F*cking RIAA
 

Link:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ech_music_dc_9


Fucking RIAA :mad:...

"Music fans who wish to avoid legal action should change the settings on their peer-to-peer software to block access to their hard drives, or uninstall the software completely, he said. "

Begs the ?, of what can they do if you shut down the access except to specific IP's at certain times. All pre-agreed with the interested parties on an IM or Chat?

Technology will win... Lawmakers can't move as quick!

saw it on slashdot. I have to admit, I know I rarely download enough music to standout at all, I haven't done anything for a long time and when I did it was like 10 songs. I am still nervous now though... damn RIAA.

Can't keep my away from the pr0n though.

Anybody have a clue how legit the threat is? Are they really going to sue every "major" user? Are they that stupid?

look at it this way when they shut down one another pops up i mean
look its was napster now its WinMX, Kazaa, and ect. there are tons the only problem is with every one spread out u cant always find what u want like i might be on X peer to peer server but ur using Y peer to peer server.
My point is

I started a similar thread in the "Tilted Music" Forum.

I recently got rid of Grokster because of all the pop ups, spyware and unwanted program installations. I heard KaZaA is just as bad.

Frankly, I only used Grokster to download songs that I thought were novelties. I can live without it.

I remember when "free" music wasn't available and people went out and bought CD's (or in my childhood, LP's and cassettes). I don't like what it says about our society (and views on theft) when people fully rationalize the stealing of music that one would otherwise have to pay for.

kazaa lite, imo, is the best one Ive had yet.

even kazaa lite has spyware, meaning they are reading your hard drive's contents and selling your email to spammers....have a nice day!

im not afraid of the propaganda machine known as the RIAA. All talk no action to the small music traders. I can recall various threats where they promised to bring all offenders to justice none the matter how small they were infringing on the laws. Bring it RIAA

yeah, I just read this on MSN about it...

http://www.msnbc.com/news/931146.asp?0dm=H21BT

They say... (in the thread's one)
Yes, please ignore the fact that CD's are a fucking 15 dollars. Yeah Some CD's are lower, I got the new Godsmack for about 10 bucks the day it came out, but I digress.

Ummm... Actually this is one hell of a reason, it aint fake shit. When someone tells you of a band, its nice to Download it first and see if it fits your taste first.. THEN buy it. I put a poll up on 3.0 about this issue. Many people agreed they'll but the music if they like it.... AKA they downloaded to test it out.


Last but not least.. in my linkage, they say...
Really? People get tickets every day... and they KEEP giving tickets. Shit I got a speeding ticket going 15 over last year, Sure I went speed limit for about 2 weeks.... now i'm back to good ol speeding... So uh, if thats their analogy, and I just showed how its crap... what does this say about them?

OOOH QUESTION! Are they gonna give the money to the artists? I mean if they just sue, and the artists STILL don't get any money, then uh.... :D

The RIAA can kiss my hairy white ass!!! I hate them people...and the MPAA, too.

i get absolutely 0 spam and i don't have a special spam filter either.

Then it will be like before napster, back to private ftp's and the like and it will be hard to find "that one rare song" because your pool of friends does not have the same collection as millions of people all connected through one p2p app.

I RIAA Also decied a while back that ALL RECORDABLE CD'S ARE BEING USED TO STEAL FROM THEM! so they started taxing all recordable cd's 300% or somthing stupidly high like that. Dumb dumb dumb greedy bastards.

So I'm worth over 300 million to them. Good luck collecting it from my Family's income of 35k a year, plus the 90k of the house that we don't owe to mortgages. The two cars won't even get 10k if we sold them. Have fun getting .005% of what they seek and making a few thousand once they pay their lawyers. Maybe I should just be happy that someone thinks I'm worth something.

I used to download a buttload of songs, but as of late i just seemed to stop caring. I don't think that the music industry is down because of the downloading, it's just that all of the music being put out now sucks. And i also don't know how much of a threat this is, I'm just waiting to see the actual people that they grab for this, then they will have really grabbed my attention.

The last time they announced this type of action against users of file sharing programs their website was hacked into twice in 10 days. Something tells me they are soon to be hacked into again:D

The sad part is the artist only receives about .97 on every CD sold. My friend owns a couple of used record stores and about 50 times or more a week employees of the record companies and movie studios come in selling cases of new cd's and dvd's to his stores.......hmm I don't see them doing anything to curb those thefts:hmm:

Like most users of file sharing if I download a couple of songs from a cd and like it I will go and purchase it(from my friend of course;) ) but the thing that pisses most consumers off these days is paying $15.00 for 1 song and the remaining songs on a cd are usually SHIT!

