singemonkey wrote:
Remember copying your buddy's records onto cassette? Remember how that meant that you didn't buy any records for yourself? Remember how it killed the music industry so that we don't have music any more? >☹
Yeah, but you had an inferior copy. Nothing changes the fact that it was illegal, they just chose (wisely) not to chase up individual users.
Having said that, of the hundreds of tapes I made from record library and friend's disks over the years, most are now part of my CD collection too. They want to give me trouble about my Floyd DSOTM rip, I'll show them three copies on vinyl and the four crappier quality "remastered for CD" versions I've got too. Then they can take the CDs back and give me a refund. With interest ?
A big part of the problem they have at the moment is that many people don't see it as theft, more as
payback for the years of substandard quality product (ah, the many hours of my youth spent with SA pressed records - trying to stop needles jumping from grooves during loud passages, trying to get them off the damned deck because the hole was too small or watching hypnotised as a brand new disc wobbled drunkenly with a hole more than a centimetre off-centre), or being forced to buy the same things repeatedly in different formats. There's also the knowledge that the companies have been ripping off the artists themselves for years. Don't get me started on the actual content of popular discs or the "loudness wars". As for the kids, maybe they just don't see any value to the music so they are unwilling to pay for it.
I think the solution in the long run is the artists themselves marketing their music - if people like it and like the artist, many will pay for the privilege and to support the artist. Look at the online cartoon communities, many of whom make good livings from donations or selling the original art and "member only" extras". Some won't see the value and pay for it but will download it anyway, so on the whole the muso will make money. I suppose it's kind of a return to the system of patronage, only this time it's not just the rich and the church who can afford to be patrons.
I wouldn't steal a car, or a handbag. But what about if, when you steal the car, it splits into two and you take the extra one, leaving the unchanged original to the owner?
It's obviously difficult to quantify, but if you're downloading it
instead of buying it (as many people are doing), they are taking a hit and you are stealing.
Here is a wonderful article by Peter DiCola on the economics of it all:
http://www.bothner.co.za/articles/econmusic.shtml
