My rant - Music piracy.

Ok, scenario time. I live in Regina Saskatchewan, Canada. There's a pop singer here named Shandar Gray. Has some real talent. I love all types of music, so I BUY the CD. So my sister comes over, who knows the girl (friend, aquaintance, whatever), and sees the CD and asks for a copy. So I ask "Don't you know her? Wouldn't you like to buy the CD yourself?" She says "I don't know her THAT well." I think to myself that how well do you have to know someone to not rip them off? It makes me sick.

Then I thought to myself, how many people out there refuse to buy CDs no matter how good it is? I like a CD, I buy it. They deserve my money. They work hard on the music. The deserve my money as thanks for their talent. I own everything I can find for my favorite artists/groups, and I proudly say that I own them.

So I ask my friend that pirates everything he gets his hands on why he won't buy CDs. He says that they don't deserve his money. That they only get a few cents per cd, and the rest goes to production, the record company, and advertising. He says that he won't pay them because they don't deserve it. That's bullshit. If it wasn't for advertising he wouldn't know about the music. If it wasn't for the record company, there wouldn't be a cd. But he sticks to his opinion.

People always say to me "Did you hear this CD! It's awesome! I'm glad I got it!" I then find out that they downloaded it. They probably have no intention of buying the cd no matter how much they enjoy it.

A few months ago I read in a magazine about a new copy protection that may be put on audio cds to prevent ripping. I was pissed off. I buy my CDs, but keep them on MP3 to listen to, and keep the CD on the shelf in mint condition. Now I see that that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to stop the theives out there from ripping people off.

I could rant all night. What's this world coming to?

Heh.

I like to buy my music. Problem is I'm consistently broke. I download most of my music from audiogalaxy, and if I like the band, I buy the CD when I can afford it, rip it, and encode it in ogg.

So yeah, uh, word.

I agree, Mp3 are an ok idea but they are not a complete alternative. If you like the band buy the CD instead of bitching about how "They're trying to screw us" while quite blatantly forgetting that what they are doing is screwing the artist as well. That fact seems to fly right over these people, because as elbyran said "Well I don't know her that well" You don't know her, so you won't give her credit for her hard work making this CD. I feel sorry for this artist. Liam said that if you can't afford the album, try the MP3's and see if the album is worth buying. I agree there. I use mp3's as well but my CD collection hasn't stopped growing either.

uh, I'm not sure if that made any sense, if it did, tell me and I'll remove any trace of sense it had :D

Exactly my words Elbryan.

I only download "hobby" music myself, though I have no qualms about burning "expendable" cd's to take on camping trips or festivals to spare my real ones. But I think that use is legal too.

Bying cd's is one of the most surefire ways to support a given artist. At first it means money (for the artist, but also for the instances who distribute the music and such). Secondly it means that the artist gets credibility. An artist who is actually able to SELL records might have an easier time with his/her label. Thirdly by flashing a bought cd-cover you signal that you actually care for for the music in question. Fourthly music nowadays is not that expensive.

elbryan42 said:
A few months ago I read in a magazine about a new copy protection that may be put on audio cds to prevent ripping. I was pissed off. I buy my CDs, but keep them on MP3 to listen to, and keep the CD on the shelf in mint condition. Now I see that that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to stop the theives out there from ripping people off.

I agree with you 100% on not ripping stuff off. But I don't agree about copy protected CDs. If I buy something I expect to be able to use it, for personal use, how I want. If I can't, I'm not going to buy it. Making defective limited CDs is not a good way to encourage more people to buy them, IMHO.

So I guess I'm going to be stuck with listening to stuff on the radio in future...

I never buy CDs, I just steal the ones my parents buy (who btw have good taste for that). I like all kinds of music, but rarely more than 2 songs per album.

BTW, rant + community topic = P&R

I have said this many times, it makes me laugh that some here scream and shout "WAREZ" when someone asks where to d/l doom, but are quite happy to warez music

Fodders, this is a prime example of the phenomenon known as hypocrisy.

Don't download warez you frads!

Sorry for posting in the wrong forum. I only live in that forum. Shoot me. :P

Nice to know some people still feel the same way.

On a side note, my boss's brother (I work at Mr. Sub), who also runs a Mr. Sub, is part of the popular Greek band Arcadia (his name is Nick, one of the singers)! Buy the CD now. It rules.

Ironically, I'm buying more CDs now than I ever was before I started pirating music. Frankly, I'd never have bought some of the CDs I have without first researching/discovering the band(s) using AG.

And I'd heard that that neato new copy protection device added by the record companies could be defeated with a felt-tip pen.

And fods, even though I know you're not going to listen to me, the key difference between pirated music and warez is that warez takes substantially more effort both to crack (by the cracker) and find (by the user) than a simple audio CD ever will. Warezing is a complex premeditated act, but online music piracy is a natural (if higher-quality) evolution of music bootlegging, which has been going on since sound recording became easy. Sure it's illegal, but it's accepted, and is probably considered less illegal than some odd little law you've never heard of yet violate constantly.

IMJack said:

And fods, even though I know you're not going to listen to me, the key difference between pirated music and warez is that warez takes substantially more effort both to crack (by the cracker) and find (by the user) than a simple audio CD ever will.

