither the pawns of the globalization establishment we call record companies.
“Guess what. You can’t legislate away my unwillingness to support your corporate greed!” My greed? Do you think even with cheaper prices some lazy users will stop their lovely habit to download illegal? In another post I have outlined based on different researches the views of some people regarding of what the position of the artists in the society should be. The problem is like a coin and it has always 2 sides.
I regret that those who have identified themselves as correct users and who left some very negative comments didn?t get it. Some of these I have deleted, as they are offensive. Others I have kept as a record.
If anyone wants to have a debate about the appropriateness of sarcasm, what subjects can be tackled and how they are addressed, please go a head. All further comments relating to the poor quality of artists-rest of the society relations will be removed as they do not follow the guidelines.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I want artists to be paid fairly. The problem is that they aren’t – major labels exchange promotion and endorsement for the lion’s share of the resulting revenue. As you point out in the previous post about mass-marketing lowest common denominator music – it’s not genuine artists doing this, it’s a record company hoping to maximize their profits by cashing in on fashionable trends.
If file-sharing can challenge these obsolete, bloated (I would even say evil!) corporations to reform their practices, then I am all for it. Be competitive, or fail. Those are your options!
The record companies stopped reporting sales how many years ago? We have to take their word for it that they are “losing sales” due to file-sharing. In fact, the last reported numbers showed that the only market to take a negative impact was the singles market – album sales actually rose!
In this modern day with access to the internet and DVDs with extra content… why should I pay 20$ for 13 tracks, many of which are pure dross?
If a CD was priced fairly, there would be more sales and less demand for file-sharing… fact of life. Do what DVDs do – include extra content like live performances, artist interviews, “the making of the album”, etc. If I’m paying 20$ for a DVD that has over 12 hours of content, why should I pay 20$ for an album that has 1.5 at the most?
And even worse, I know that only a small portion of that money goes to the artist – the rest of it goes to the distributor and the record label.
Well, that’s not a financial model that I want to support. I buy music online, but I also download. How else could I possibly find an early, out of print album from my favorite obscure indie band?
Bottom line : increase the quality of the content, price the content fairly, and make it more available to me as the consumer, and I’ll buy more of it.
Until record labels stop running their business “like it was 1982″ (thank you, MC Lars) then their only recourse is this obscene abuse of our legal system.
Guess what? You can’t legislate away my unwillingness to support your corporate greed!
Saul