An Opinion on Music Piracy
Tuesday, June 19 2012 @ 05:04 PM CDT

My brother sent me a very thoughtful article regarding music piracy written by David Lowery, an artist who seems to be aware of the ins and outs of the music business.

I wanted to share it because I, admittedly, took part in illegally downloading a lot of music... reading this article reasoned out the wrongs in what I did. I feel ashamed... but now I leave you with the link to the article:

The Trichordist: Letter to Emily White at NPR All Songs Considered

It's a bit lengthy. But it's worth it.

Re:An Opinion on Music Piracy
Tuesday, June 19 2012 @ 05:48 PM CDT

Great article, with a lot of interesting commentary by some recognizable music-industry types. Thanks for sharing it!
I already gave up on file-sharing services years ago out of guilt, but am sometimes tempted to relapse... this will definitely help keep me on the straight and narrow.

Re:An Opinion on Music Piracy
Tuesday, June 19 2012 @ 09:53 PM CDT

it is true file sharing killed the music industry

in past days musicians worked for the king right? i'm not sure

I think music as business model to make money must have been a late 20th century phenomena. the heyday is evidently over

i have always made music just for fun and I always will. if I did get money for doing so I might feel differently. I know I did play in a bar band in 1986 for $50 a night and I hated it.

as far as destitute artists killing themselves a whole lot of wealthy artists have too. both abject failure and phenomenal success seem to be detrimental to sensitive musician types.

napster was fun and i downloaded 500 songs. many if not most I had owned on vinyl cassette and or cd. or I have purchased since

seeing as how we no longer seem to "own" digital stuff but rather and end user license to avail ourselves of it to me if i owned the hard copy or did at one time I feel I own the license. at least that's how i rationalize my perceived theft.

I remember well the "home taping is killing music" campaign. I also remember paying 20 bucks for a cd!! I got a check from the class action suit -- the record companies colluded to price fix. they didn't admit it but they paid.

as bad as things are it was worse in the late 60s for artists -- they got drafted

Re:An Opinion on Music Piracy
Tuesday, June 19 2012 @ 09:55 PM CDT

while the overall point is valid the author descends into preaching and distorts his facts or excludes those he doesn't want to mention. I couldn't make it but part way through his smarmy article.

We were told that CDs were cheaper to make than the record albums they were replacing which would then allow us to buy more. Reality is they are cheaper but instead they came out at $14.99 - 18.99 when were paying 6.99 to 9.99 for albums. And instead of coming down in the decades that have passed since, they remain at 14.99 to 19.99 and even old cds from the 70s bear these prices. Its utterly ridiculous. A hollywood film that cost $100 million to make can be had for 4.99 a year after its release. The greed from the record companies is as palpable as the shit they try shovel down our throats.

I buy cds when they are on sale or cheap. I refuse to pay the outrageous prices they usually want. I download music but if I like it I will buy the cds when possible. Just bought all of The Eden House after trying them out.

All in all music business needs to change its ways and it simply refuses to out of greed. They're too much like microsoft. They fight every attempt -look at what Apple went through to accomplish things. And the music industry makes even more money. Artists are now able to sell direct through their own webpage or itunes and tell the studios to shove it.

Hell, by the music business thoughts you couldn't even make your own mix tape and playing it for someone else? Debtors prison.

Re:An Opinion on Music Piracy
Tuesday, June 19 2012 @ 11:05 PM CDT

what bugged me about the author's stance: the money i spend for internet access and computers is used for lots more things than just music (and, no, i don't pirate tunes). that was not considered at all. a poor argument there.

some of the rest was compelling, but overall i'm not convinced. the whole world is struggling with the impact of digital data. it's not just music. it's software. games. movies. very soon, 3D printers are going to make physical objects "pirate-able" (is that a word?)

maybe they're wrong

Re:An Opinion on Music Piracy
Tuesday, June 19 2012 @ 11:21 PM CDT

speaking of games from what I see they have supplanted music and movies for the young person's choice of where their entertainment dollars go

furthermore they seem to be pushing the limits of technology faster and further. what they are doing in the gaming world nowadays is truly advanced and from what i see breathtaking

the kinect technology is cutting edge and I believe will change our day to day interaction with technology in the near future the future is awesome.

Re:An Opinion on Music Piracy
Wednesday, June 20 2012 @ 01:40 AM CDT

i thought it was bollox...for many of the same reasons mentioned by DW and Smokey VW

the girl who had 11000 songs downloaded...i wonder how many of those tunes she has actually listened to and if she wasnt able to download...how many she would have bought because she really wanted or needed them (either for 99 cents a pop from itunes or as part of an 18.99 cd)

i think the fact that she was 'able' to download has zero relevance as to whether she would have bought them if that was the only other alternative

Re:An Opinion on Music Piracy
Wednesday, June 20 2012 @ 01:44 AM CDT

and like dimm witness mentions...very few people can actually make money from making music...i have never been able to....have always spent way more on producing music (either in a live band on the gig circuit or making music on my computer)

however...it always feels that somebody, somewhere in someway is making money from the efforts i make (even on macjams - i am sure simon and miguel make money from macjams...i know i dont...but that not the reason why i participate)

(if that makes sense)

Re:An Opinion on Music Piracy
Wednesday, June 20 2012 @ 06:54 PM CDT

Good on you Bird. Thanks for the link.

Re:An Opinion on Music Piracy
Wednesday, June 20 2012 @ 08:03 PM CDT

Quote by: particledots i think the fact that she was 'able' to download has zero relevance as to whether she would have bought them if that was the only other alternative

Oh really? Let's take away the fact that she works at a radio station and therefore has access to a large library.

Here is a person who cares a lot about music. If there was really not the possibility of downloading, don't you think she would have bought more than the 15 CDs she claims to have paid for now? I think she would have paid for hundreds of CDs.

There's plenty of arguments to attack in that article, but the fact stands that people are getting material or immaterial benefits from the work of artists who are not getting paid, while if you'd ask them, they'd probably not be OK with that.

Victor.