What is Digg?44 Comments
- BrettFromTibet, on 08/26/2008, -2/+36 I don't necessarily think "piracy" is a good thing or a bad thing.. but rather...a condition that arises when distribution becomes inefficient and prices are too high.
I would like to see digital music downloads become affordable and unlocked.... like downloading an album for $4 or $5 in high-quality, non-DRM.... - Matri, on 08/27/2008, -0/+19The answer is simple: The RIAA isn't making any money from it, therefore it's piracy.
- geodebug, on 08/27/2008, -2/+19If he is giving the music away, how is that pirating?
- JordanM85, on 08/27/2008, -1/+11If it wasn't for downloading music, I probably would have never even heard of 75% of my favorite bands. And I certainly wouldn't have been able to see them in concerts, and actually support the bands and buy some merch or possibly then buy the album at the show.
Pirating is the new radio. - rukeypoo, on 08/27/2008, -3/+8Preaching to the choir, baby.
Preaching to the choir. - MScrip, on 08/27/2008, -0/+5> "Pirating is the new radio."
Great quote! - ManicMyna, on 08/27/2008, -0/+5how is he giving it away?
it says he's selling at a merch stall at his gigs, or do you define giving it away as not suing his fans for having pirated stuff that attracted them to a gig where they do buy stuff? - wukillabee, on 08/27/2008, -1/+5dont use that crappy software itunes.. use AMAZON, non drm'ed MP3
- thedragon4453, on 08/27/2008, -1/+4Still though, piracy is a great way to get the word out. I've heard a lot of people say it, but even back in the napster days, I used piracy as a way to find new music and then bought the things I've liked. I've bought entire catalogs of some artists that I would never have without piracy. I've gone on to some of those artists' shows, and made them even more money that way.
- arjie, on 08/27/2008, -0/+3I use Amie Street. Because of their pricing model I've downloaded free songs from Whitesnake, stuff from Motorhead for 27 cents per song, and Iced Earth for nearly free. And loads of independent artists. 70% of the money I pay goes straight to the artists and I've paid a few dollars for whole albums. It's pretty cool.
- samard2002, on 08/27/2008, -1/+3Can someone explain to me how the "live shows" model helps the other piracy affected industries like software and movies?
- opticwind, on 08/27/2008, -0/+2"It isn't piracy if the band allows it"...Listen, the world is not this simple. The reason you've even heard of ANY of your favorite bands is due to marketing and record producing. Without record companies, even word-of-mouth isn't powerful enough to generate attention for a band. And half the time, the bands don't even write the songs. A song is like a tv show...when you enjoy it, you're enjoying the work of hundreds of people, not just the stars.
- kirado4, on 08/27/2008, -0/+2Piracy of computer apps helps establish their dominance with the young users so when they grow up and get jobs at companies the companies buy the software everyone knows how to use. Same thing applies to colleges and universities. Example of this would be all adobe products, MS office, 3ds max etc.
So by letting people pirate them it creates a demand in the market later when they get jobs. It's called free advertising. - Atomic1fire, on 08/27/2008, -0/+2Actually its infringing on copyright, but there will be a point that the cost avoided will eventually stop the content from being produced unless there is a change in production
- SirMildred, on 08/27/2008, -0/+2Thankfully, it costs little to nothing to produce studio quality music these days.
Is an aeroplane flying over your house trespassing? Once upon a time it was. Our current idea of Copyright is as outdated as a trespassing aeroplane. - Atomic1fire, on 08/27/2008, -1/+2Open Source can be a great anti piracy model
In order for open source to work there has to be a demand and contributions to keep the demand satisfied.
Companies will donate or work on the software so that it can improve based on their needs.
individuals will work on the software because they want to, plus saying you worked on Open source software (such as pidgin or firefox) is good for your resume, as it shows not only do you keep your skills busy, but that you work well enough with others that your work can be excepted.
people will use open source software because the distribution cycle is much lower priced then propriety, and its always improving. so there is no real need to pirate since in most cases you can go straight to the website and click download. - opticwind, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1No because they're not labeled. When a band joins a record company they sign away certain rights in exchange for mass marketing. If your friend's band had a lebl and started giving CDs away at a huge loss to the company, that'd be piracy.