Ahhh so theft by safe cracking is wrong but bag snatching is ok?

Lamers. Buy the CD's you frads!

fodders said:

Ahhh so theft by safe cracking is wrong but bag snatching is ok?

That's for the jury to decide.

Is it Celine Dion? Who's new cd actually damages people cd drive if they try to copy it? But the protection is overcome so easily by using a black marker pen around the outside edge of the disc?

I have a large collection of mp3s for these reasons:

1) I'm poor...its like $7-$12 for a used CD, and $15-$20 for a new one, and with the buget I'm on thats like two or three CDs a week and I dont REALLY want to spend ALL my money on CDs.

2) I own 1/4 of the music I have on mp3 anyway.

3)I like to make mix CDs to show off to my friend just how industrial I am. :) Seriously, I need to listen to my tunes as often as possible and listening to one band for two long kinda annoys me.

4) Most of the stuff I listen to is impossible to find on CD. Have you ever tried to obtain any Razed in Black? Genitorturers? Front Line Assembly? Hell, even skinny puppy is hard to find. I've even been searching for a copy of Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath for a while without sucess (and its probably one of Sabbath's most famous albums). I'm not even going to go into how long it took me to find the Lost Highway soundtrack. In summary, it would take 1000s of man hours to get even half of the music I could get in a day over Audiogalaxy.

But its not like I'm TRYING to stick it to the man. Whenever I do find a cd of a band I like, I'll buy it if I gots the money. I mean, it's money going to a cool band, and then it just gives me yet another chance to prove how industrial I am.

I think piracy is a good thing to a certain degree. First of all, it actually promotes bands more because people aren't afraid of wasting 15 dollars 'to try something new.' Plus, nothing pisses me off more then bands who bitch and scream about people who 'boot-leg' their CDs. I would really like to ask those kinds of people if they are making music to entertain people/for the sake of making music or if they're in it to make money. I have two bullets in my gun right now; one for Lars Ulrich and one for Dr. Dre.

The King of Thieves,
Black

Black said:

I think piracy is a good thing to a certain degree. First of all, it actually promotes bands more because people aren't afraid of wasting 15 dollars 'to try something new.' Plus, nothing pisses me off more then bands who bitch and scream about people who 'boot-leg' their CDs. I would really like to ask those kinds of people if they are making music to entertain people/for the sake of making music or if they're in it to make money. I have two bullets in my gun right now; one for Lars Ulrich and one for Dr. Dre.

W3rd.

Though I once sold someone a burned version of KMFDM - Symbols for $1. But considering her house got robbed and she got all her CDs and console shit stolen, I think thats about fair.

Well, sometimes if I hear a song I like, I download off
KaZaa, or some similar app. If I keep hearing songs I like from the same artist whose song I downloaded off the Internet, I go and I buy the CD.
I mean, they (the band) worked hard on the damn thing. The band had to write all the music, the guitarists had to work on doing guitar riffs and such guitar-related stuff, the drummer guy had to practice God knows how many hours on his drumming for the CD, the singer had to sing and sing and then, they all had to go through the hell that is recording, mixing, engineering, and mastering the CD. Then they had to contact their advertising guy(s) and get the CD in the pages of magazines, on the airwaves (television, radio, etc.), so I figure: why not give some back?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is right, isn't it?

DooMBoy said:

, so I figure: why not give some back?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is right, isn't it?

Apart from

Well, sometimes if I hear a song I like, I download off
KaZaa, or some similar app

it is :)

Leave it to fod :)

Step 1)If i want to find out what a band is like, i download from Kazaa.
Step 2)If i like said band, i go out and buy the CD.

Peh.

I like the way some people say they download music cuz their "sticking it to the man" or "raging against the machine" or some bullshit.

Face it, you're doing it cuz your cheap. Now if you actually have no money, that's one thing. I fyou have it and just don't want to spend it you're a stingy bastard. If you don't support the artists, they won't see a point in continuing their work. And if you don't support artists they'll never be able to get out from under the recording industries "work for hire" policies.

The music industry and the pop culture it creates and fosters deserves to be destroyed. Steal the music, I don't really care. Just have the balls to call it what it is: stealing.

Weeee! :p

Yes, but I seriously have no money.

I still have a bank account....with 13 dollars left in it.....
So, I'm good as broke...:(

I'm 140 quid over drawn on my bank account... i owe 1200 quid on my credit card, and 700 quid from a loan i took out last year but i got sacked (fired) from my last job just b4 christmas, the BASTARDS.

You're assuming the money you pay in buying your CDs goes to the artists who made them. Courtney Love wrote an interesting article about the state of the music industry a couple of years ago.

Courtney Love does the math

It's a catch-22. If people buy a performers' albums, the label makes all the money, and the performers don't get squat. But if people don't buy the albums, the label drops the performers like an empty clip. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

That's assuming the performer even gets anything from the label in the first place. There was a guy named David King who moved from Dublin to LA in the 80s for a recording deal. Spent a few months singing backup for an utterly disposable hair-metal band. Never saw a penny from the label for his work; it turns out they sent the royalty checks to another David King in LA. He's still pissed about that.

Yeah, hopelessness will rule forever in a vain and hollow world.