Just out of innocent curiousity I am wondering what people's views are about downloading music. The reason for this is because I used to be VERY against it. As a musician I can see where bands and other artists might get pissed since,as we know,it deminishes their profits. And I used to lay into people who even talked about downloading around me...atleast the ones that complained that it might be illegal one day.

But,then my views changed once I got a MONSTER computer with enough hard drive to save all the music I would ever play,want,or think anyone else would want. After I downloaded the music I had...I wanted more. It's kinda addictive feeding my music God MP3's. Then a friend of mine turned me on to a site for downloading. At first,I said "I'll just get a couple of songs". Then the next thing you know...if I hear of a band...I download it,if I remember a band...I download it.

So basically I have gone against all that I preached. I now am somewhat addicted to downloading music. And I like it to a degree(I get free tunes) but,part of me thinks it is the most disrespectfull thing to the musicians, that I can do.


So any opinions on this will greatly help. I have already made up my mind to stop downloading. But,I wanna hear what KnoxGoth's think.


Thanks

I am with you on this one. I have a love hate relationship with downloading music. The artists (and to a lesser degree, the labels) have earned the money that they get from selling their music. If they did not make any money, then we would not get less music. At the same time, I love music. Especially stuff that I will not hear on the radio. As I am too poor to pay for CD's, downloading is how I get my fix. I have drastically cut back on downloading though. I doubt I will stop anytime soon though.

My opinion, since it's my name associated with this here computer of ours, is if you get my ass in trouble feeding your newest compulsion, I'll be taking it out of yours, dear.

Ethically, it does seem wrong to not pay for the service or the product. So, simply charge the customers a modest fee for downloading the music. Make it up front & honest. It should be cheaper than buying just the single or the entire CD, since you don't get the cover art, case, or other material usually associated with traditional purchase of music. Then that money can be divided up between the artists, the site, & all the other grubby little hands with a claim to the profits.

The_Lady_Aphrodite wrote:Ok I think it is a mixed decision to the whole morals thing regarding downloading music....It hurts the small people.. i.e. the bands who haven't yet broke out into the mainstream yet but also it gives them a spotlight and an opportunity to reach people who would of been unable to hear their creations.

The "small people" can always put up a website and make their music available on mp3 (or whatever format they choose) to get their name and music out there in the spotlight.

Hell, they could even make a special, web-only album just for that purpose. Then perhaps have a link on the download area that takes you to their store so that you can buy their other music.

Wait. Bands - small and gargantuan alike - are already doing this. So why is it ethical to download their music from a Peer-to-Peer program (Kazaa and its cousins) again?

I won't say that I haven't, don't, or won't download music. But at the same time, I won't try to justify it.

Note: This post might come off as harsh, but that isn't my intention. I just think we should be honest with ourselves.

Another side note: I still think it'd be a good idea for artists to "flag" certain songs to be legal to share. It'd be good publicity, and it'd help fans who want to work with the system, and still not be fucked by it.

Mother Mo



Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Posts: 344
Location: A hobbit hole in north knox

Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2003 12:17 pm Post subject:
My opinion, since it's my name associated with this here computer of ours, is if you get my ass in trouble feeding your newest compulsion, I'll be taking it out of yours, dear.

Oh yeah baby! Mmmmm,Talk dirty to me some more!

do i think its wrong? yeah pretty much. do i care? not really.
has anyone seen the southpark episode "christian rock hard"?
it addresses the whole mp3 thing. pretty damn funny. cartman tuns into that a-hole from creed. :p

This is the home of Lars Ulrich the drummer from Metallica. Look theres Lars now sitting by his pool. Whats the matter with him? This month he was hoping to have a gold plated shark tank bar installed right next to the pool. But thanks to people downloading his music for free he must now wait a few months before he can afford it.

