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08/12/09
Personally, I pirate a lot of music as a sort of "trial-ware" to see if a particular artist is something that I'll enjoy. Most of the time, I'll toss it after a couple of listens, but sometimes I'll find an album that I really like and I'll go out and buy all the CD's from the same artist. Which reminds me, I downloaded It's Blitz by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and I need to pick up the album this weekend (see, see... free = sales!).
The music industry needs to get on the program and understand that digital distribution, even some sort of free music distribution, isn't a bad thing and can yield positive sales as long as they aren't going to try and milk it and smear it with DRM. Stupid manufactured pop bands that aren't worth $0.02 are why music these days isn't worth paying for.
08/12/09
08/12/09
What are you honestly expecting?
I mean have you SEEN what's passing for comments these days?
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
The whole of that mans face is squished into the bottom half of his head & he has no chin.
08/12/09
apologies if i've paved the way for you to stare oddly at everybody today
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
May I ask what you dislike so much?
08/12/09
08/11/09
If you expect anyone or any group to go against their own self-interest, you will inevitably be disappointed. You can control people by building incentives and disincentives. The internet killed three major disincentives to copying music, the risk, the limited selection and the difficulty. Naturally people began pirating music. It was as if someone deleted the police, of course people began looting (see: Iraq).
To ask people to not pirate when there is no disincentive is to ask people to go against their nature. To ask music companies to stop trying to squeeze every dime out of the business is to ask them to go against their nature. Thus either everyone is at fault or no one is. Point being, it is meaningless to assign blame when everyone is just doing what comes naturally to them.
p.s. Just got a PDF of Kot's Ripped. sure he won't mind. amazon made me do it.
08/11/09
The RIAA didn't *cause* piracy, per se. But when the internet first started to come into being, some people saw opportunity. The RIAA invested a huge amount of resources into crushing that opportunity until they understood it well enough to make it *their own* opportunity, instead of a new up-and-comer's. In that sense, in the sense that the RIAA tried to police their customers instead of trying to offer them new, better services, they contributed to their customers' baser instinct to pirate rather than pursue more for-pay services.
08/11/09
08/11/09
The music listeners that choose legality are an interesting group. They are either upstanding citizens or suckers. The industries behavior made them appear to be more like suckers for maintaining an allegiance to such a greedy, useless industry.
08/12/09
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As much as people say that artists don't get much from album sales, it is quite apparent to me that they get nothing if I steal it. And, the lack of potential consequences does not alter the fundamental immorality of stealing.
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These things might become clearer if you actually created something for sale involving creativity and hard work. And then watched people steal it.
08/11/09
Oh, almost forgot: piracy owes some of its start to pirates.
08/11/09
The music industry caused piracy? Really, that is your response? That is rubish if I have ever heard it. Everyone has these opinions, because it does not affect them directly. If someone came to your job stealing your completed work and thus subtracting from your income, the trumpets of piracy would quickly be put away.
If you can't get quality music on the radio, don't listen to the radio. Quality music is not a right? Look for it. Go find it. Muck through actual record shops and get off of your lazy ass. Regardless of how much money an artist makes from record sells, stealing their music through piracy affords them even less in royalties.
People act as if piracy and the digital age has leveled the bar. Nothing could be further form the truth. The primary songs that are d/l through piracy, are the "shitty" songs you claim you don't like. The same songs that are on the radio EVERY 5 minutes. Instead of leveling the field, it has 'FORCED' artist to give away music that they have spent their time and money creating. So where is the benefit these "people in the know" claim. Yeah your songs are now "available" but without adequate public relations money or relationships, you might as well have flushed it down the toilet.
Yes there are exceptions to the rule, but those are few and far between. Even those that do make a difference, at some point are forced to get help form an outside source. Fans are too fickle these days.
Truth of the matter is that piracy hurts no one more than the artist. Labels are still making money and will continue to as they control the music. In fact, artist have it even harder now if they get a record deal because labels now want a piece of everything to combat the revenue they loose to the digital revolution it's easier to steal something if I never really have to physically touch it revolution. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
The PR about the digital future is exactly that, PR. Don't confuse the hype.
08/11/09
As a musician, I'd say you're right and Kot's wrong. Actually, as a musician, I'd say Kot's a f#$%ing idiot who has no idea what he's talking about.
08/11/09
The problem with all the piracy discussion is because both sides try to completely demonize the other, with associations like RIAA trampling over individuals to set them as examples using their power.
And, with an appropriate response, pirates saying that record labels are the sole responsibles for piracy.
Sounds much like the dark ages, when a king would pick some of their servants, put them in crosses and burn them to set an example. This is fear tactics, and people responding to that is only natural.
Yes, there are people out there who will only download music because it's free, and I also agree that lots of good musicians ends up paying for that, several of them because of the record label business model.
But I can also say, not only for myself but for lots of friends, that we sometimes download music, and if we like it we end up paying for CDs, DVDs or whatever... not because we need to, but to support the artist.
And it's also true that tons of people nowadays have access to music they otherwise would never be able to afford.
This also enabled several areas to grow in a way they'd never be able to if it wasn't for piracy.
Example: The gaming industry.
Also, a musician revenue doesn't come only from selling CDs, so it's a matter of changing the business model, even if it means they'll profit less from their talent and creativity.
Do you see musicians out there who died of hunger because of piracy? Only if they are completely incompetent, because as far as I know, being a musician isn't only selling CDs or DVDs.
