What is Digg?127 Comments
- RonBennington, on 10/12/2007, -4/+36This just in: RIAA ignores Canadian study.
- tonicboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+33This confirms what I have been saying for years. If anything, music downloading only increases a consumer's awareness of and interest in music. Personally, I only owned about 20 CD's before p2p took off. Since then, my collection has ballooned to over 100 CDs. Granted, I also have about another 300 albums worth of music that isn't paid for, but many of those albums I never listen to because I discovered they were crap.
Before p2p, pretty much the only way most people could hear new music was on the radio. And we all know what a GREAT job radio does, introducing you to, oh say, about THREE good, original songs a year. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+32You have to be kidding. The RIAA couldn't be more out of touch with reality if they tried!
- cooperaa, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30I'm glad they are finally waking up! Maybe the RIAA will follow suit and stop blaming their problems on the downloaders.
- phore, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27RIAA wont change anything for the better. This is why I download all my music and support good artists by going to their concerts. That is where they make most their money anyways.
- rhino_rampant, on 10/12/2007, -5/+23Leave it to the Canadians....first curling, now this!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19About god damned time they realized that we like to TRY before we BUY, and yes, we do BUY things. But not if you treat us all as criminals
- tim11198, on 10/12/2007, -9/+27@Easy Target,
You too must learn some respect your post is, well, hypocritical. I am an American, I personally have nothing against Canada, and have not blamed Canada for any of my problems ever in my life. In fact, I seem to recall few to no credible instances of America blaming any of her problems on Canada (save the South Park movie, which was completely satire). I will not launch into a discussion of Americas attributes, aside from her military. The military is impressive, but that is not America's key attribute. Freedom is the pillar of America, and, even though that seems to be on the decline here in the name of exporting democracy and fighting terrorism, i am confident that it will rise up again. Fighting terrorism is like fighting the hydra, for every person killed, more are inspired to fight. It is a war that must be won in the hearts and minds of the world, not a war that can be one militarily, so here, the army, however brave or well trained and equipped , may be a disadvantage to the nation. You cannot purport to have met a large percentage of Americans, so you too, should reserve judgment. In terms of size, you are perfectly correct if you are referring to population, and in this case I will give you the benefit of the doubt, but in terms of land, Canada has about 350,000 square kilometers more than the U.S. Because we have a larger population, we inevitably have larger numbers of, as you so eloquently put it, wankers, that does not mean that there is a greater proportion of them in America, or that we can all be defined as such. I respect Canada, I respect your opinion, although i believe it to be misguided, I respect your right to say it. I am an American, I quite often disagree with the actions taken by my Government, and my opinions are often in the national minority. The right to disagree is an inalienable one, but your disagreements will go much farther if you disagree in a civil manner. - EasY_TargeT, on 10/12/2007, -26/+43@Blind
you need to learn some respect i am sick of you americans always blaming ***** on Canada because we are smaller. Well take this into consideration, the only thing the us is good for is there army. They are the biggest wankers I have ever met. So shut your mouth! I don't care how many negatives i get for this. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16This just in: RIAA continues to sue old ladies, young children and leukemia suffers while covering ears with hands and going: "LALALALALALALALA"
- DullesGuy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20I *heart* CBC.
- Arramol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Don't forget the occasional dead person and the odd music pirate who's never owned a computer.
- 200iso, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Copying music is not analogous to shoplifting.
Copying music is analogous to going to a store, using a replicator to copy of loaf of bread and then taking that new loaf of bread home with you.
Such a replication technology would arguably solve the world's hunger problems.
If we had this technology should it be illegal to use just because groceries stores fear losing business? - 200iso, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13The interesting thing about Canada is, the music we copy is actually paid for through recorable media levy. See wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blank_media_tax#Canada
- oxymoron69, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15IT'S A TRAP!!!!