I personally download at least on Metallica song a day.....I hate metallica.....I just download another song to get at those money hording shithead.......VIVA LA NAPSTER!

i\on a side note......If artist swould start putting out some shit worth putting my money on...I wouldnt download it! Outkast will get my money....so will AFI and APC.......metallica and Micheal jackson can kiss my ass.........Oh look another song Lars wont get paid for SUCKER!~~~~

I have paid for a lot of music that wasnt worth my money........I will now try the album online beofre i waste another red cent onit.....

Im sure camera companies are losing money on making and the processing of film too what with all these new digital cameras and sucha nd at home labs.......where is their lawsuit.....becasue it \s the furtherance of technology.......deal with it.

musicians are gonna be poor either way
fuck the RIAA
because you music probably sucks anyway
fuck the RIAA
download everything that you can get away with
fuck the RIAA
downloading mp3s turns people onto new music, alot of people buy more cds because of this
why do they blame the p2p because people arent buying as much of the same cd instead of buying alot of new cds
more cds get bought
they just dont gillion-platnum as much
so its the music industry trying to blame others because people are starting to get sick of being told what to listen to.
fuck the riaa.

The only music I really dl is remixes and hard to find tracks or if I just want to sample what a band has to offer. Other than that I would rather (money forbiding) to buy the album cause as a musician I see where the problem is. That is how they make their living. If you work at mcdonalds and everyone can get burgers free at home...then you run the risk of losing your job due to no income to the company.

How about you do whatever the fuck you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone but yourself.

Logic wrote:How about you do whatever the fuck you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone but yourself.

Please define "hurt" dling music can be very hurtful to the artists, especially indie artists. No for the most part it does not cause them physical pain but the finanical pains that it can cause can be huge even to the point where some artists will just give up on music and go do something else. Saying it is all about the art is all well and good but it doesn't pay the bills and if an artist can't pay the bills then I don't blame them for quiting. But hey what do I know I listen to underground hip hop.

There's a difference between hurting and not helping. It would be impossible for me to hurt any band by downloading their music.

And if those bands stop playing because they aren't earning money then fuck 'em. They probably suck anyway.

My stand on downloading music is that I do it...A lot. I also buy music...A lot. Hell, if cds were just cheaper, I'd buy even more. Remember that price-gouging lawsuit a couple of years back? For 5 years of price gouging, my "share" of the settlement amounted to less than a dollar. And now, music that I download is costing the recording industry millions? Fuck em. A lot of what I download, I already own. It's easier to download than to copy from cd after cd after cd. I also download songs of the moment - things I will probably never want to hear a year from now and certainly not want to buy the album. Finally, I download music to see if it is crap or not. In Germany, cd stores all had listening stations so you could try before you buy...And at nearly 20.00 a cd, I'm going to take a listen first. If I like what I hear, and it is by an artist I respect, I'll buy the cd.

I don't know what happened because I *know* I made a response last night to this thread but apparently not so...here goes.

Yes, I download. No, I don't feel guilty. See, if it's one of the bands I love and most of them are smaller known, I'm more than likely going to buy their cd to give them support here in the states, or at least in my area, anyway. If it's a big name artist and I only like one of their songs or very few of their songs (like Metallica) then there's no way I am going to give them money to help support their asses. They'll just have to work harder. I give the support where I feel it's needed the most and I don't feel sorry for "stealing" a song or two from bands like Metallifuk.

yes and no I don't feel guilty.

I like really obscure music that in my hometown is very hard to find. We have a ShamGoody here. And if I ask if they have any Del Reeves or The Band albums they look at me like I've grown another head, but then again the teenieboppers that work there wouldn't know good music if it jumped up and bit them on the ass.

But then again I download music and apperently Bob Dylan, CCR, Jasin Joplin, and Dave Matthews played every song on the face of the earth at least according to the song database.

Thieves.

Caustic wrote:Thieves.

I prefer the term, "assiduous appropriater of auricular data", or "Triple A-Dee" for short.