Piracy poll

[googe]

Just curious how common it is to pay for music these days...

[Xtrema]

Music industry should get use to that album sales is a thing of the past. iTunes helps move some singles but all music should be consider loss leader to concerts and tours.

[BigMass]

I see it as a revolution in the music industry and the eventual death of mass commercialization of music. Some of the best music in the world was composed before record contracts and multi millionaire musicians. Much better music because they created music for the love of it, not the love of money. Musicians making tons of money on concerts and playing live will always be there because there is no replacement for seeing your favorite band play live, but making billions selling sound on a disc is coming to an end

[toyboy88]

If I can't get the song easily, then just go ahead and buy the song on iTunes since they usually have it.

And other CDs if i'm a big fan of the music, I still but the actual CD itself.

But one or two songs = yeah....

[TeamBestBud]

Most CD's now-a-days are 1 or 2 good songs and the rest of its all crap. Whats the point of buying a full CD to listen to just those 2 songs?

[Super_Geo]

Originally posted by BigMass
I see it as a revolution in the music industry and the eventual death of mass commercialization of music. Some of the best music in the world was composed before record contracts and multi millionaire musicians.

Nicely put. However, it's not even the 'artists' that make the bulk of the cash, it's the handful of higher ups in the juggernaut that is the music industry that make the majority of the coin.

And the term artists is used loosely. I will refuse to call people like Ashlee Simpson and her twat counterparts musicians when someone else writes their songs and lyrics and all they are is a faceplate for a commercialized product.

I say the more piracy the better, and the sooner these music conglomerates tank the better. The Internet is a powerful tool for true musicians because it removes distribution overhead -- the reason they had to turn to record companies in the first place. It's expensive to produce a CD by the millions, wrap them all in fancy plastic cases and ship them to the thousands of music stores across the country. But if people are just buying songs online, all that they need is a good recording studio and word-of-mouth can take care of the rest (look at Arcade Fire... they were never mass marketed but became huge due to word of mouth).

Anyway, here's to hoping.

[cityhunter2501]

I own only 3 cd music that I purchased with my own money.

but then again I dont listen to much music anyway.
regular radio is good enough for me when driving.

[hjr]

radio is gay and probably for the past as well. in the long run radio stations need to do something drastic to keep their listeners...

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by TeamBestBud
Most CD's now-a-days are 1 or 2 good songs and the rest of its all crap. Whats the point of buying a full CD to listen to just those 2 songs?

This is pretty much my justification for downloading music. Nowadays very few artists are really putting out anything good. It seems that everyone is using the same cookie cutter recipe and a lot of stuff sounds the same (within their respective genre, of course). If an album is truely good beginning to end and doesn't get stale quickly, I have absolutely no problems purchasing it even after I've downloaded it.

The same thing goes with movies and shows. In fact, most movies that have been coming out look so boring, I can't even be bothered to download it, and yet I spend a lot of money on buying DVDs for movies and television shows I've enjoyed in the 80's and 90's.

And I know a lot of people feel this way too, so it's not piracy that's killing the entertainment industry. It's the entertainment industry that's killing the entertainment industry.

[LuxCars]

I feel bad doing it, but its just so easy and nice to my wallet.
And im not gonna say this to stur up trouble, but honestly they make lots of money already, with their concerts and events that they show up to.
Its the difference of having a 5 million dollar house to a 8 million dollar house...why would you even need it if your one person.

[snowboard]

i download something and if i like the artist i go buy the cd.
i still buy CD's alot, but i also download alot....

[googe]

I guess it depends on which bands you're referring to. There are a lot of misconceptions people tell themselves to justify it though.

Most bands do not make their money from touring. Most actually tour at a loss, and breaking even is considered good. If theyre signed to a major label, the label fronts them the cash to do it, and collects on their debt via their record sales. Depending on the contract, these can be negotiated separately, so the artist is still in debt, but they can sort of just not pay and get away with it.

Its not even uncommon for smaller acts to pay to be on the bill, in hopes that they'll get enough recognition to generate their own popularity.