- MrKippers, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Finally some proof of what we've known for years. It's too bad the RIAA probably wont admit this to be true so they wont loose lawsuit revenue. I'll bet 20 Diggs they take the cigarette company method and lie out of their ass until the ***** don't come out no more.
- bonoes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Can anyone else see the MPAA or RIAA blocking all incomming/ougoing routes to/from Canada?
- jayf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I just finished listening to a SxSW podcast regarding digital rights in the 21st century and it seems that there isn't enough education regarding what "copying" really is. People equate not paying for a copy of a thing as stealing, and indeed prior to the advent of PCs it's not hard to understand why.
The 21st century definition of stealing should be: "Removing ownership of a tangible object (a book, a CD) from its rightful owner (the library, the record store) and placing that object into your ownership."
Stealing a CD from a record store is wrong. You've stolen the opportunity that store had to sell that album. They paid for it and now are taking a loss.
Now that PCs exist, there is no tangible cost for copying a digital work. How do you think the recording industry makes the millions it is using to feed its lawyers? They record an album and COPY it a million times or more at no per-unit cost.
And to preemptively suppress the music industry fanboys, the cost of CD plastic and cover paper is not part of the per-unit album cost, only the distribution cost. If you sell the same album on iTunes those costs have no relation to the electronic distribution.
The argument that downloading takes away the record industry's opportunity to sell the same material is weak. There is nothing to say that they had an opportunity to begin with. The downloader might not have sufficient funds to purchase the material in which case no sale was going to be made anyway. Is this stealing? I see nothing to indicate that it is. If the said downloader then charged money to another person for the materials, is it stealing? Yup. Now an opportunity to make a sales was actually lost.
We need to draw a well defined line in the sand now. We need to educate people about downloading and sharing before the RIAA and MPAA do the same. - eaasness, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11I normally don't like blog hops, but this one is a pretty good summary.
- 200iso, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10In Canada, they get a portion of all recordable media sales (except mp3 players, oddly enough), i believe this even includes hard drives.
- greywren, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Pollara (the company that did the actual survey) rebutted that critique by Geist and Geist bebutted the rebuttal:
http://michaelgeist.ca/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,1173/comment_write,/comment_view,1/
Sounds like Pollara was pissed at Geist but could only muster a few substanceless accusations (Geist is "[distracing] us from the serious business at hand," meaning I suppose that the study was intended to justify more stringent copyright laws in Canada but Geist has rained on that parade). - speedo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I have been saying this. Most people that I know to share programs are the ones buying the most. We encourage each other and say we have to buy so that people will have milk to drink and make good music or software.
I buy games, movies and programs that I would not have if they were not free to try. I am not kidding, I buy programs when I can. - Synoptic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This is interesting. There was a congressional study in the U.S. that was done when the music industry was afraid CD burners would destroy them. They discovered the same thing: the people who shared music the most were also the ones who bought music the most. Still, to deal with the fears of the music industry, a tax was levied on the sale of *all* CD burners sold in the U.S. and paid to the RIAA.
The way I see it, the RIAA will either stop alienating it's customer base and biting the heads off of old ladies and puppies in favor of finding a reasonable solution, or else they'll go extinct. - mortalfunk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7harper is a joke. even though i live in alberta why should he give us or any other province (thats you quebec) special treatment...
the music downloading here in Canada is great... no riaa to worry about. - BenWhitey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I'm hoping the record industry will stop complaining about loosing money because people are downloading music. I have like 20GB of music on my hard drive, but do I ever listen to it? NO. I'm not into music. I could delete it, but then if I wanted to listen to a song I would have to get it from a friend.
My friends download a band's music and see if they like it. If they like it then they buy it. - Scourge, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9I'm not feeling guilty ^^
- Zippo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6And Canada has the highest rate of downloading music... glad to see the CRIA is not nearly as dumb as the RIAA.
- alxdman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5If they're getting their music from iTunes Music Store then there doing both downloading and buying.