What happened to putting an album together that included several great tunes??

Name one Zeppelin,Who,Jethro Tull,Bowie etc. album that only contained one song worth playing and the rest were crap?? I can't think of a one. Maybe it's me but most of the music put out today is SHIT in my opinion, it's like the movie Almost Famous when Lester Bangs tells William Miller he's there to watch the collapse of music as we know it.

Oh well......time to end this rant.......FUCK THE RIAA!!

Bands DO put out full albums of great songs. You're just listening to the wrong bands :)

I hope they sue me. It might be fun.

http://www.angryshirts.com/riaa.php

I wear my RIAA = Evil shirt proudly :D

The whole concept just bothers me. The RIAA have dug themselves so far into a ditch, and have distanced themselves so far from the consumers and somehow they think this will bring them back? Hell no. Now personally I don't know how the Home Recording Act works but i'm quite sure there is some sort of protection under that.

Kazaa claims their software has been downloaded 200 million times.

The RIAA plans to sue "hundereds" of file-swappers.

What do you think it takes to make the cut?

I just love how the RIAA seems to be totally unaware of the recession we're still trying to climb out of. They blame their plummeting sales over the last couple years to the "pirates" yet fail to note that the economy has been in the dumps during that exact same time period.

Someone needs verybadly to bring the RIAA to it's knees on this issue, and unfortunately it's going to take someone who can afford the legal processes to do it.

RIAA = Rich Idiots Against Artists.

Really, they pay money for us to listen to their songs for free on the radio. Why should we have to pay to listen for free on the internet?

Oh, right. Distribution. Well, remember that, thanks to the RIAA you'd do your favourite artist more of a favour by mailing them two quarters than buying their cd.

This is a really sticky issue.On one hand, people create music to share with others,and if they're good enough,they like to get paid for it. But if they are good enough that means they are getting tons of free exposure on the internet.I don't think the record companies have put that together yet,but if they have,it has saved them advertising dollars.

But then again,society and technology are changing as part of the natural evolution of things.If you write good songs and have some talent,you can make a living. Do I listen when musician's whine about not receiving royalties? I used to but I don't anymore.Just like I don't give a shit if 10,000 people are layed off from General Motors or Walmart. I do hope that the internet evolves to the point where the only music on it is the best of the best,but I don't think that will happen.

IMHO, the RIAA is a force that needs to be stopped. I think its totally rediculous that, in a democratic society, where millions of people use a service, that a company and its imps could take it down with a barrage of lawsuits (e.g. Napster). The RIAA is nothing more than a stupid, greedy, propoganda machine. Come on, isn't 15 Billion dollars in sales enough per year?
Face it, if the RIAA had their way, they'd be kicking in every KaZaa, Gnutella, WinMX, et. al user's door, arresting them and smashing their computer without a fair trial. I can practically see it now...

(Somewhere, USA)
A 16 year-old boy was arrested today for downloading MP3s. Under orders from the RIAA, a fully armed SWAT team broke down the door and arrested the boy and proceeded to destroy the boy's computer and all burned CD-ROMs. The teen's parents (held at gunpoint) were also then arrested and are charged with assisting in copyright infringement (for purchasing their son's computer) and are being forced to pay over 250,000 dollars in fines. The family is being held without bail. If they cannot pay the money, the family faces up to 25 years in jail.


LOL...the RIAA has definitely missed the 1984 deadline, but its good to see that they are getting back on track...haha

Maybe if they would drop the price on the damn cd's more people would buy them! There is a lot of stuff I would love to have but I won't get because it is fifteen to twenty dollars! It sucks! I would buy so much more music if they would just drop them to like ten bucks. The funniest thing is why are they not attacking the used cd industry? The is much more money involved with selling used cds than downloading, and they see not a dime. At least with some of the downloading, a few people go out and buy the cd's.
But when you have artists like the Rolling Stones that demmand an entire flloor of a hotel, you aren't going to lower your prices. Don't get me wrong, I am not bashin the Stones because I love their music. I am just sayin it is one big vicious circle and no one wants to give in. It sucks! I think it will get a lot worse before it gets better! It's not about the music anymore and that is a damn shame.

