Whats the point in putting effort into music if its just gonna be downloaded and bootleged?

Question

I remember back in the day, if i really liked a song, i would have to either wait for it to come on the radio, the music video, or BUY THE CD.

Nowadays, you can download an entire cd off the internet, or if youre just looking for 1 specific song, you can just download it on limewire or something. I think this is ruining the quality of music, the artists arent trying anymore, nor making any money.

Answer 1

Artists make like a nickel for the sale of every CD bought,mind you,YOU,the consumer pays the $11.99 or more for the CD.YOU pay everyone involved,the retailer,the wholesaler/distributor,record company,lawyers,manufacturing.

This downloading skips the middleman

If your really good,people will attend your concerts

And why should you buy the whole CD when you like 1 or 2 songs off it?!

Answer 2

I remember back in the day when if you heard a song on the radio,if you liked it,the only way to hear it again was to go out and buy the Record on vinyl.
Although I had a cheap cassette radio recorder and used to record off the radio in the late 60's and early 70's..used to like to record the DJ's..but they always talked over the songs.
I think that the fact that people download music is really not all that bad,because I will tell you why.
Musicians use the number of downloads to find out how popular the music really is,as in gauging the number of sales of the actual cd's.
Musicians today make money on radio play,concert promotion tours,tv appearances to promote their tours and new cd's.
If you really like the music,you hear off a download,usually the download is not of high quality and true lovers of the music are the ones that will actually go out and buy a cd ,just to say they own it ,and take personal pride in the fact that they can play it whenever they want,in their car,home stereo etc.
I wouldn't go as far as to blame the quality of lyrics or music on the fact that people download the song off the internet either.
Music is not of high quality simply because there is a lull in the music industry right now,much as there was in the late 80's and early 90's.
Music is constantly changing,rap is slowly dying out,and Hip Hop /Dance Music is making its way back into the mainstream.
Music is a reflection of society ,much like it was in every generation ,society is not a reflection of music.
Our society right now does not really feel like singing in our era of terrorism and warfare.
Maybe when America feels better about themselves our music will reflect that,and not because of "free music downloads".

Answer 3

If you don't consider music an art to be accomplished for it's own sake, then your music wouldn't be worth listening to anyway.

Artists don't make money from cd sales, that goes to the record company for the cost of the recording. Only when a cd sells past the cost do the artists make any money. Artists make money on tours. The record labels are the ones who suffer from cd sales.

Answer 4

Artists are making more money than ever. People are downloading songs to see if they like the artist and then buying cd's.

The RIAA is so full of it when they claim that piracy is costing them money. They made the same claim about people recording songs off the radio.

Sure, some people are bootlegging, but this promotes the artist and tends to increase concert sales and other merchandise.

Answer 5

theres an episode of south park called christian hard rock. stan, kyle and kenny protest the illegal downloading by refusing to play their music while cartman is trying to sell out the christian music industry. a bunch of bands join the protest, and it turns out they were all in it because all they wanted was the money. stan decides that it really doesnt matter that people are downloading the music, but that they should just be stoked that people are listening to their music.
as a musician, i really dont care how people listen to, or really if they listen to it at all because the best thing about playing your own music is the feeling you get when you do. its even better when people listen to it, but not a prerequisite. when bach died, the only people that knew his music were his sons and like 3 students, but now he is generally accepted as one of the 3 greatest composers of all time with mozart and beethoven, but he wrote until the day he died, just because he liked to write.
people who care so much about everyone downloading their music are probably just doing it to get paid.

Answer 6

i agree. the internet is the worst thing to ever happen to the music industry (and possibly, society as a whole)...