- btipling, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8maybe concert tours...
- da_bradler, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7agreed, you guys should listen to the cbc radio 3 podcast(on itunes) over 30 hours of free amazing music. Canada has a really strong music scene because we support growing artists I think better then any other nation.(no insult to other nations)
I download a lot of canadian music and i think p2p more then anything is good for young people cause it gets them listening to all types of music at younger ages, when those people can't afford to buy music and by the time we get jobs were buying all sorts of music and going to conserts. I think there are things that could be seen as wrong, but I think the good outdoes the bad. - Evdawg, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Finally, somebody with some sense.
- papaz, on 10/12/2007, -7/+12Good beer, great weed, and some sort of normalcy with these tech issues...im so proud to live here...except for harper...*shakes head*
- RonBennington, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9I download music to discover new artists, and will pick up the cd/download from iTunes any bands I like. If it wasn't for music downloads I probably wouldn't buy any music since my only exposure would be crappy radio stations.
I realise this isn't true in all cases, but if someone likes an artist enough they will typically buy their music. - shiftless, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Why do people download? Because the DRM has already been stripped and they can do whatever they want with it. Further proof that people prefer accessability.
Also, it's the only backup they have. - bonoes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Can anyone else see the MPAA or RIAA blocking all incomming/ougoing routes to/from Canada?
- jayf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Just for the record I make digital media also (J2ME games for mobile devices).
While I would like people to shell out the $2 I ask for my games/apps I won't get all worked up by people who don't.
I literally tell myself that there was no opportunity to make a sale there anyway.
On to the next customer! - jayf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6In Canada it is NOT stealing. That 14 year old kid paid for his music downloads because he theoritcally puchases media devices (CDRs, HDDs you name it) on a regular basis and is therefore entitled to his downloads.
And for the record, I've downloaded considerable materials and later went on to purchase them in hard format.
The 21st century will keep the door open if you decide you later want to join us.
I'm Canadian and even I find this inaccountable payment system weird but it is the law and one that many Canadians don't seem to have issue with. - fortezza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That is almost as bad as the RIAA suing an old lady. Why? Because it is reinforcing the idea that recording labels are owed a living. If people don't buy their product, they immediately assume it isn't their fault and look for a scapegoat. How about this idea, perhaps your business model is obsolete? Perhaps the distribution business is no longer the cash cow it used to be, and it is time to move on? Let change the role of a recording from the main product to being an advertisement for the arist's live performance ( concert ). That means you record an album, and make it available for free download to expose people to your music. Then when the artist comes to town on tour, people who liked what they heard can buy tickets to hear it live. They can also buy t-shirts, posters, etc from the band's Web site to support the group.
What I am suggesting is not a new idea, this of it as what would have happened if the phonograph had been used for marketing artists from the get go. Think of the benefits from the big picture. No one has to enforce anti-copyright violation laws, lawyers make less money, no more grandmas getting sued, bands get a bigger paycheck by avoiding label contracts that make them indentured servants, FBI/police spend more time coming after real criminals, the air of fear ( when sharing music ) is gone, no more need for DRM resulting in money/time being spent on more useful technology...think about it. At the society level, it is a big win.
Btw, if you cannot picture what I am talking about, picture the U.S. as an ant farm and you are watching what people are doing from the outside. You note they spend an awful lot of resources chasing after each other for copying music instead of taking care of things that threaten their lives, like oil shortages or global warming. - heretik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I don't buy music but I do buy a lot of beer at concerts and then I usaly have buy a t-shirt after I spill beer on me. So I feel I doing my part to support artists.
- thepaul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4you have got to listen to Neko Case's new album, if you want to hear great Canadian music. Michael Geist's rebuttal and article was posted a few years back. Sadly, the CRIA wants to ignore this evidence and continue to spout the mantra of "it's all those dirty downloaders fault", just like the RIAA.