I used to be heavy into Kazaalite in the winter. No time lately. I have about 1100 songs. I think most people will still download, but not share anything. Then the selection of music available will suck. Then some new technology will appear and it will get better again. The software will make it so the sharers are completely anonymous and nobody will be able to find out where the songs are coming from or going to.

yeah... that'll be nice when it comes out... but in the meantime, the RIAA keeps screwing America. I'm used to be heavy into filesharing in general (getting anything I want off the net-programs), but I don't buy CDs (besides CD-R) because they're too dang expensive... the motherlocking media has become much too powerful, and it's just a matter of time until either 1. some form of a rebellion happens and the public wins (which, given nature, will happen eventually), or 2. the RIAA and the media win (i.e. break people, enforce censorship, interrogations, etc - all kinds of unconstitutional stuff). when that happens, I'm either going to be dead, or in another country.

i buy CD's from a few artists...those who i think are worth my money. otherwise, fuck yea im gonna download the songs instead of paying for them. 99 percent of the bullshit that they try and pass off as music nowadays isn't worth 15 bucks anyways

i gave up on kazaa about as quickly as i started... 50% of the songs i wanted were just loops anyways.

c_b

Quick question. Did you people buy CD's 5 years ago?

I ask because the cost of a CD has pretty much stayed the same for the past 12 years. CD's were $15 back in 1990 when I started buying them, and in some places (ie Best Buy and Circuit City) are now CHEAPER than they were before.

You people need to get off your moral high horse about he RIAA. Sure, there is a pretty big difference between the cost of the CD and the money that goes into a band's pockets, but much of that is because the band doesn't pay a dime out of pocket for recording costs and marketing (much less music videos). It's not like $1 is going to the band and $14 is going into the bank account of the music company's CEO.

I taught at a small college last year, and was appalled by seeing kids with big 50-CD carrying cases full of CD-R's....and not mix CD's, just straight up albums.

My feeling is that if you can't afford a CD, you don't deserve to have it, no matter what you think of the company putting it out. I can't afford a Mercedes, but that doesnt' mean that my hatred towards European automakers gives me the right to steal a Mercedes. It means if I want one, I have to save for it.

Stealing is stealing, music hasn't been public domain for years, so quit your bitching

I'm probably the only one on your side Derwood.I agree with you and have to wonder what the trade off for me will be when I release a CD.Being broke or getting exposure.Time will tell.

It is interesting how people whine because of the price of this or that until the very technology they so embrace comes back to bite their ass. I can't wait for all these people who download and share thousands of songs have a mortgage,a wife and kid's,bills,etc,..and the company they work for hands them the pink slip because of someones better technology puts them out of a job.But then they will be crying foul won't they? If people knew how many thousands of support jobs are being lost in the music business they might think twice.But they don't, which is why when they lose theirs jobs,I won't have any crocodile tears for them.What goes around comes around.

Exactly. And if these people can't afford a $15 CD, they probably shouldn't be able to afford a good computer and a broadband connection to steal the music. Or did they steal those as well?

I bought CD's "back in the day" and sometimes I wasted $15-20 on a real fancy reflective coaster. Back then I was real selective about what I buy and still managed to grab a few stinkers. Today, I can try before I buy and haven't been upset about a CD purchase in the last couple of years. :)

Quote:

I taught at a small college last year, and was appalled by seeing kids with big 50-CD carrying cases full of CD-R's....and not mix CD's, just straight up albums.

This is wrong. I think most folks just give a few songs a try and then go buy the album. Stuff like that just gives the responsible song swapping public a bad name.

Quote:

My feeling is that if you can't afford a CD, you don't deserve to have it, no matter what you think of the company putting it out. I can't afford a Mercedes, but that doesnt' mean that my hatred towards European automakers gives me the right to steal a Mercedes. It means if I want one, I have to save for it.

But you wouldn't want to invest $40,000 + in a Mercedes without giving her a once over and a drive around the lot would you? $40,000 or $20 it still manages to piss most people off when they "waste" money on a piece of crap :)

Absolutely. It's just easier to blame the "evil Internet" then it is to admit that the product is washed out crap or worse yet, embrace the technology and use it to their advantage instead of playing Gestapo on p2p networks.

i would agree with derwood and gibber, except for the fact that artists who became musicians for the money are worthless. Any good artist simply wants people to listen to and appreciate their work. Bands like metallica that would rather make their record label millions need to quit THEIR bitchin. They were good when they were small, but now the suck big hairy balls. Then there's the other side with someone like Dashboard Confessional. I've never once heard him on the radio and only once ever seen him on mtv, but everyone that i've ever talked to knows him...how do they know him you ask? BECAUSE THEY DOWNLOAD MUSIC. and because they downloaded music, they went to his concerts and bought his shirts. Any real musician would rather have a million people enjoy their music than make a million dollars of off it.

