Illegal Downloading

I hate it with a passion because I'd much rather buy the cd. The cd helps with the music industry that has been suffering so much.

when i saw paramore Hayley said she doesnt care if we buy or download shes just happy that her music is making kids happy

the used just want people to hear their music, they dont care about the money,

bands should be in the music business for the music; cause the kids buy their merch and shit. their music should be free i think.

Bert McCracken:

bands should be in the music business for the music; cause the kids buy their merch and shit. their music should be free i think.

I hear exactly what you're saying and, to some extent, I think you're right. However, the music industry thrives off money, it's what it needs to keep going. If every band were in it for free and their music was totally free, they wouldn't make too much money at all. And, since we all need to work and money to survive, a lot of the big bands we hear now, most probably, wouldn't be here.

I know music should be about music but, when money's involved, it is a motivation to be involved in the music industry and who can blame that?

^Exactly.
Also, it is not only the bands who get money when a CD is sold. The people who help bands get their music out there (The record company, for example) recieve a sum of money, which in turn helps them to get more good music out there.
Also, going into ecomnomics a little bit here (we discussed this in class) if too many people turn to downloading illegally, there's less money to go round, which will inturn effect the ecomony of music.

One thing that you have to remember is that generally the record company gets anywhere from 70-95% of the cost of actual cd sales, and that the artist makes their money from concerts and merch.

I don't see anything wrong with downloading music. Burning cd's is illegal- it violates national copyright laws because there is a copy out there that no one got paid for. we ALL do that, and no one (that I know of) has been arrested of it so far. Honestly, just download what you want. There isn't anything wrong with it!

I like buying the CDs more because then I can play the CDs pretty much anywhere I want. In cars etc.
Plus, it really bummed me out when I lost everything on my computer and all my downloads which i downloaded legally got deleted
But, I agree. Bands should be in it for the music, not to earn big bucks.

However, if they make a job of it, at the end of the day, they need money. It's not a case of being in it for the music, it's like being a docter, but not expecting pay because you are in it to help others.

I buy CD's, because I love having the lyric booklet and the cd with the art and stuff. Yeah, I might pay more for it, but hey.

I might download some music though, except a lot of ID sites give you viruses.

It all depends on your own code of morals. I do what I feel benefits me, without the need to justify it to others.

i think that illegal downloading is fine as long as you don't download like every song...i download a few songs...... then buy the abum...

Bert McCracken:

i also believe its good because if you hear a song on a radio from a new band and you hear a few other songs you dont like but you only like that ONE song. its a waste of money buying the whole album when all you like is one song.

which is why you can buy single songs from places like itunes ect.

Right now the music industry, (particularly major labels) is going belly up because of illegal downloading. Here are some ideas that might help it adapt to the coming storm.

1. Accept that illegal downloading is going to happen whether you like it or not. Illegal downloading is like masturbation, whether people admit it or not, everybody does it. I know people that don't have a single legally bought album in their coffers. However, nobody is going to want to download any of your music legally if your method of persuasion is slapping them on the wrist. By establishing CD burning restrictions, putting your music in a nonconvertible, space hogging, format, and publicly making a big stink about the issue you are only hurting yourself, as well as becoming the butt of everyone elses jokes. Remember this, usually when we give CD's to our friends it's to recommend your artists to them so, later, when they come into town, we can bring our friends to the concert and that's one more concert ticket for you.

2. Give incentives for us to buy your music legally. The (only) reason why people buy overpriced CD's nowadays is for the lyrics sheets and album art. By offering such things in an electronic format for a cheaper price online, you are giving us a reason to buy your music because you can't get such things through illegal downloading. Also, illegal downloading is risky and/or time consuming. Usually it's done through sites like Limewire, which have music that is often virus infested (one destroyed my Zune, that's the last time I ever used Limewire) or through downloading each track individually from obscure sites (usually from foreign countries) using usually innocent tools such as RealPlayer. If you offer your music on your myspace or band sites for a cheaper price than iTunes (which would still give you the same amount of money or more because you wouldn't have to pay Apple) people will be more likely to download it from your site.

3. Promote up and coming bands. Although we may not show it sometimes, teenagers have morals or at least some semblance of them. We are less likely to steal from bands that are poor and struggling than from the superrich, whiny rock/rap superstars that usually bitch about illegal downloading. If you line up your newest attractions, who are often young men in their 20's with lots of sex appeal, and have them say things like "please don't steal our music; we have to eat" we're more likely to take it to heart. Often, especially as most young bands are more likely to be made of Millenials, they might not want to do this because they illegally downloaded (or pirated CD's or whatever.) However promoting them will still bring your message across. It will make you not seem as greedy as other labels, that prefer to advertise their latest cash cows and will make people be more likely to buy their (and your) music. Also, as music is diversifying, you will have more artists from various genres to make money off of.

4. Promote your music in general, even if it means giving it for free. We are more likely to buy music if we've heard it first. Then we know we aren't just waisting money. By allowing us, to listen to your artists' songs and the entire songs, on myspace or other sites, gives us more of an incentive to buy your music. This is also true of advertising it on sites that play music for free such as projectplaylist, spiralfrog, and purevolume. If your band is already known but has a new album coming up, offer a free sample of some songs on the album along with a T shirt or other form of merchendise.

5. Don't resort to outdated tactics that make your selection of music more narrow minded. Right now, music is often made so it can be judged by the amount of radio plays and whether it gets on MTV or not. With youtube, myspace, and free music sites such as the ones stated above, this is laughable. It drives your artists to appeal to the lowest common denominator and, lets face it, when music isn't all that great, nobody wants to buy it for a price inflated by fame. Instead of promoting your Fall Out Boy, 50 Cent, Kayne West, Jonas Brothers knock offs, insist on music that's actually good.

and this one's for the artists themselves:

Avoid signing onto major labels. Although many are already implimenting a lot of the steps I just mentioned, they are still, at heart, run by greedy executives who will squeeze every last bit of money out of your pockets and try to change you to get you on MTV and played 10000000 times on the local pop channels. (Why is my music next to Fergie and Chris Brown on Star 101.5???? I wanted to be alternative!) Indie labels, run by people who aren't in charge of media conglomerates, though not always perfect, will be more likely to give you freedom of choice as they aren't also in charge of TV channels, newspapers, radio stations, and their garbage music that they will force you to be an opening act for. They will give you more room to be controversial, to talk about social and political issues no major label would let you get away with talking about, and to be yourselves. Also, some artists have succeeded with self-promoting or minimal involvement on labels of any kind. One that comes to mention is MC Lars. He succeeds by doing nearly all of the things I've mentioned above.

Simple and Clean:

which is why you can buy single songs from places like itunes ect.

There are tons of songs though, on iTunes, (usually the best ones of an album) that are 'album only'. I've run into that problem quite a few times.

All those things really are great ideas and if record labels went through with them I probably would buy my music more often. What really prevents me from buying things online though is that I don't have a credit card of a paypal account or any of those things. I'd be perfectly happy to go to a store and buy a cd, it's just that they're so expensive.

There's also a lot of music I listen to from other countries that I can't find anywhere, unless I where to buy it online, but with shipping costs and all that it would be way too much money. That's normally the kind of music I end up downloading, is foreign artists that are too obscure in the US to be selling their cds here.

howrie:

when i saw paramore Hayley said she doesnt care if we buy or download shes just happy that her music is making kids happy

I like that attitude. Not everyone will have it, of course, but I think it's commendable.