Bands don't own their music, they signed a legal contract giving the record companies the rights to distribution and how things are done. If you don't like it, hate the band for signing up. They knew what it meant. - A11YND, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1It doesn't, but it does really affect the Recording Industry who seem to be the biggest ***** about pirating. The movie pirating is a bit of a trade-off, you normally have to either see the film in theatres or buy the DVD for a great quality copy (compared to the pirated cam'd copies.) So there is really no change or affect on the MPAA. Software downloads however, I can't think of a solution (use Open Source.)
- Ebacherville, on 08/27/2008, -2/+3IF the person that was given a burned cd goes to the show and buys a shirt/cd whatever they made way more money than they lost on the original pirated cd.. The RIAA has there heads so far up there rear its not even funny.. I will never buy another CD in my life.. EVER because of the RIAAs crap.. hell ill just listen to the radio or online radio stations etc.. screw the RIAA, id rather just send a dollar to a artist i like it would be better for the artist and take the RIAA out of the equation where they should be, left in the gutter!
I intentionally seek out independents and avoid the commercial stuff now.. because of the RIAA! - billsprestonIU, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1Nicely articulated Sir. I've heard similar arguments time and again and every time I think to myself - "wow that's so ***** simple how do these music industry people not understand or at least give it a try"
- Culyt, on 08/27/2008, -1/+2itunes rips off artists, and often the records lables rip off the artists further.
Plus as has been pointed out most itunes songs have DRM, although they have released a few nondrm (the EMI offerings) although from memory they are more expensive than the DRM'd versions and it was really more of a publicity stunt.
But enjoy being locked into using one program and one brand of media player for the rest of your life, i will continue to enjoy using whatever the latest software is with the new features, on whatever operating system I want to use this months and putting songs on my phone/psp/laptop/whatever.
Also enjoy rebuying all your music when you replace your computers for the 3rd time in several years due to the artifical itunes limit. Or have fun when something like what happened recently where Yahoo and Microsoft just decide to take their older DRM servers offline and you loose access to all your music.
If you are locked into itunes, you might want to look at googling fairuse and tracking down a copy to remove all the DRM. Even if you have no problems with it now you might in future.
☢ - opticwind, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1I agree with your second paragraph but the title was a tad misleading. The band's lead said that he's cool with people making CD copies of his songs. He never said anything about putting his mp3s on the net.
- MrSkills, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1NIN and Radiohead make money through merchandising, because they are already huge and famous and have big fan bases.
- onlines, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1Piracy, to me, only exists when the medium is met with too little demand, and therefore you have 1 side wanting the product, the other side more than willing to give it to you, but the middle is simply going on and on and on about shipping costs, and how it's not good here and there... etc, etc. I would have had to pay close to 80$ for 1 season of "The Mighty Booch" and another 60$ for 6 episodes of "Snuff Box". Instead, i downloaded it.
Good job, middle man. Keep it up. - MrSkills, on 08/27/2008, -1/+2SOME 'studio quality' music costs little to record. Maybe even the particular stuff you are into. But a lot of it will always be very expensive.
- chispito, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1Look on Amazon, you'll be surprised how affordable some albums are. Each Friday they do a promo of five albums for five bucks each, and I've been really surprised how good some of the music is.
Last weekend I scored a 30-song Beach Boys best of album. - Kelmon, on 08/27/2008, -1/+2If they are so dependent on piracy, why don't they release the music for free without distribution restrictions and then the whole discussion about "piracy being good" goes away? That this means of distribution works for them does not mean that those who do not agree with it need to accept it. Ultimately it is up to the individual artist to decide what they do or do not want and everyone else should accept that rather than imposing a "we know best" attitude.