The record labels aren't losing money just because people are downloading. They are losing money because people aren't buying cd's...they're buying dvd's and video games and cell phones and all the new crap thats out there. They're buying the new stuff that they actually care about. That's why people are complaining about the costs of cd's, they got all of this more important stuff to pay for. But anyway, when 99% of musicians say it is wrong to download music, i'll stop...until then, I'm not listening to a word the fuckin RIAA says.

Make sure your music doesn't suck monkey balls and then you won't even have to worry about going broke....Novel idea huh?

This topic drives me crazy.

Just because you think somebody is overcharging for their product you think it is OK to steal it.

If you guys actually created your own product and then somebody was stealing it you would be the biggest complainers on the planet.

Stop being so selfish and think about what you are doing.

Art thrives on misery, when we look back at classical music, composers were lucky if they can get one piece of their work played, most of them lived in horrible conditions and look at the jems they produced...fast forward to 70's, early 80's it was the cold war and a total culture explosion and you know that the best music was always from artists that were stoned...so what happened now?

Glitz and glamour with always be associated with music, but before the artists set the trend, they came up with the smackin new cool lifestyles, now record industries make it so artists follow trends...just look at the whole skater scene, as soon as that got started there were tons of one hit wonders, followed by artists that shop exclusively at Hot Topic...there's nothing cool and original about artists anymore.

And the 15$ cd, it's just crap, i'd only shell out that money if the most of the music on it really had something good, and if they lower the price, i'd lower my standards. I mean I'd love to help someone keep their job but not if it means listening to cds that sound like they were pulled out of somebody's ass...that's nuts. If people had a job security based on sympathy of consumers...it would be the end of technology as we know it.

So at the end of the day, save money for music that's worth it, and the record companies really oughtta save contracts for the artists who really have talent and maybe they'd make money again and we'd still be happy consumers.

RIAA is the one's complaining right? Last time I checked they weren't the ones making the music. Sure, they like to regulate how crappy they are, but its the artists making the tunes...and no artists are complaining as much as the frickin RIAA.

Here's some record label math to show you just how much record labels screw artists over. (it's really long, but very informative...read it and know the truth)
http://dir.salon.com/tech/feature/20...ove/index.html

There's another 3 pages of this on the site...i didn't feel like lengthening the thread quite that much.

So there are two issues.

1. Recording artists are getting involved in extremely bad contracts with the recording labels.

2. Consumers are obtaining copyrighted material without paying for it.

Both issues need to be cleaned up and fixed.

Issue 2 is not justified by issue 1.

knowledge belongs to everyone and music is pretty much inluded in knowledge. im not stealing anything...all i am doing is giving a big "BITCH PLEASE" to the RIAA. albums should cost no more than the price to produce them.

i have more than enough money to buy cds; but i don't lie down like a beaten dog and take it

"Just because you think somebody is overcharging for their product you think it is OK to steal it.

If you guys actually created your own product and then somebody was stealing it you would be the biggest complainers on the planet."

lesse here.. 1. I know the RIAA is overcharging. try looking online for a few minutes, and you'll find all kinds of articles that support the artists, not the RIAA, which is screwing the artists almost as much as they (RIAA) are trying to screw the public. 2. it's not stealing. it's free exchange of information between 2 parties. if need be, people will go back to FTP and AIM transfers. nature finds a way. 3. Some artists create, then post their songs on kazaa/etc intentionally, because it's a d@mn good way to get publicity cheap. 4. most of the music put out today is crap. I might buy a CD if I want to support the artists (such as the LOTR soundtracks), or if I like the band (such as dc Talk), but I'm not paying 20 bucks for one bloody stinking song.

They shouldn't charge more than the cost of production? Are you high? Do you think there is a single product being sold in this country that is sold at cost? You think your car cost $20,000 to make?

The only products I can think of that is sold at a loss are video game systems. It costs more than $179 to make an X-Box, but MS more than makes up for it by charging $50 per game.

If you are talking about sharing non public domain music then you are a thief. Simple as that.

OK, so this is my first post on here and I'm probably going to piss a bunch of people off, but here it goes.

