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Goafer

The big filesharing debate

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BBC news

 

So what are people's view on this? Hopefully this won't descend into "Piracy is for arseholes" and "I get stuff free LoL!!1!".

 

The best thing I've heard an artist say about downloading music illegally was David Draiman:

 

This is not rocket science. Instead of spending all this money litigating against kids who are the people they're trying to sell things to in the first place, they have to learn how to effectively use the Internet. For the artists, my ass...I didn't ask them to protect me, and I don't want their protection.

 

 

I was discussing it at work and someone mentioned when Radiohead allowed people to pay whatever they wanted for their album. Whilst some people would take the piss and pay a penny, there would more than likely be thousands of people who wouldn't normally have bought it at full price, but would spend a couple of pounds to get it, hopefully balancing it out. I'd quite like to find out what profits were like on that album.

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a lot of people fail to see the good side of it. if it wasn't for illegal downloading, i never would have discovered all of the bands that i would later end up spending hundreds of pounds on (merchandise, tickets, music etc).

 

i wish people would just shut the fuck up about this (i dont mean you). people like lily allen should be grateful that people are listening to them in the first place, seeing as they dont even write the music. but seeing as they don't, they should shut the fuck up about people downloading "THEIR" songs.

 

simply put, file sharing is not going to stop. get over it.

Edited by or else you will DIE

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Not gonna lie, I download things frequently. It's just so easy to do and it's right there and accessible, and when it's that easy to do, I can't help myself. That's not to say I don't buy anything, though. If it's something I know I'll like I'll buy it. I used to torrent games all the time but that's gone way down recently, too. I'm starting to think that the downloading of music is wrong and I might stop doing it soon, if only because I now work at HMV and have a different outlook on how these things work. If it weren't for people buying music, I'd be out of a job.

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quick aside (I'll get back to this after a good sleep it's a decent thread)

 

the radiohead thing didn't work. The band have said they wouldn't do it again.

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a lot of people fail to see the good side of it. if it wasn't for illegal downloading, i never would have discovered all of the bands that i would later end up spending hundreds of pounds on (merchandise, tickets, music etc).

 

Another quote from David Draiman:

 

[i'm] Very positive about the internet, Napster. I think it's a tremendous tool for reaching many more people than we ever could without it. When you release music you want it to be heard by people...Nothing is going to do that better than Napster. I can't tell you how many kids have come up to me and said, 'I downloaded a couple of tunes off Napster and I went out and bought the album.'...I don't really make money off of record sales anyway.

 

 

I don't download illegal stuff, but I don't have any moral objection to it. I just like having proper copies of stuff. I'm a hoarder. Plus songs are a pittence on iTunes, so it's easy and cheap to get songs legally. Plus I have no need to get pirated DVDs/Games. I'm in a fortunate enough situation that I don't need to, I can afford the real deal.

 

I think things like Spotify and to a lesser extent YouTube are brilliant. Free legal music that allows people to sample unedited music before deciding to buy it. The music industry needs to pull its head out of its ass and adapt to the internet instead of just concentrating on record sales and lawsuiting everyone.

Edited by Goafer

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napster? is this guy living in the year 1998?

 

also yeah i use spotify and youtube for music aswell, and if i REALLY like a band or artist or want it on vinyl or something, i'll buy it. i don't see how spotify / youtube is any better than torrents and the like, other than the inability to put the music on your mp3 player.

 

thanks to spotify though, i dont feel the need to DL illegally anymore so i dont do it.

Edited by or else you will DIE

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Too busy to reply in full, but a few quick things

 

Trent Reznor has told Australians at his concert to steal his music instead of paying the ridiculous Aussie prices. I think he's done it twice (back when he was on a label)

 

There is also a well written blog that I'll get a link to later that speaks sense.

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I'm all for legally downloading stuff. If i hear a song i like, it is usually on the radio or a pub jukebox and i will usually pay the money and download the song.

 

The only time i download illegally is when i can't be asked to look for the song legally or if it isn't out over in the UK yet. For example, Bon Jovi's new single "We Wern't Born to Follow" (i'm a fan of this bands work) i did everything i could to download this legally, but as it wasn't out in the UK (not until October) and i love the song as well, i had to download it from Frostwire (a file-sharing program). As soon as it becomes available in the UK, i will legally buy it.

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I will admit I downloads stuff too. It may even inspire me to buy stuff from the artist suppliers themselves.

 

But this whiny bullshit is mainly because they get paid a £X million contract and then don't get the sales they want. Greedy fucks. I have no doubt the distrubutors and etc feel the same. But we're not fucking made of money...

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I will admit I downloads stuff too. It may even inspire me to buy stuff from the artist suppliers themselves.

 

But this whiny bullshit is mainly because they get paid a £X million contract and then don't get the sales they want. Greedy fucks. I have no doubt the distrubutors and etc feel the same. But we're not fucking made of money...

 

Correct, well most of us ain't made of money.

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I've just reread the article.

 

The image:

Lily Allen, Tinchy Stryder and James Blunt have joined forces against piracy.

Who?

