File sharing doesn't hurt musicians

[Plectrum72]

You're right, I'd considered that, and it does make it tougher.
Should we lock up the coffee shop hacks, and the wannabe's playing for draft beers at the local bar? The guy playing violin in the subway?
Obviously not. But so far, it seems that people feel there's enough value in the music concert/club experience to pay for it, in some cases a lot, in spite of all the radios and iPods and torrents and fools on stools.

I don't see why you would lock up the hacks playing for beer. There was no copyright infringement way back when. Musicians performed each others stuff with or without permission, but you still had to pay for the performance or a hacks reproduction of a performance and you couldn't take it with you unless you learned how to play it yourself.

I could care less about someone's copyright on a recorded song; however, I still think the musician(s) should be compensated for their time/effort/service provided (you did enjoy the music, right). Hence the reason for selling recorded music in the first place...to receive compensation.

 

[Stumbo]

I wonder if the OP is into house sharing, food sharing, etc. I'll need those because I'm not making any money from my recordings due to file sharing.

Seems to me, to be philosophically consistent, if you're into file sharing, you should be sharing all the rest of your stuff with everyone else.

 

[David Jayne]

And yet orchestras have been closing down all over the country for years.

Sadly, that type of music just doesn't pack 'em in like Lady Gaga.

 

[AaronVonRock]

I wonder if the OP is into house sharing, food sharing, etc. I'll need those because I'm not making any money from my recordings due to file sharing.

Seems to me, to be philosophically consistent, if you're into file sharing, you should be sharing all the rest of your stuff with everyone else.

If you can provide empirical evidence that you have lost money directly due to me downloading music, I will gladly cook you dinner and let you crash on my couch the next time you are in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

[David Jayne]

I wonder if the OP is into house sharing, food sharing, etc. I'll need those because I'm not making any money from my recordings due to file sharing.

:

Yes, that's why.

If you can provide empirical evidence that you have lost money directly due to me downloading music, I will gladly cook you dinner and let you crash on my couch the next time you are in Bangkok, Thailand.

Lol.

 

[lokikallas]

Without addressing the lack of DRM in the current format, any discussion about digital music sales is just hot air.

 

[FerK]

Don't be naive, Loki. DRM can be as easily circumvented as it's implemented.

 

[Kmonk]

File sharing is illegal. It does hurt musicians financially. People have a right to be compensated for goods and services. There is no difference between stealing music or stealing anything else.

 

[jumblemind]

Musicians have traditionally made their money through live performance. This is the way it's been for hundreds and hundreds of years. There was a very brief period of time in this where technology made it possible to make lots of money through recorded copies. Technology created it and technology took it away. We're simply going back to the way things used to be and the way they will be for the foreseeable future.
We don't have to like it, but that's the way it is.

Finally, more perspective than just what the last 3/4 of a century has provided. We need a wealthy patron to fund our art or else travel from town to town entertaining people, like it's always been.

 

[lfmn16]

If you can provide empirical evidence that you have lost money directly due to me downloading music, I will gladly cook you dinner and let you crash on my couch the next time you are in Bangkok, Thailand.

If you are going to be a thief and steal from your fellow musicians, at least be a man about it. These excuses and justifications are just weak.

If you take something without paying for it, your a thief, there is no grey area.

 

[lokikallas]

Don't be naive, Loki. DRM can be as easily circumvented as it's implemented.

There's always somebody who will, but it works to keep the masses in line.
It's easier for me to buy a movie than than to copy it for free, so I'll pay.

I like the radiohead model. It definitely weeds out the poor musicians.

DRM, people.

 

[3star2nr]

It doesnt hurt musicians it reduced record label profits thats y they get butt hurt

 

[bass12]

It doesnt hurt musicians it reduced record label profits thats y they get butt hurt

Ten points lost for being both naive and using the annoying term "butt hurt".

 

[David Jayne]

There's always somebody who will, but it works to keep the masses in line.

I can't think of a good argument against that at the moment.
But the old itunes system was a real PITA. I'd hate to see that sort of strategy return.

 

[lokikallas]

I can't think of a good argument against that at the moment.
But the old itunes system was a real PITA. I'd hate to see that sort of strategy return.

That's the problem. Apparently the "free market" has decided the old iTunes model was the wrong way, but at least they tried. The proverbial cat is out of the bag now. Adapt and survive I guess, but it sounds like a lot of whining artists when nobody even mentions the impact of removing all DRM from music files.
I feel that most people aren't thieves, most people aren't particularly honorable, people are just lazy and will procure music however it is easiest.

 

[rocksmoot]

I think it's been distorted by corporations and lobbyists.. Why should I pay sony for a dead mans music? (Michael Jackson)

Um, because they own it? They paid big bucks for it too.

 

[rocksmoot]

It's really pretty simple. Stuff I create is mine and I have chosen to not let you to have it unless you pay for it. I can make this choice because the stuff I create is mine, and I am a free person able to make this choice.

Because I am free, I am able to enter into contracts with others to help me sell the stuff I create. Because selling my stuff entails a lot of work, I allow them to make a profit. If I don't like the deal, I am free to not enter the contract.

You are free to purchase my stuff or not, as the mood strikes you. You are not free to have my stuff without purchasing it. If you obtain my stuff without paying me or some company I've authorized to sell it for me, you're ripping me off.

Employing technology to get my stuff without paying me doesn't make you part of the brave new hip generation of culture heroes, it makes you a scumbag thief who should be arrested.

To my knowledge, that is still the law today. I don't care if you don't like it, and I don't care about your disdain for corporations and I don't care what you think I ought to do. It's my stuff.

 

[funkytown]

It's really pretty simple. Stuff I create is mine and I have chosen to not let you to have it unless you pay for it. I can make this choice because the stuff I create is mine, and I am a free person able to make this choice.

Because I am free, I am able to enter into contracts with others to help me sell the stuff I create. Because selling my stuff entails a lot of work, I allow them to make a profit. If I don't like the deal, I am free to not enter the contract.

You are free to purchase my stuff or not, as the mood strikes you. You are not free to have my stuff without purchasing it. If you obtain my stuff without paying me or some company I've authorized to sell it for me, you're ripping me off.

Employing technology to get my stuff without paying me doesn't make you part of the brave new hip generation of culture heroes, it makes you a scumbag thief who should be arrested.

To my knowledge, that is still the law today. I don't care if you don't like it, and I don't care about your disdain for corporations and I don't care what you think I ought to do. It's my stuff.

That was the record labels business plan too. Most of them are gone now.

 

[jason weatherby]

Times have changed ! Today even my steady full-time job at the local buggy whip factory looks to be a bit threatened.

 

[avvie]

That was the record labels business plan too. Most of them are gone now.

No, it wasn't.
Do you "free music" people not get the irony that the reason you started this movement was because the records companies weren't paying the artists and were stealing the fruits of their labor?