I have worked in the music industry for over 12 years. I have been an artist, an artist manager, a booking agent, a tour manager, a distributor, a record label owner and now I own my own record store. I've pretty much done everything there is to do in the music industry.

There are a lot of misconceptions in these posts about how much the artists and record labels make. Artists get more per disc than what you think. If they write their own songs, an artist can easily make $2 or more per CD sold. That is why it is so important to purchase the disc. Also, the record label doesn't make as much as you think. I'll break it down for you.

Most CDs are a $17.98 list price which I sell in my store for $15.99.
I pay $12 for that CD from a wholesaler.
That wholesaler pays around $9.50 for that disc from the label.
The label has to pay the artist their $2 from the sale of that disc.
The label also has to pay the manufacturing of about $.50 per disc and packaging
That leaves $7 for the label.
The label has shelled out about a million dollars to record, market, promote and distribute that CD. They have to recoup that money somehow. Record labels have staffs of thousands of people. They send out thousands of promo copies of those CDs for free (which not only costs them money for manufacturing, but also for mailing them!). They print thousands of promo posters and bin cards. They buys hundreds of ads in magazines.

You aren't all naive enough to think that you are discovering these bands all on your own are you? You found out about them through the marketing that these labels have done. These artists that you love so much wouldn't even have a chance to make a CD if it wasn't for the label signing them and putting up the money to record their album. And don't give me the whole "you can record your CD yourselfat home and distribute it on the internet" thing either. Do you know how many local bands record their own discs and never go anywhere? An artist needs the marketing power of a record label in order to be succesful.

I'm not saying that you have to be a on a major label. But an artist needs to focus on what they do best: making music. They need to leave the marketing and distributing to the labels because that's what they do best. And it costs money to do that.

I hate this whole "CDs cost too much" argument. CDs are the cheapest form of entertainment. How many of you paid $8 to sit through that 3 hour crappy Matrix movie? How many of you pay $4 for a beer at the bar? How many of you spend $6 on dinner at McDonalds? All of those things are gone almost immediately. $15 for a CD that you can have forever sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

Besides, don't pretend like everything else you buy is such a great value. When you buy a car, you aren't paying for the metal that it is made from. You are paying for all of the labor that went into making that car. All of the research and development. All of the design. All of the testing. Do you get it? It's the same thing with CDs. You aren't paying for the plastic. You are paying for everything that went into the creation and distribution of that music.

It just comes down to the fact that it is the nature of humans to take advantage of a situation if they have the opportunity. Nobody complained about how much an artist was or wasn't getting paid before the internet. Don't pretend like you care now. It comes down to the fact that if humans have the ability to get something for free (whether it is right or wrong) they will.

People feel like they are "entitled" to free music. Like it is owed to them. Guess what? It's not. Music is a creation by someone that deserves to get rewarded for it. You have no right to decide whether that person gets paid or not. If your boss told you that you were no longer going to get paid for working you wouldn't work for him anymore. Well guess what? If artists don't get paid for their work, you will soon have fewer songs to choose from on your favorite download site.

I could go on for days, but I need to close up my store and go home. I've had this store for 3 years and have never made a penny. I get my ass handed to me every day. I watch people go to Best Buy and get CDs for below my wholesale cost. I watch a person buy a CD and tell all of his friends right in front of me that he will burn them all a copy when they get home. But I keep doing this because I love it. I love it when a kid comes in and his face lights up when he buys that new CD from his favorite band. I love the conversations that all of us music nerds have about our favorite CDs. I love the debates over whose favorite band is the best. The people who shop here are true music fans. They want the packaging. They want to support the artist. They want to support the local indie store. They love the fact that they have their own personal music consultant. It's an experience that many young people are missing out on. My store is a place where I know all of my regular's names. I know what music they like. I call them at home and tell them that that rare out of print CD they were looking for just came in used.

Those days sadly are coming to an end for many indie retailers. Indie stores are dropping like flies and I blame thieving bastards that think completely about themselves. But then again, isn't that what America is all about...me...me...me.

Good post - obviously both heartfelt and informed.

It matters not if you piss people off, just that you speak to the issue and don't insult anyone personally. You did that well.

Thanks!

What really sucks is everyone has some really good points for both side of the issue.

Stealing is wrong, I totally agree there. I used to download a lot of stuff. Harder to find older songs and a lot of stuff I was interetsed in and never heard. I can honestly say though that I bought A LOT of cds because I actually got to hear them and see that there was more than one song that was good. I know a lot of people do not do this but doesn't it have some good qualities?

