If you pirate music, you're downloading communism!

[Swartz, John A.]

> I am very willing to buy from a band's web site, or someone like Atomhenge
> who doing such a good job, but I also feel that I've been ripped off time
> and again by record companies.

Agree.  It is, however, not possible to set up a system by which people are "willing to buy from" because they don't feel that they are being ripped off from.  People seem to feel that because the record companies have ripped them off (and I agree that we have been), that they have the right to download and copy music illegally.

> 
> Worst of all is iTunes, where you don't even get anything physical  for
> your
> money, but Apple have made billions from marketing this con.
> 

Hey, I've spent hundreds of dollars from the iTunes music store - all music that I could have gone to a store and purchased on CD if I wanted to.  Apple didn't put a gun to my head, and I've gotten lots of music that I wanted at a reasonable price - and as long as I take care of my electronic copies and back up my files, I'll never need to find those particular songs likely ever again (unlike when I first had them on vinyl or 8-track, then cassette, then ANOTHER cassette when the first one wore out, then CD...).


> What are you 'stealing' if you download an MP3?  You don't get the CD. If
> you buy the CD, you only seem to own the CD itself. If you lose it, you
> have
> to buy it again, so you don't own the music.

You are "stealing" from the people responsible for creating that music in the first place - YOU don't have a CD, but at the same time, the artist (and yes, I know the record companies take a huge share, perhaps ripping off the artist, but again, I don't think that's a legit argument for stealing music) doesn't get his due share of the sale of the CD you would have had to purchase if you didn't download the file.  Oh, and I know people will argue that they never would have bought the CD in the first place - so is it o.k. to steal an expensive car because you couldn't ever afford it and would never buy it anyway?


> There are many angles to this. Not just is it, or is it not, theft. Perhaps
> people buy CDs because they have been able to listen to the music first,
> for
> example. There is no guarantee that everything a band produces is worth
> buying-- you don't get refunds. CDs themselves are outmoded technology.
> MP3s
> and Apple's format are poor lossy copies of an out of date 16-bit CD
> format.

And how do you want your music produced?  64-bit recordings on Blu-ray?

> 
> Some people have a rather more intelligent approach. Take Trent Reznor, of
> Nine Inch Nails, for example. He has given away an entire album on his web
> site, The Slip. He still made $1.5 million from it because people like me
> liked it so much they bought a physical copy (in 5.1 surround/ 24 bit).
> Martin Atkins of Pigface has said that you have to get used to downloads
> and
> tour more. DJ Spooky (aka Paul Miller) gives links to download sites on his
> web site! Maybe he wants more people to listen to him.

I'm all for new and innovative ways to do this - but the fact that some will give away their music in the hopes that people will buy more does not mean everyone who ever signed an agreement with a record company to distribute their music agreed that people could get their stuff for free.

> 
> The very rich such Bono whines about his music being sacred. TBH, they
> haven't produced anything worth downloading even for free for years.

Your opinion.  Sales of U2 music in the past few years (both CDs and online) would suggest otherwise.


> It is not as simple as stealing or not. Have you never taped a TV show? Is
> that stealing too?

I think this falls under "fair use" - essentially making a back-up copy, if you are taping a TV show that you can receive.  Distributing it would be another matter.  

My 2 cents...

John