If you buy music, the artist gets screwed, because the labels hijack it all anyway, and youre supporting their corporate machine that is ruining the business and paying their lawyers to sue everyone etc.

If you dont buy music, the label cant even screw the artist because they arent profitable, so they dont support their tours, drop them altogether, and keep signing more and more lame top 40 manufactured for the masses music, because at least they know its profitable.

Damned if you do, damned if you dont :)

Im not sure if I buy the "I dont buy anything because its crap anyway" argument. Most people say that yet they'll listen to the song hundreds of times. Unless you download it and delete it right away because it sucks, you're obviously enjoying the work. That must mean its worth something?

[403Gemini]

Ill download a cd, listen to it, if i enjoy it, i'll buy it to support the artist.

if there is only the 1 single i like on it, forget it

edit: that said, i buy about 30-40% of the music i listen too. If i wasted money on every cd i download, i'd be fucking broke and have a collection of shitty cd's to show for it.

[spyce]

i usually download the album first
then if i find that there are a good amount of tracks i like ill end up buying it to support the artist

[Euro838]

I think the majority of people are of the consensus that if the product is good, no one minds paying money for it. Even if the price of a CD is $20+, people will shell out if 80% of it they'll enjoy over and over again. I am sure that EVERYONE (including myself) has been burned by wasting money on CDs that have 1 or 2 good songs and the rest can barely be given the status of crap. Waste enough money on this stuff and you'll start to feel justified that the industry owes you something and downloading is the way to go.

Personally, I think the sound quality on a CD is much better than any ripped version. One thing that I think they(music industry) should do more here (which is common in Asia) is to combine CDs with a DVD of the artist performing live or music videos, etc. It provides a better package that is more than just a CD people can download for free.

[hellraiser456]

back in the day i used to buy all my music. this was back when buying a cd or tape meant you would like most of the songs on the album. now aways however. im lucky to find 2.

i think that it is a very good point that there are just too many faces with out talent out there now a days. i would never buy a cd from Ashlee Simpson let alone i would be hesitant to download it.

but now a days its so easy to download music. i remember when it all first started and if you wanted a song or band that was anything other than mainstream (which i listened to of rare stuff) you were stuck going out and buying the cd. let alone back then most of us had 56k modems and lousy dl speeds it could some times take minutes even hours to get your song. now with things like limewire..where you can get virtually anything ( it has yet to not find something for me). it beats driving down to the store and praying they have what you want in stock. For a while i got into ordering cds from amazon simply because i was frustrated with going to the stores and not getting what i want. after that i just said the hell with it and i download it. i mean if you have a good internet connection you can actually get songs downloaded and ready to play in under a minute. takes me longer to put my coat on and start my car. even things like i tunes and all the other mp3 purchasing sites...though easy to use...are still IMO not as easy and just downloading from limewire.

This is bad for the music industry because its not like you have to know a guy that knows a guy to freely and easily download music...you simply get limewire and go...you start downloading to your hearts content...and because its so massive...the odds of getting caught are less than that of winning the lottery. and when they do sue...its usually some young girl downloading some spice girls song and she doesn't know any better.

i like to compare this to the world of drugs. you simply can't stop it. you destroy one program and two more just like it ( usually improved and manage to find some way to bend the law against it) will pop and it takes a couple of days...if that for all the downloaders to find and be back on there downloading sprees. the music industry ( particularly the ones that sue) are in extreme danger of losing out. i mean even the most loyal law bidding citizens will "convert" to downloading a percentage of their music.

not only that...but cds get scratched..broken damaged lost...whatever...where as digital music on your computer can easily be replaced if some how damaged...but otherwise...it can never be physically damaged.

The only reason i buy a cd now is to get the quality of it. they simply sound better than an mp3...but technology being what it is i bet they will soon surpass that and bam...you have a whole industry threatened simply because people are just to lazy and cheap ( i am one of them)

sorry for the long post

[ninjak84]

Pay..... for ... music....?

Someone might have to explain the concept to me again.

[finboy]

buy cd's and download

[kerry]

I still buy all of my cds. I'll always buy cds. The only time I will download something is
if my CD is scracthed or lost.