In the same respect though, cd's are expensive! There is nothing worse than hearing a song, you love it, you spend $15 on it to end up with basically a single.

There is one thing on this board I had a real problem with though. Someone on here said that "if you can't afford it, you don't deserve it". That is rediculous! How much do you even like music? I buy as much as I can, a lot more than most. When I don't have money for a cd I want, does that mean I don't deserve it? NO! That is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard.

The whole issue is one fine line and it seems like not enough people want to meet half way, or the wrong people do not want to meet half way.

Please someone tell me if I am nuts because I am not a tech type. I know a little but not a lot, but with the technology out there shouldn't there be some way that you could make a program that would allow you to listen to the music but not download it to keep or more importantly to burn? I can not speak for everyone but I think a lot of people would be happy with that. I definitely would I don't want to steal it but I want to hear it so I know if it is worth my hard earned money. That would probably improve the quality of cds also because the better the cd, and the more people that can check it out, the more the artists will sell.

Just no easy answers!

insider, thanks for the post from somebody who is close to the topic.

Sometimes I say things a little too harshly and I can offend people. Which isn't my intent.

i think this thread has turned to crap. you're either for downloading or you're not and I don't think that anything that anyone says is really gonna change somebody's mind, so it's basically turning into a fight. I don't think that we can come to a definite conclusion as to if its right or not, and I think the only people who can are the artists who made the music, and last I checked there's about as many musicians that are for it as there are against it.

I'm not gonna say if its right or wrong...I'm only gonna say that it shouldn't be up to the RIAA to choose. If an artist wants his music spread through downloading, I don't think its the record label's place to say otherwise...but on the same note, if an artist doesn't want his music spread through downloading we should respect that.

The argument that you download to preview the CD is somewhat faulty. You don't need Kazaa for that. cdnow.com has real audio clips of all the tracks on all the albums they sell for you to preview.

I'm the one who said that if you can't afford it then you don't deserve it. The wording there wasn't as clear as I wanted it to be. What I was trying to say was that a CD is a product with a price. That means that those who can afford the price can have it, and those who can't, can't. I don't feel entitled to an Escalade when all I can afford is a Neon...

I've gone completely to the Apple Music Store now...

I know it's not out for PCs yet, but I hope people are 'moral' enough (or whatever) to pitch a buck for a song they lick.

I think it's the best solution yet.

While I am a strong believer in downloading music to preview a cd before you actualy buy it I think that file sharing has showed us that the old saying of morals are just the fear of being caught is true for more people than you may like to think. I'm not saying that everyone who uses file sharing networks are wrong but many people do abuse them.

I've actually bought MORE CDs because of p2p sharing. I've checked out heaps of music that I might never have bothered with, and as a result, I've bought more music. Agree though, that the system is open to abuse - I know plenty of people who say they will never buy a CD again, when they can just download it from Kazaa or whatever.

I think Apple's music store is heading down the right path - offering people the chance to purchase single tracks that they like, at a price that's not terrible.

Even if I've downloaded a whole album, I will still buy it if I like it. (exception - CDs with crappy copy protection on them. I WON'T shell out just so the record companies can tell me how I can listen to the music)

Notice the key word here is should .

The video game industry is booming, particularly the non-PC platforms (PS2, X-Box, GC). Those games are terribly overpriced, and yet no one complains about THEM gouging prices, etc. etc. Why? Because at this point, you can't pirate X-Box games. Believe me, if someone figured out how to fileshare Metroid Prime or GTA Vice City, suddenly everyone would be anti-Sony or whatever and claim that stealing the games is justifiable because blah blah blah.

Just because you think you can rationalize the stealing of music doesn't make it right.

I thought I read one place that CD ALBUM sales are actually up from a few years back, but CD SINGLE sales just plummeted to nothingness. So that they clump these two figures together and you can now say that you are selling way less CDs. However, your album CD sales are actually up since file sharing took place. I will try to find this later.

When I bought CDs a lot I got a whole bunch of crap. I would hear one or two songs I liked and get the CD and then one more might be of equal quality but the rest just got skipped. That just sucked! Also, I know a lot of people got singles, but now you download that one descent song and save $4.

