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Post by Ragebøx on Jun 27, 2003 11:33:26 GMT -5
It's official. File-swapping and music downloading can get you sued. The illegal distribution of music online is now not only frowned upon, but is actually deemed illegal according to the The Recording Industry Association of America, with the possibility of jailtime or high fines and even a trip to the courtroom. Using IP addresses to find the culprits, the law is now cracking down on the distribution of mp3s and other such files over the World Wide Web.
What do you all think about this? Yay or nay?
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Post by m on Jun 27, 2003 11:51:42 GMT -5
Hate to say it but downloading songs without paying is stealing. True, it may be the only good song on a CD so it's not worth buying the whole thing for $15-20. Keep the money and don't buy it, otherwise buyer beware. An artists' songs are his property and he or she should be paid for their use. Do they need the money? That's not the point, it's still their property. They still need to pay others with that money, such as roadies, and recording costs which can go into the thousands of dollars easily.
Think of it this way, you just wrote a poem and now it's being copied off the Internet by the thousands. You're still working that job you hate because you're not getting a dime of your work. Think what would happen if J.K. Rowling or some other favorite author never made any money off their books. The dreams of being a writer would be taken away from them. We don't get free books do we? Why should we have free music? It's a creation no matter what medium; paint, music, or books.
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Post by Ragebøx on Jun 27, 2003 12:15:49 GMT -5
My opinion:
I really don't know what I would have done if I had not been able to download files. I absolutely have no clue what I would be listening to had I not found what I had on the 'net. Out of all the bands that have grown to become favorites of mine, almost all of those were from outside the country along will many other bands I've had the pleasure to hear. I don't know how I would have been exposed to their music otherwise. MP3 downloading has helped keep me openminded about music and has helped me to find so many more bands out there that I never in a million years would have been able to hear on the radio. And most importantly (to the record companies anyway), it's given me more of a reason than ever to buy more CDs; and I'm sure that's the same for many people.
All I have to say is it's too bad that this great medium has been so misused. People downloading not a few songs from an artist but all and with no intention of buying the albums themselves. I can understand someone wanting to hear the music a bit before risking their hard-earned cash on something they may not like, but with people stealing entire albums, the problems have just been magnified. I just wish it could have been different. Music and money just should not mix, but unfortunately the record companies have proven yet again their gluttony for cash.
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Post by LisaRocksYourWorld, yo on Jun 27, 2003 13:19:16 GMT -5
First of all, there's a countless number of people doing this. The court system can't even find the time to handle rape and robbery cases, I doubt music downloading is a top priority. So I'm not worried, even though my 2000-odd mp3s probably make me the Charles Manson of music sharing.
I've discovered most of the music I listen to through the internet, it's a great way for unknown artists to have a wide listening range. I'm not against buying CD's if I really like a band, and neither is anyone I know.
Don't even tell me artists lose money. They receive so much through merchandise, performances, endorsements, etc., that it's not drastically hurting them. If anything, it's getting MORE people to hear what they create.
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Post by Dave Herald on Jun 27, 2003 16:31:37 GMT -5
Hmm, I think mostly everything on my mind has been addressed already, but oh well.  I think the whole thing is ridiculous. Millions of people worldwide download songs and share files..what are they gonna do? Arrest half of the world? Personally, I use downloading to sample new music, and if I like enough of an artist's stuff, I buy the CD and delete the songs from my computer. So even though I may be stealing music, in the end I end up buying the real thing, anyway. If it wasn't for music downloading, I would never have paid real money to half the artists whose albums I now own. Same goes for movies, tv shows, etc. I even downloaded PSP and other similar programs. So even though they passed a law on this, I doubt it's going to stop many people from sharing files at all. |
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Post by MisterAle on Jul 1, 2003 21:15:45 GMT -5
It's honestly impossible to stop people from sharing any types of files. If the government was to shut-down all p2p networks, I could always go to school and ask someone if I could borrow one of their CD's, and my school has about 1400 attending it.
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Post by m on Jul 2, 2003 9:24:44 GMT -5
Maybe there's nothing to worry about, the people the record companies are after, are the one's that have like 2,000 songs in a shared file that people download all day long.
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Post by Dave Herald on Jul 2, 2003 11:15:46 GMT -5
Yup, I read on numerous news sites that they're only targeting people with [literally] thousands of files.
And also, they said that if you're downloading songs, but not allowing others to download from you, you're pretty much off the hook.
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Post by cheyne fatale on Jul 2, 2003 11:25:17 GMT -5
Personally, I use downloading to sample new music, and if I like enough of an artist's stuff, I buy the CD and delete the songs from my computer. So even though I may be stealing music, in the end I end up buying the real thing, anyway. If it wasn't for music downloading, I would never have paid real money to half the artists whose albums I now own. I concur. ....RIAA annoys me. I was watching this thing on MuchMusic about file sharing and how it affects the record industry, and some guy from RIAA said something about how kids "download music because they think it's cool to be pirates" [not exact quote] It made me snicker. Anyway. I don't have thousands of songs on my computer , so this won't have any sort of impact on me. |
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Post by LisaRocksYourWorld, yo on Jul 3, 2003 21:02:41 GMT -5
"Maybe there's nothing to worry about, the people the record companies are after, are the one's that have like 2,000 songs in a shared file that people download all day long."
I do have about 2000 songs, but they're not shared... Mainly for the fact that if I shared them all, everyone downloading them would completely hog my bandwidth and I'd hardly be able to use my computer...
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Post by cheyne fatale on Jul 24, 2003 12:31:19 GMT -5
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Post by Shrubby on Jul 26, 2003 17:31:55 GMT -5
It's stupid. Recording artists used to earn their money by touring, merch, working, etc. And then technology came along and they could spend a week in the recording studio then sit on their asses and watch the money flow in, all by using someone else's technology.
Now we can download their music. What else can we say but technology caught up on them? It was going to happen eventually. Now they'll have to actually work hard and tour to RIGHTFULLY own their money. Besides, only about 15c of each cd goes to the recording artist. It goes to the studio, etc. and all that money for a cd that costs LESS than .02c to make.
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