The theory that sharing music means that more people will go to concerts is interesting but until I study of it is performed I remain unconvinced. Does the number of lost CD sales outweigh the number of additional bums on seats at concerts? How many downloaders actually bother to go to see the bands they download the songs for? We know it's not 100% and the real % is key in determining whether piracy ultimately benefits the artist. - HollowMarkeD, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1$4-5 sounds reasonable, I think the industry just needs to acknowledge the days they could make sick profits from CDs are over. Free downloads is the best era of music I can imagine, sites like last.fm and blip.fm means I find lots of new music, and I've bought CDs on the back of listening to great new bands for free on the internet.
- OneRottenTomato, on 08/27/2008, -1/+1This is a great idea since the concept of the net. This gives more power to the artists and less power to dinosaur-mentality gatekeepers such as the RIAA who have basically stolen far too much from the artists anyways. The artists create the work and content, and RIAA gets the lion's share of the profits and manipulate who or what the public should listen to? What gives?
Basically the artist is now, in essence, becoming their own TV station. They give away free content that they've created, and when they become popular they can profit from advertisers and merchandising down the road.
The internet has leveled the playing field. Where there are no buffers (the gatekeepers) between the artists, writers, musicians, and their potential fan base. Power to the content providers! - kjubik, on 08/27/2008, -1/+1But why not 100 cents ($1)?
- GovernmentYard, on 08/27/2008, -1/+1About three months ago I downloaded my first Show of Hands album, since which I've encouraged others to accompany me to their gig in town last month - I brought eight people in all, which is worth a damn sight more than the couple of pounds they'd get from a CD sale.
In Britain, Show of Hands are really quite popular, though - largest folk/roots show on national radio opens with their music. Highly recommended, as are Bellowhead. - kirado4, on 08/27/2008, -1/+1Some one who gets it!!
- filmbandit, on 08/27/2008, -1/+1SirMildred
studio quality music doesn't mean it's a good record.
you don't account for the artist's time it took to make a better than average record and the time it took to write better than average songs.
if the airplane flying over my house removed my next month's electricity bill payment from my outgoing mail, it should be trespassing - shtefni, on 08/27/2008, -0/+0My best mate's band distribute their music for free, but also sell CDs at gigs - they tend to be packaged pretty cool, like their Job Non-Seekers EP which was like a dole form, in the brown envelope and everything, but photoshopped with their lyrics on. Definitely worth the 3 quid, however they love people downloading their music - it's why they're so big in Devon, one of our mates burned the CD for everyone, now they play gigs down there all the time.
Just an example of a band that benefit from both selling CDs and giving their music away free.
Is it piracy? - inactive, on 08/27/2008, -3/+3Then it isn't pirating if the band allows it. Some bands deliberately distribute their albums free online - and that is awesome. Stealing from ones who don't is still stealing.
- inactive, on 08/27/2008, -2/+1Arrr matey!!!
- opticwind, on 08/27/2008, -2/+1That's all fine and dandy except most people don't go out and buy the CDs or go to the shows.
- opticwind, on 08/27/2008, -2/+1God damnit, stop trying to turn piracy into a "Fight against the corporate overlords!" effort. We do it cause it's free and convenient. It's stealing without any real threat of consequence.
- s4g4n, on 08/27/2008, -4/+2A concert ticket makes 5 to 10 times more than a cd. So if you are a new band that tours a lot then the internet is an advantage. Bands such as U2, metallica...etc big bands often sells out all tickets, despite they make a lot of money through it they complain the most through file sharing.
- SyntraFTW, on 08/27/2008, -5/+3That is exactly what I wanna do, but with a cooler band name.
- EdwardMass, on 08/27/2008, -4/+2AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!
Big bands make money through merchandising, not ticket and album sales. I'm with NIN, Radiohead and a million small bands who are going the internet route. - SirMildred, on 08/27/2008, -3/+1hear, hear! Finally a musician who gets it. Or maybe most musicians *do* get it. It's just the occasional nutter like Metalica that doesn't. I am a musician too, and I utterly depend on people sharing my music. So yeah, if you like instrumental electronica, check out my stuff ;) http://popamericana.com/76 you can get a torrent at the dreaded Pirate Bay: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4361247/5_albums_b ...
- inactive, on 08/27/2008, -11/+3ITT: poor people attempt to justify theft.
Its 99 cents for a song on itunes. Get a job and download your music the legal way.
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