The RIAA should have jumped on the p2p bandwagon when the rest of us did. The Apple Music Store should have opened in 1999 or 2000, but they sat on a damned good thing and let the rest of us have a little power. They are going to have to kick and scream to get that power back...I think I hear them yelling right now.

Gariig

????? haven't you ever noticed that it takes 100x the number of people to create video games than it does to create music? music artists make money in so many other ways than cds, video game creaters can only make money from game sales

'

i don't know about 100x, but I acknowledge the efforts of many people. I'm just saying that people would justify stealing games too if they could be fileshared

Alright then, An artist should only sell his painting for the cost of supplies... the tickets to a concert should only cost how much it is for a singer to use his voice...

Now i could go on, but i just don't feel the need. Have you ever heard of PROFIT? Without PROFIT, one cannot LIVE. Notice this.. if they sell for the COST, then what money is LEFT to use to LIVE. See if they sell for the cost of it, then um someone is gonna be poor. I'm all for them selling it for more than cost, just not 20 bucks. Don't be ignorant, don't be cheap.

I'll download music, but mainly to find music that I like. If I like them, I'll get their CD when I have the cash to do so (and can find them), if not... well why the fuck am I going to keep the music on my computer if it SUCKS? you guys say you're gonna download cause it all sucks.. Why the FUCK are you keeping sucky music on your computer? Thats beyond me... aw well.... Flame.. er um... rant .. ummm..... Elaborate On ;)

art should be art, not business. as soon as it turns into a money making process, then it isn't art. it is called "selling out". if you guys think that everyone in entertainement should be raping people of their money then go ahead and think that way. im done with this topic

no profit = no income = starving artist

as someone who is an artist (I design lighting and scenery for theatre), I have to say that there is nothing romantic about a "starving artist". It's downright miserable and pathetic. Anyone who is an artist would like to make a living doing their art, otherwise you have to have another job, which takes time/energy from creating your art.

Damn so many good points going both ways ??? Tell you what, I think I'll just sit back, wait, and see how things evolve. It's only music and the music in my head is usually better anyway.

No matter what anybody says, I still don't think it's the RIAA's place to say if you can or cannot download music. It should be up to the MUSICIANS...but just like the RIAA, everyone here is forgetting the fact that many musicians WANT their music spread through downloading. And its mainly the small bands that are being threatened by starvation. These bands want nothing more than for tons of people to hear their music, so why should the RIAA not allow that?

A couple of points:

1. the RIAA, in theory, is supposed to represent the artists' best interests. Thus their lawsuits.

2. If artists WANT their music downloaded, they should feel free to post every MP3 of every song they have recorded onto their own website for free download.

Thank you derwood, now if you go back up and look at my long post about the record label math, you'll see that the RIAA basically takes the songs away from the artists by nabbing the copyrights...so even if an artist wanted to post his stuff on a website, the record label wouldn't let him because he doesn't own the copyrights to his own friggin music! Now many artists can NEVER get those copyrights back or if they do they can't give them to their family and they go back to the RIAA when they die! This is why the RIAA should be stopped. They are the ones stealing from the artists.

I steal the good and buy the best. Music is an art form, not a business. If an artist really loves to make music but can't get by on it, then they'll do it on the side while they work 9 to 5 like everyone else.

Before I got my computer and CD burner, I bought dozens of albums, none of which I feel have been worth my money. Since I've gotten them, I've downloaded or burned dozens more that would not have been worth spending money on. I've also bought every album I've found that I felt was worth my money.

Hell, I want to be a musician someday. Not because of the money, but because I love music and the way it communicates to people. If I have to work a normal job on the side to get by, so be it.

But these greedy RIAA fuckers make me sick.

The RIAA is a bunch of terrorists...I say we get the Air Force to start bombing the crap out of THEM.

Anyone who supports the RIAA is a huuuuge fat honking tool.

insider: if you happen to check back, would you be doriangrey (sp?) from the [H]?

IMO Apple is taking a step in the right direction. Once it comes out for the PC I plan on using the service (unless they jack up the price).
As for downloading music, I do download music. In my defence, I own the album for about 50% roughly. It is faster to download a song than rip it from .cda to .mp3. However, the rest of it is music i cannot find most anywhere else (in Rural South Dakota if it ain't Country or Pop, it doesn't exist) and have you ever tried finding Phil Ochs or Ty Tek on the internet?

Other than that, I tend to be stay out of it. Both sides have good arguements. Until another method comes out that is cheap and effective, the RIAA will be hard pressed to keep up with the geeks of the world.