file sharing music: Help or harm the industry?

[Skinner8]

Yeah, GODJonez is right. Same thing applies here in Sweden. We win like that.

[Kosmo Yagkoto]

Mmh. I realise there's a difference, Kosmo Yagkoto and others, but let's say you live in this country. In this country, it's illegal for women to... Move at more than one metre per second when walking/running/what ever. This is a law. If you break this law, you're put to death straight away. Would you not disagree with this, even though it is a law?

That, on another scale, is what Norgus and others (including myself) are doing. While we are well aware that file sharing or what ever isn't typically legal, we argue that it should be. I personally think that all software (except like... .txts regarding national security somewhere) should be freely copiable, since copying it costs nothing (or at least, close enough to nothing). Artists and such being paid for what they do can be debated - don't bother trying to deny that people can make good music without being paid to do so - and the way they should be paid can be debated as well, but I don't think the consumers should pay for a copy of a copy of a copy of something that didn't cost anything but time and technical skill to make.

I'm good at this stuff.

Well what country are you talking about with the running thing? It costs nothing to dl something for you but it cost something for those people to make. It deprives the artists of money and i think that is what they are mad about.

[Kosmo Yagkoto]

wow it took forever for my first post to show up and i didn't think it was going to.

[Skinner8]

What's the point of that double post?

No, it does not necessarily cost any money to make music. And I think it's not the artists that mind so much as the RIAA and such.

[Kosmo Yagkoto]

I think the artists do mind but...the double post was about me getting an error when i posted and then i pushed back and tried to submit it again and i had two double posts. Sorry.

[Drageuth]

CD's are way cooler than a bunch of files on your HD...

Only argument against filesharing you need, right there.
And to everyone who says CDs are too expensive: don't purchase them from retail stores. You can go to lots of pawn-shops and still buy new or as-good-as-new condition CDs for about half the price. Or you can go online (eBay, Amazon, et cetera) and purchase new CDs for a quarter of the retail price.

And don't say that you can't buy online because you don't have a credit card. Paypal can hook up to bank accounts, too. Or, if those don't work for you, you could send a money order.

I'm sort of neutral on the filesharing stance. I think it's okay to download a few songs from artists that you've heard of/been told about, but to download entire CDs is just wrong. If you download it and like it, buy the CD. It takes less time than downloading the songs anyways.

[Drageuth]

If you decide to share or download music illegally, remember, there is NO WAY to hide your IP address and the chance of you getting caught isn't zero. It's always have been illegal and it will be for a trillion years.
GODJonez, i think every country follows the US law (and Bill Gates) when it's technology related. And you are allow to download mp3 if in the first place the company release it into the internet for free, and Cyber, you have put up a great fight . We need people like you in this world to show people what is right from the wrong. .

In Canada, it is illegal to possess a fileshared MP3, but not to fileshare in general. If you possess an MP3 that was not personally ripped by yourself, that is illegal. The filesharing in general, however, doesn't matter -- it's the possession.

[Drageuth]

Not at all. You can give anything you own away, or share it with whoever you want. That being said, if when you by the CD the CD becomes your property, so you can share it with whoever you want.... however, the Music on the CD is licencend, so you cant copy the music off of the CD, or make copys of the CD.

Actually, you can make copies of the CD for personal use only, and you can copy the music off the CD -- just as long as, in both cases, they are only for yourself.

[GundamGuy]

Very well informed are you.

Bows.

[Solidus Joe]

I haven't read any of the posts in this topic but I figured I'd drop my opinion.

It is a help, sure there might be a little losage of money, but it promotes the music. If the music is independant from a label it raises buzz and can thus get the band/artist/w.e. their contract, so therefore adding to the industry as a whole and increasing cash flow.

I usually only get music that hasn't been publically released when it comes to major artists, cuz then I'm not really taking money, they weren't getting money off it anyway



yes indeed.

[Xaenn]

Filesharing is a really really good way to hear new music. Lot's of times I'll try and share one or two songs of a good artist to get someone to give them a shot. If they are good, then it's worthy buying their album. If they are mediocre, then you got one or two songs of em.

It would be nice if more bands put some songs up on their websites for download...Especially bands not getting on the radio.

Pennywise put two songs up from their newest album, and then I knew right there that I wanted it...

[Norgus]

I read about fair use and it seems its ok to copy something for yourself but is generally limited to 1 copy. A little restrictive I think, but hey at least my CD copies to listen on my diskman are legal.

[Str8Ba11a]

I dont think filesharing hurts the industry as a whole. Now i know artists dont make royalty money until a whole lot of records have been sold, but thats not how they make their money anyway. They make their money off their contracts. (tours too maybe, i dont know) I think its more record execs and such that lose money from filesharing and im sure they have plenty to go around...

[Mikey_]

yeah....it hurts the music industry alot. i mean, by downloading songs from main stream artists like korn and britney spears and others, they'll be broke in NO time. god forbit they can't buy themselves over priced homes anymore. god forbid rappers like jayz and ja rule can't afford rims for their cars anymore. boo hoo.

[minusnt]

Downloading music is bad cause artist loose money. Yes, some people buy the CD afterwards if they really like it. Yet in the end they loose money cause most CD's aren't worth buying. I normally like 1 or 2 songs on any CD. Yet if I get the CD for free and only like those 2, then I won't buy it. I don't see the reason behind buying an expensive piece of plastic for 2 songs.