Because the way I see it, what is wrong to begin with is this culture we currently have that believes that only because one musician has created one song that made some success out there, that he should be able to sustain a luxurious life for 3 generations or so.
Which as consequence created a whole generation of self proclaimed"musicians" who start their career thinking ONLY about the money they'll milk from it, and not on doing it for the music.
If the sole point of a "musician" while composing music is to put it on a CD and sell it, to the point of considering "flushing it down the toilet" if those CDs are not sold, might as well give up being a musician.
For all others there are several alternatives of getting paid for it.
Maybe not as profitable as record selling, but if you're doing it for the music, I'm shure you'll get healthly paid for it.
Another problem with your argument is the idea that record labels must remain as they are, because there are no other alternatives as they "control music" and there are no other choices other than reverting to them, because "fans are too fickle these days".
If this is what you want to believe, that's your problem. As for me, I'd rather have record labels getting less and less money to the point of downsizing or even closing to give oportunity to smaller labels get in contact with talented musicians in smaller businesses.
It's not like record labels holds this key to making money out of music, exclusive to them.
And I'd rather have smaller labels with less influence than support the practices of associations like the RIAA.
Because as hard as it might be, I can see multi billionaire record labels closing up... but I can never see music dying. And in the end, this is what this is all about: music. Or art, if we talk about piracy in general.
Also, the idea that "fans are too fickle these days" is wrong.
If you pay attention to the news you'll know that.
Fans are as faithful, or even more faithful than before, only they are diluted on the tons of successful bands we have out there.
But the thing is: this has nothing to do with piracy, it has more to do with the age we live in, with easy access to information, and people being able to choose more freely the stuff they want to listen to.
The REAL problem with piracy is that it goes heads on against an ancient and very powerful formula of making money.
It's a culture changing phenomena to which people will have to adapt.
Because piracy is here to stay. It is the future, and it has to do with the technology that enables us to share content easily.
It caught powerful companies and lots of people who were dreaming of becoming rich superstars without warning, thus the resistance.
But society will adapt. No, let me correct myself: Society IS already adapting.
The ones who will fall behind are the ones who think they can go against this forever.
08/12/09
And I don't get this whole thing about people being opposed to musicians making music for money. That somehow musicians don't need to pay mortgages and car payments like everyone else.
Yes there are alternative to just selling a CD, but because no one really knows who you are, you are not really going to get those opportunities.
I agree the model has too change to suit the age, however, stealing someone else's hard work is never the solution. This wasn't a problem when music sat on a shelf in a store. But now that you don't have to physically touch it to steal it and most feel safe sitting in their homes/dorm/library it makes the moral judgement call a lot easier to break.
I just just wish Giz would look at the other side of this story and the impact it has as opposed to the promoting the joy of stealing music.
I will step off my soap box now.
08/12/09
As long as the RIAA wants an unreasonable amount of money for music, we will steal it.
Piracy "happened" at the same moment economy "happened". Its a part of human existence.
Would there be a piracy problem if songs cost 10 cents? And albums cost 1 dollar?
08/12/09
How much is a song worth? 1000 dollars? 1 million dollars? Songs are powerful and beautiful, but I disagree that a song's creator is entitled to huge sums of cash for simply writing it.
And this doesnt even touch on the fact that the "music" we're talking about is mostly manufactured crap force fed to kids using their parents money to buy it.
08/12/09
08/11/09
There are some artists whose music I will buy without a second thought. I have even gone back and purchased CD's for albums I acquired "the wrong way." I am all for supporting the artist, and even record labels, when they treat their customers with respect.
For the last decade, though, the labels have been acting like pampered children.
08/11/09
Obviously the only downside is your tied to a PC, but I know they are doing a iPhone App, so for some it can be a portable service.
If you can get legal +free you usually have a winner.
08/11/09
1. I was young
2. I had no money
3. I liked music.
Very simple.
08/11/09
Simple, the majority of people didn't have a source to hear new and interesting (read: good) music. In the early 90s there was no other readily accessible or easy to use method to try-before-you-buy music (such as listening to the radio for free). It's not like you could go into a music store and sample every album in there you were interested in.
So the next alternative was to simply download music for free and see if you like it. But hey, now that you've already downloaded it, there's no true incentive to then go out to the store and pay money for something you already have, despite the fact that it's not legal.
And now more than ever buying an album makes less and less sense. You can either listen to it for free on the radio or listen to it for free online (ie Last.fm). If you want to have it on demand in your car or mp3 player you can buy online digitally (even this has to get a new business model).
Seems to me that music is the only form of art that we pay for for the intellectual aspect itself. Most other forms of art, when you buy it, there's a physical statue or canvas that must be purchased. But you don't have to buy it, you could just simple admire it. Just take a picture.
Maybe I'm wrong in my last paragraph, just a thought.
08/11/09
If I have terabytes of music dumped in my lap, how am I supposed to determine which ones I like outside of listening to them all? How is that even possible?
If I'm getting info on new music from blogs, Pandora, iTunes Genius and the like, just what is piracy adding to the equation other than not paying for these new finds?
08/12/09
08/12/09
11/07/08
11/07/08
What I am interested in is whether you will be able to download any sized podcast over Wifi. My daily commute is ~3 hours, and I normally take my MacBook with me because I know I can't grab a podcast when I'm in work.
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08