"Pop stars including Lily Allen, Gary Barlow and James Blunt"

 

Lily Allen is a whore who has ridden on her fathers' success into the limelight, and I am one to have bought one of her albums. But I have no doubt she's pulling a proper baby toys out of pram scenario.

 

Gary Barlow, I have to say, I am amazed he hasn't made a proper name for himself [in a sense]. He wrote a shitload of songs for Take That, was the lead singer thereof, yet got given fuck all mainstream fame. Yet Robbie Williams was spunked upon many times.

 

James Blunt, I can understand him getting behind this. But the simple fact is noone buys his material not because they download it, but because he's shit.

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Patrick Wolf used Bandstocks for his last album, a system where fans can "invest" in the production of an album, and get bonus/exclusive content. Also helps fund the touring etc. This was his response/way of battling internet piracy.

 

However, that only appeals to diehard fans of whatever artist is using Bandstocks.

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James Blunt, I can understand him getting behind this. But the simple fact is noone buys his material not because they download it, but because he's shit.

 

:bowdown::bowdown:

 

I'm glad someone else finds him crap. I think he sounds like what i believe is a cross between eating course sand-paper and being drunk at the same time

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So no more Lily Allen albums? Can't say I'm that fussed and her quitting it probably a good move tbf... whether she meant it or not is another matter, because as you said Eevil she is indeed 'full of shit'. :heh:

 

------------------------------------------------

 

RE: Radiohead, I didn't download their album but instead chose to purchase it in physical form and it was worth every penny, it took me a little longer to fully appreciate it though in comparison to their earlier albums but it really is brilliant and it's a shame that they didn't make as much from it, this is probably why they are now only releasin EP's for the time being :sad: but it's probably for the best, for now I guess.

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I download things simply because I currently can't afford them (except for TV, but that's because I'm impatient and I don't see anything wrong with it as it eventually gets shown on TV here eventually) and therefore wouldn't be buying it if I couldn't download it anyway. When I can afford stuff I will buy things.

 

Actually, there will be quite a few albums that I will be buying once my debts have gone that I wouldn't have even heard of if it wasn't for downloading.

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The problem for music is that there's really no incentive to pay for downloads over doing it illegally. The received product is exactly the same whether I pay or not. Perhaps that new LP thing via iTunes will give some incentive, it's things like that, giving the people who pay something better that will go some way to sorting this out.

 

Even if they could immediately stop piracy it wouldn't give them quite the boost they think anyway. Most downloads are of things people would have no desire to purchase in the first place.

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Plus songs are a pittence on iTunes, so it's easy and cheap to get songs legally.

 

I think that's the main problem for me - they don't cost a pittance, an album from iTunes costs just about the same as a regular CD, and you don't get the feel of a hard copy with the artwork and all that (their new vinyl LP thing is just as crappy).

 

All the middlemen should be removed so that the prices drop, and drop by loads. I'd like to see 10p per track sort of prices. If Russian sites can do it and make money then so the legal ones should be able to too(maybe add a bit more on so that the artists get a bit of money). But if the days of musicians becoming mega rich are over then I'm glad because I don't think anyone should be mega rich.

 

The problem for music is that there's really no incentive to pay for downloads over doing it illegally. The received product is exactly the same whether I pay or not.

 

And sometimes it's a better quality download from the illegal side of things. Lossless FLAC files are out there, and downloads aren't even that big.

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The problem for music is that there's really no incentive to pay for downloads over doing it illegally. The received product is exactly the same whether I pay or not. Perhaps that new LP thing via iTunes will give some incentive' date=' it's things like that, giving the people who pay something better that will go some way to sorting this out.

 

Even if they could immediately stop piracy it wouldn't give them quite the boost they think anyway. Most downloads are of things people would have no desire to purchase in the first place.[/quote']

 

I find you can get a better quality single with purchasing it legally than downloading it illegally/free

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I find you can get a better quality single with purchasing it legally than downloading it illegally/free

 

You're not doing it right.

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I download stuff that I wouldn't buy.

 

I would and will and do buy Linkin Park albums, but wouldn't be caught dead paying £10 for Tinchy Strider (which I downloaded) he seems quite content with his glistening ring (he'll let you hold it if you're nice)

 

So yeah. Music and TV shows. TV shows I do because I'm not waiting ridiculous times to watch things, having to avoid spoilers and having the risk of it being spoilt for me anyway etc.

 

When Heroes was shown a few days after the US I didn't download it. Thats what they need to do really. But yeah.

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I used to download music illegally but once I got my iPod that stopped. I put all my CD's etc on to the iPod and have used iTunes ever since. I'm not a big fan of modern music however, so for me iTunes is perfect for getting a lot of older music legally and in great quality.

 

The only CD's I buy now are the monthly Doctor Who Audios from Big Finish, even though the physical copy is a pound of two more than the iTunes version I'm a collector and like to have them sitting with my DVD's etc.

 

I never did, and never will, download movies (the only TV show I downloaded was the recent Knight Rider - the pilot movie and a couple of episodes - just to see what it was like and then I watched it on Sci-Fi when it was broadcast in the UK several months later) as I do believe that hurts the industry and DVD's are that cheap nowadays anyway. And if it's a film that's yet to be released in the cinema, well it goes without saying it's better on the big screen anyway.

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