Illegal Downloading: Is It All Bad? - Comments

Bands barely even make any money off of CD sales, it's their record labels that do. Bands make the majority of their money off of concert sales and merch. So if these sites increase their listening base, and therefore increases their concert ticket sales, they are actually profiting from it.

If I where you, I'd delete this...and to everyone who admitted you where breaking a law and enjoying it?!

Your going to jail.
They just gave a woman 10years I think, for stealing music.
Better pray you don't get caught.

Yes, it's bad...you don't want someone coming into your home and stealing your income, now do you?

[b]DEY TUK ER JEOBS!!![/b]

......

I know this is off the subject, but that picture was really... slutty looking. No offense

I agree.
If it wasn't for those downloading sites,
I would only have like 100 songs on my ipod hahah

[b]AnjiE![/b] So NOT true. The bands you're talking about are the mainstream ones. The majority of bands are still unsigned, working multiple jobs to keep a steady income, and/or living with their parents...either that or the whole band is staying in one house. Most bands can't afford to lose record sales. It's the majority of their income, unless they sell out all their shows - which usually isn't the case unless it's a mainstream band.

Illegal downloading should be your LAST resort when checking out an artist. YouTube, Last.FM, PureVolume, and MySpace should always be the first places you check...if the songs have been released. If they haven't been released or will never be officially released, then I'll support illegal downloading.

Unless the band is Cobra Starship. They don't care if you download their officially released stuff, so I won't either.

I agree with the article but then again you can't be a judge for others.
I test out bands by hearing them on youtube, last.fm and then as a last ditch effort, Frostwire.
If I like them I'll buy their album (and in some cases, their entire disocgraphy) but if I don't I've saved myself some time and money.
I got to a lot of concerts and a lot of these bands I never would have heard of if it wasn't for that sampling.
I'm all for illegal downloading and sharing of NON-RELEASED SONGS. My favourite bands, Green Day and The Living End have upwards of 30-50 rare, unofficially released songs that you can't find unless you get them illegally and I support that.
But there are also people who abuse illegal downloading by JUST downloading them from Frostwire or Limewire or whatnot and never going out and purchasing the bands album or supporting them.
The way I see it is if you like their music you better pay the band in some way, whether it be a cd, a shirt, a concert or just telling everyone you know about them.

i see what you are saying, but at the same time, if you want to listen to a song to see if you like it, you can just look it up on youtube, you don't need to illegally download it. Then again, if illegal download sites like limewire were causing such a problem, i think they would take bigger action on trying to get rid of them, like arrest the owners of these sites or whatever. personally, i don't think these sites are all that big of deal, but i'm just saying if you want to listen to a song before you buy it, you don't have to use these sites- that's what sites like youtube are for.

Meh, i download music... but if i like the band i buy the album - to give something back, ya know? I see your point with this but it will become another illegal thing if the law do something about it - its such a little offence that people will be downloading music even if it is illegal... So unless you want to change the law i'd just let people get on with it... Not your problem right?

It is hurting the artists.

It would be fine if it were just used for "sampling", but it's not. If you want to sample music, go to the artist's myspace, youtube, or internet radio. There are a million alternatives to stealing.

I find that iTunes has broadened my musical tastes. I look at what they suggest for me and what other people have purchased and then listen to the artist on youtube before buying thier album.

I don't know, I'm a bit iffy when it comes to this topic. It was a good article though, and an interesting read. What I have heard though, is that a lot of bands don't make money from CD sales anymore, because of the record labels. It's really the touring that does it from them. I'm not saying it's right, but I'm not saying it's wrong. I think this is an argument it's best to steer clear of.

v. Some bands don't hve the resources for mrkeing, o theirown. For all ofthe bands tht a lot of pople talk about being unknown, unrecogized, and amazingly talented on Mibba...that shoul be obvious.
Yeah, ifa band ts popular enough, thyey mightget noticed by a record-label, but they might not. If they don't, it's up o their own marketing-skills and resources (money being an issue; how can you advrtis and spread your name if you can't afford to make a decent demo (or enough copies to send to labels), or make merchandise and the like to get you name out there?

