Where do you stand on downloading music online? (Not Buying It?)?

Question

What's your position on downloading music from the internet?

I personally am on the fence on this one. I know that artists have a hard time out there with this, and that they need the cash and support. But, I also firmly belive that it's more important that the music gets out to people instead.

What do you think?

--Wow, Lots of great answers!! Thanks a lot guys :-]!

Answer 1

I must be among the few who believes in paying for the music. Sure, I get on YouTube and listen to my old favorites on a regular basis, BUT, I've also paid for those same songs. They are either on a cassette, CD, VHS, or DVD.

I'll continue to pay for what I want to hear. But, that's just the way I am. I can't answer for another person.

Answer 2

If I like the music, I believe in supporting the artists. The music is their product. If you steal any other product (try a loaf of bread in a store), you are guilty of theft. This is no different, except that it's easier to get away with it. That doesn't make it right. Think about what you do for a living (or plan to do when you get older) -- would you like to make less money because someone wanted your product or services for free?

What a lot of people don't realize is that most musicians are not mult-millionaires. Only the most successful are, and they are a very small percentage.

Long before the internet, the music got out to the people. And guess what -- in 1972 when I first starting buying records, it cost me 79 cents for a single. I can now buy a "single" through on-line downloading for $1. With inflation, it's a lot cheaper today to buy music.

Answer 3

There is a lot of good, free, legal music out there to download. Most of it is people you have never heard of, or shortened demo songs.

You can do some things that are a bit in the grey area:
- Burn your own CDs to MP3 (RIAA would argue that you really don't have the right to do this but I am not sure this would stand up in court.)
- Buy used CDs or borrow library CDs (which RIAA would argue they should get a cut of as well) and burn them. Burning CDs you don't own, like from a friend or the library, is technically illegal as well, but really hard to prove or prosecute.
- Record music off the air, either radio or streaming music, etc. This is supposed to be perfectly legal according to earlier rulings. Something about the relative unpredictability of the broadcast.

As far as illegal sharing goes... I know there are artists on both sides of this fence. The Grateful Dead have given blanket permission to record live at a concert or share their music- and it does not seem to impact their sales. Many artists are on record as saying that the agreements they have with their recording companies are totally unfair- thousands of dollars of royalties being withheld or not reported, unfair agreements concerning various aspects of the business, etc.

If RIAA ran a clean house, I'd be on their side. If they stood up for the artists and fought for fair CD prices, etc., I'd be with them 100%.

Right now... I think they are unfair, hypocritical, heavyhanded bullies that are destroying any goodwill they may have ever had.

The arguement of 'getting music out to people' is what the radio and music TV is for.

Personally, most of the music I download and pay for is purchased through sites like http://www.allofmp3.com- a Russian site that is technically legal as far as I know, but follows Russian copyright laws- so RIAA does not see a penny of it. I know this hurts the artists, and I am sorry about that, but an entire album only runs a couple bucks here.

On the other hand, I am not a mainstream music buyer. I only buy a CD every few months or so even in the peak buying periods, and rarely anything on the popular charts. Even when I was doing p2p downloading, I only snagged a couple songs a week or less, and never uploaded anything so I was probably pretty low on the radar.

What do I want? I want a system where the artists gets a better cut- the artists should be at least as rich as the producers, right? I want a system that allows me to buy a piece of music for a fair value in a fair format that I can use any way I want. I don't care if there is some form of protection to prevent me sharing it, as long as I can use it pretty seamlessly. I would prefer to buy the music 'clean', but if I wanted the lyrics, linear notes, or album art, that should be available as well.

Answer 4

I can remember back in the day when we would sit at the stereo with the cassette player ready to record the songs that we liked because we didnt have enough money to buy the album. LOL!! and the DJ used to talk over the intro of the song and we would be so mad....Just a fun flashback...Anyway back to the question, everyone has a use for music and I don't think anyone is getting rich off of downloading their favorite song. It is for their personal use, the artists do still sell albums and make lots of money off of concerts and tshirts. Have you seen some prices of concert tickets??? So I feel if people aren't abusing it for a profit then let them download and if they like an artist's tunes they will pay to go to the concerts and buy the artists memorabilia.

Answer 5

Music should be free. Think about it, why do we have to pay for music? It is well known that most artists make the bulk of their income from playing concerts anyways. The trick is that these money-hungry record companies buy the rights to the music, so we have to pay.
I say get rid of the record companies. We have no need for them. the take a product, and create artificial demand for it. Ask an economist, there is no demand for digital music, because it is an unlimited supply. No matter how many people download a particular song, it will still be available. And no matter how many people download music, there will always be musicians, don't let anyone let you believe otherwise.
Music was never meant to be of tool of elitist capitalists, but it is, keep downloading.

Answer 6

i agree with what you said about it being more important for the music to get out there however i dont believe that the artists need the money. they are already multi millionaires. however if i were in their situation, i would rather people buy it than download. so i am also on the fence

Answer 7

I believe in doing it legally.

(1) I buy and download stuff from iTunes. It's CHEAP. I even download movies and TV episodes from there.

(2) There are PLENTY of artists out there who believe that music should be freely given out. They have tons of sites out there that legally distribute their music for free. One of the BEST sites I have found for this is called Mixposure.

http://www.mixposure.com/

Answer 8

i think that artist can manage without owning a 4th house or a 5th car. i think if people get music in any way its good

Answer 9

It replaced into an i-tunes unique, yet for some reason its no longer for receive anymore. i idea it replaced into style of dumb... i had to receive it too!! lol you'll likely be able to discover it some the position on line, yet likely no longer "legally..."

Answer 10

I found a good review of this in a short limewire review here