- philovivero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The interesting thing about the United States is, we also pay taxes on blank media to cover the costs of illegal copying. I used to hang out with a recording engineer that would bitch about this to no end. He strongly encouraged downloading music (well, at the time, it was more like "go to a friend's house and copy the CD" rather than download, but you get the idea).
- dbzer0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5[[[I actually work in the music industry]]]
You just killed your objectivity right there.
No, Downloading does not kill the music industry. The music industry hanging on to outdated models, promoting crappy media and suing 16 year old girls and ladies with dissabilities means it is performing a slow suicide.
I have barely enough money to go around, but I currently have a BIG collection of music, mostly downloaded. I did buy some albums when I found them sanely priced (at about 7$, I immediately ripped them) but I just won't give 15$-20$ for a piece of plastic that may break at any time. I have also gone to 300% more concerts than I did before I started downloading.
Answer me one thing. why shouldn't poor people have access to the same culture you do? If nothing else, downloading should be promoted for those that can't afford to buy stuff. - tempusrob, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"The downloader might not have sufficient funds to purchase the material in which case no sale was going to be made anyway. Is this stealing?"
Well, no.
But the label/artist owns the copyrights to the music. That means that *they* get to decide how/when/where their stuff is distributed. That means if they want to sell their material exclusively on a CD for $20 a pop, that's their right. And if you don't have the cash for it then you're not entitled to the content.
Don't get me wrong ... it's a broken business model, but they're still entitled to do business that way it if that's how they want to do it ... I'll just take my business elsewhere. - Spazkake, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Actually Canada has an amazing and unique music scene right now in the Montreal/Toronto area of Canada. :)
(arcade fire, wolf parade, broken social scene and the rest of the arts and crafts label) - 4tygames, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"My friends download a band's music and see if they like it. If they like it then they buy it."
I think many people do this method more than just plain stealing songs.
I agree CD's are too expensive, $18 for 12 songs is more than what iTunes charges for 99cents a song. I like Independent record stores and I want to support them but the CDs are too expensive. They do not have the distribution and the deal-making like Best Buy or Wally's Redneck World. CD's should drastically be reduced in price, I am talking about $4 to $5 for a CD instead of $18 to $20. If DVDs and vinyl records can be sold cheaper than CD's, there is a definite problem. The average price for a DVD is $10-$15 which is resonable and a vinyl record is around $12-$15 which is still cheaper than a regular CD. I do buy a lot of used CDs because new CD's are just too expensive. - defubar, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8@easy target
Don't be so stereotypical, you make yourself sound like an American, hah. Hell, the good and bad part of America is that its people are from everywhere...even some from Canada. So drop the "you Americans" crap. Just because we have a moron leading our country does not mean everyone here voted for him or even agree with his PoV on well anything. - 4tygames, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The radio is definitely not a source for new music.
A representative from Clear Channel: "It takes over a million dollars to introduce a new song on air."
This is for all radio stations that are corporately owned across the nation. This is how commercialized the music and radio industry has become.
My suggestion: Give eMusic a try. They are such a great service. eMusic gets "it" unlike other DRMed music stores.
Downloading music from p2p is not going to stop. Once the RIAA shuts a p2p service down, a new one opens. The music industry will have to deal with some serious reforms in the future. They are currently happy right now, unknowingly tied to the train track. Little does the RIAA know is that the train is coming full speed and it is not going to stop. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4why the *f* would we make comments a zero? does that not defeat the pourpose of the new comment sistem?
think it through next time - trucdem44, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Now that I download songs, I never buy music. However, I am going to concerts a lot more. In the end, I'm giving the same amount of money to the industry.
- chosenone-, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3RIAA will continue to use its current tactics, they're not based on logic or evidence. They do it simply because (1) they can, (2) to scare consumers that they can do anything if yiou don't play by their ambiguous rules, (3) because they can.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 126 discussions
Browsing Digg on your phone just got easier with our enhancements to the 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is