Somewhere around 1-in-100,000 bands; not a mde-up statistic, mind you, get the notice and atention of a label. At the point that the labe markets them, I agree, it's of their own abillities and talen that they become famous, or fail hard and go out of the publics eye.

Sill, it's not fair to assume that even a fourth of the bands that deserve it will even get their name out, just because they're good. I can think of qite a few bans that wee practicaly liing ou ofa van before they made it huge enough to have excess money. The industry is based on commercialism, which mean money and resources are a big fucking deal.

Also, it might as wll be brought up, how many people will actually go out to buy albums of those bands. There are quite a few who will, but if pirated ROMs and software is any sign, no matter how muc someone lies gam, program, or possibl musc,many of them won't go out to spend heir money on something othey could otherwise get for free. There are people who will, but not al of them who claim thy will...actally will.

Exactly! I've made the same argument myself countless times. Why go buy an album that you might not like when you can sample it somewhere first, and THEN go buy it.

Also, that way we filter out the bands that actually arent good. If a band's good enough, then people will buy their stuff, go to their concerts, etc. If they're not, then they fail. thats all.

Well, that was nice. Had this great reply typed out, and Mibba wouldn't send it.

Anyway, in shortened-terms: It sounds like you're trying to justify illegal-actions, and sort of lie to yourself.

Not all bands income from their music is excess; in my town, that prides its self on the local music scene, there are many musicians who, while they get booked by clubs and shows, are homeless, or somewhere close to it.
Bands like that actually have fanbases here; people who will see their show often. Many of them enjoy their shows, but will never buy the album; they can just go home and download it.

There are bands, the ones that are more mainstream and commercialized, that don't need all of the money that they get from album sales, but considering all those unknown bands you speak up that are getting recognition? Unless it's just a side-project and they're really well-off, which is not common, they [i]do[/i] need the income. They appreciate their fanbase, but that doesn't change the fact that they're having difficulties just getting by.

Yeah, most artists will make music because they enjoy it, but imost of them also are also aware that they could use the money, were they able to get it. p2p programs and websites greatly fuck with those opprotunities.

If you yourself don't have the money to support them, it's not that horrible to download the music, but if you're just going to do it because it's more convenient, you can't even begin to say that you're doing what you can to support the music.

The Music-industry is based on capitolism, and so are people's lives. Unfair, maybe...but that fact is worth more emphasis than you're willing to give it.

If you think the bands are good, then they deserve to earn money for their efforts. They put a lot of time, energy, and money into those albums. Do you think that for all effort and passion they put into their albums, it is ok to just download them for free? That is beyond disrespectful. It would be the same thing if you wrote a novel, and people just downloaded it off the internet to read, without buying it. Do you think that's ok too?

And it sounds to me like you are just making up excuses for stupid things.

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. Morals can get you a long way.

I agree with this. If I like the band, I'll go buy the album and all that paraphernalia (concert tickets, merch etc) . I'm not going to spend $30 on a CD of a band I've never heard of.

Yes but in the end the producers, labels etc still get a cut of the money from the concerts, merchandise and everything else. Besides they wouldn't be making as much money if all of these bands weren't as famous, and as I said downloading is one way that bands become bigger, in return making veryone else more money.

Firstly, not only the bands live of the money from CD sales. The producers, labels and many more are trying to make money too. And it [i]is[/i] stealing. You can always go and listen to songs on youtube, last.fm or other sites if you don't know the bands. My local CD shop lets me listen to CDs before I decide on buying them. And if you only like one song, you could always [b]buy[/b] the song on the internet.
It's immoral and disrespectful.

Everytime someone says how illegal downloading, I think of that South Park episode where Metallica, Britney and Blink-182 went on strike because their songs were being downloaded for free, and they all had to live in semi-luxury.

Haha, i've thought the same thing for a while. Most bands are rich enough that it wouldn't hurt them too much anyway.