file sharing and other naughty Napsters.

[Tony W]

I too predominantly listen to music from this site. Youtube is loaded with anything you could possibly want to listen to. I'm not sure of the legalities there, but if I hear a cover here, and want to listen to the original... its there.

I have an ipod, I use it. a lot of the music on this site has made my ipod what it is today. I too am not a fan of making rich people more rich any more than Tharek is. I feel the same way about professional athletes. I often wonder what they would be doing if they had not made it to the show. I respect that they train and meet their goals, but its no excuse to line pockets.

[OsCKilO]

I feel the same way about professional athletes. I often wonder what they would be doing if they had not made it to the show. I respect that they train and meet their goals, but its no excuse to line pockets.

Amen Brother!!!!


I think Respect is worth more than Money!!!

[s.w.goatlips]

"Earn"....."Honest days' work"........ obviously this topic is very subjective.
Firstly to my mind, we live in a system (known commonly as Capitalism) in which free enterprise is the natural order of things.
In the case of professional athletes etc I have very little interest in sports as a whole, and particularly as a form of business, however I suspect that I am in a minority on that simply by looking at the amount of public interest, and therefore money generated by it. Sport is an industry, and so is music to many many people. In both cases, investment has been made. And investment doesn't necessarily mean cash. It can mean time, inellectual input, physical labour and all things in between. Shouldn't those involved be paid for their time, their labour, their ORIGINAL concepts. Who can say ? I feel that Society in general says yes they should, that's why they are an industry. Did Picasso or Jackson Pollock deserve their income? They certainly made a lot more money than any trifling job like being a President or Prime Minister.
 Whether we like it or not, we live in this system. How much we participate is entirely our choice (for those of us in these comfy middle class economies).
 Peter Sunde ( co-founder of Pirate Bay-a file sharing site) said on the BBC "If I want it, I take it, 'cause I can. It might be moral to some people but I think it's up to me to decide".
 Moral.....Immoral. like I said , very subjective. We judge and we are judged by our values.   
                    

[launched]

A law is only valid if it is enforceable. Clearly certain content distribution laws/rules are not enforceable, and it is only a matter of time before commercially viable media distribution methods are introduced. It will be up to the owners of any electronic media in question to come up with a way to protect their property.

I think the people in the US who remember when you couldn't make a right turn at a red light (within reason) will understand this principle. The cops couldn't write enough tickets to maintain that pointless law.

The internet was initially designed to distribute information in a public domain format. I don't remember when the rules were ever changed to indicate otherwise. And to make things worse, violators of copyright laws are usually punished by having their offensive post "taken down" by Youtube, for example. They keep their account, and get to host all the other copyrighted posts that have not been picked up yet. When all a 15 year old kid has to his/her name is pocket change, a skateboard and a cell phone to his name, how do you plan to punish him/her?

Well, that was 5 minutes I'll never get back, so I digress...

[OsCKilO]

That is so True Mark......


As a Lead on from That......

"Why do we choose to make Music So Elitist!”


I have heard People Playing in the street that are 1000 times better than any person selling Their music....

What does the “Artist” want?

To be Heard?

Or  to make Money?


I only want to listen to Musicians who want to share their art...
The Message they want to relay....

Not some Idiot who wants to make a quick buck....



Many an artist gained fame posthumously ........  Respect and recongnition....
They Never made a dime!!!
And they are regarded as the best....

They shaped the discipline that they dwelled in....

“Van-Gogh”.....
“Nick Drake”...
“Eva Cassidy”....


I'd take a Van-Gogh over a Picasso any day.....

[OsCKilO]

And S.W bro....

Please don't take any of what I am saying as a personal attack.....



Just talking my friend......

[Blooby]

I tend to download a boatload of live music.  Everything off the BTetree tracker and the Internet Music Archive involve trade-friendly bands, so I know it's got the blessing of the artist (The band/management has to agree before a band is allowed on the sites).  

I try to stay away from file-sharing sites, but I have traded usb drives with a few friends.  I guess that's in the same ballpark (and not too different from the old days of cassette dupes).  I can try to explain it away, but it would still be a mere rationalization.  Oddly, most of the MP3's I have received from others, I already own on disc (I have over 10,000).  I'm just either too lazy to rip them, or I don't know where the heck they are in the collection.  Sad but true.

I really like how you can sample song snippets on sites like Amazon.  If I find myself digging it, I throw it in the shopping cart.  

Blooby

[Saijinn Maas]

This is NOT in specific reference to anything anyone has posted so far...

I think the thought of the "struggling artist" putting their "soul" into their music, art, writing, etc. is a fallacy. I've known many "struggling artist" in my life, and this includes myself, who would LOVE to do their art as how they make their living. That doesn't mean being a millionaire per se... But I know most do like to have to work their "day" job and only do their music as time permits.

So they do like any other business... They make a product. A product they have every right to sell. Whether it is "virtual" or not is irrelevant. Although it IS incredibly unfortunate that the record companies make the majority of the money from record sales, their side of it is pretty much like play the stock market. Sign a band, they pay for all studio fees, mastering, printing, marketing, and on top of that, until the band can afford to do so themselves... they pay for touring too. IF you are lucky enough to get a contract like that.

As far as what/who they are willing to sign, unfortunately, WE (people in general) have shown that we are not willing to pay for that stuff. I mean, SOMEONE is buying Britney Spears, N'SYNC, etc...

It can be a huge risk for the amount of money they have to spend.

I used Napster quite a bit in the early days. As soon as I found something i liked, I bought the CD. I happen to be in a business where we deal with this very issue every day. And I know how much money is lost when people resort to DL'ing product. Product you worked very hard to create. And then to see someone say that what you made is not worth buying... It isn't nice. WE go to great lengths to limit this kind of theft, but there will always be those out there that think they can justify taking what is not theirs.

No matter how you slice it, that is exactly what it is. It seems all nice that people "should" share their product, but no one has a right to others creations, no matter how benevolent it is made out to be.

Hope this made sense... typing quickly as I am exporting information for work

[s.w.goatlips]

Take it personally? I really like Vinnie Van Gogh.

[OsCKilO]

The guy was cool...

And must be immortal!


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