Fenxy

To be honest I never get angered at the thought of music pirates, but it also something I don't encourage. I was always upset with the music industry for not trying to adapt to it ever. I respect artists who have grasped this concept and ran with it, while others felt the need to complain and try to fight something that you simply can't fight. It reminds me of people who don't use full RSS feeds because they want people to come to their site, yet really don't offer any compelling reason to do so.

Why should I buy a full album when 90% of it is trash? There are a ton of ways to make money and even more ways to spread your name. I would think that getting your name out initially would be more important than making sure nobody is illegally downloading your music. Napster has been around since 1999 and 8 years later the music industry still thinks backwards.

I was a huge fan of music piracy when I had no money and liked music anyway. Plus, in the beginning it was just too tempting, so easy, and when Napster first broke onto the scene we really only had mainstream music as an outlet for experiencing new music on a large scale level (to find indie bands back then, you had to actually live near a local record store or know someone cool).

But now that we can buy single tracks from iTunes, with subscription services and places like eMusic, plus the fact that I have some money to spare these days, I feel like $1 is pretty damned cheap for something I may listen to 1000s of times for the rest of my life.

When it comes to stealing music, what do you think about situations like The Beatles? It's my understanding that none of the surviving Beatles own their songs, which I might almost assume means they're not making royalties on them (I could be wrong about that, easily.) But if a musician isn't actually getting any $$ from the sale of a song, or maybe the entire band is dead or something, would you feel less bad about stealing the song?

Scrivs and clicknathan, you both make a very good point. Music consumers have changed, but the industry hasn't. Record companies most probably have realized that, but they are afraid to take their chances with modern music consumers, who are to some extent music pirates and to the highest extent music lovers.

It's also true that iTunes and music subscription services offer a very nice alternative for the old revenue model, but I just have this feeling that it is not yet the final answer. There will be still major changes.

Cicknathan, you gave a very good point in the end of your comment. What if the musician doesn't get any money from the sold songs. The reason for this might be that the artist/band has sold the phonographic copyrights (sound recording copyrights) and the actual songs copyrights (composition & lyrics). If the artist/band does not own either of those, there is no money rolling in from song sales, radio plays or anything else.

To be honest, I don't feel like I'm stealing the song if I illegally download it, I really don't. Maybe it's the environment - maybe if there was a police officer coming to my door everytime I downloaded music illegally, I would feel different. But nobody says anything during my "crime". After I've done it there are always some people, who complain about that kind of behaviour, but it doesn't effect anymore. I really have to think this one more carefully, very interesting question.

I don't agree with it. It's stealing, plain and simple. It doesn't matter if the music industry is not offering the music in the way you want to buy it, it doesn't make it ok to do.

I'm a music lover, I listen to a lot of music and I enjoy it. You to call yourself a music lover, and no doubt listen to music a lot and enjoy it, but I have a question, if you are that big of a music lover why do you not support the artist? Why do you not want to show your support and desire to listen to their music and for them to make more music by purchasing their albums?

I think of it in two ways. When I like an artists album I buy it because I like to support the artist. I would rather they had another album sale from a fan, than a fan listening to their music having downloaded it illegally. They might not notice one album sale, but at least I know I like their music enough to buy it. Aside from that it's stealing. Plain and simple. I wouldn't go into a shop and take a bar of chocolate off the shelf and walk out again, in principle it's the same thing. Just because the technology allows it doesn't mean we should do it.

Yes, music piracy is stealing, but in most cases it is also very effective music promotion. Now that we have peer-to-peer and BitTorrent networks it is much easier to find new music. As a consequence of music piracy I have found many new artists and bands that I like a lot.

I think many music pirates want to support artists/bands they like, and they probably do so by going to concerts and buying merchandise. However, music piracy brings really serious issues for artists/bands that don't do live concerts or who are dependent on their record sales. I definitely agree that in the future there must be a way (or many ways preferably) for recording artists/ bands to generate revenue through the use and distribution of their music.

If we all would download music illegally there would be a chaos. Personally I find the idea of music subscription models just brilliant and spiralfrog.com has also a very nice business model for people, who don't want to pay for music - they let the advertisers pay it.

I have swung two ways on this issues. To begin with, in the late 90's and until the introduction of iTunes, I was downloading alot of individual tracks illegally and still buying alot of physical albums. With the introduction of iTunes, I have pretty much stopped buying physical albums, and I also almost exclusively bought all the music on my ipod from iTunes. I will admit, it did 'feel' better at the time.

However, a few years down the line, I can say I buy the odd track from iTunes, but most of the new music that gets onto my iPod comes from websites and connected friends. Why? Because to be honest, most stuff now leaks online way before it hits the shops. I should be honest and buy the tracks when they are released, but I honestly can't be bothered sometimes.

I don't think record companies are quite as stupid as we make them out to be either. I think they are embracing the Internet, and understand the new model. Artist as brand, music as promotion, as opposed to the music being the product.

Case in point, the new Britney Spears single. Now fan or not, you have probably realised it's out there, and you can't deny that Jive (the label) haven't been clever about it's promotion. I had the single on my iPod about the same time it got it's first radio airing (via certain shady sources). Dishonest you may think, but not when you consider that I have passed the track on to friends, got it played at local clubs, and given it a little hype.

That's what it's all about. There is no doubting that Jive have leaked the song on purpose, to build the hype behind the Britney comeback. And it's working.

Once upon a time, free prerelease CD's would be sent out to known DJ's to try and hype a track, these days they're passed around between everyone on the net, to build familiarity and a following. Once the label have that, they can sell other products - like sponsorship deals with artists, merchandise, special edition album releases, concert tickets etc.

I don't think 'pirating' is wrong, because I honestly don't think music has any value anymore. The record labels don't want to openly admit this, because the individual album is still their biggest source of income - because they are RECORD labels and their whole business is based around the sale of physical formats - but they are slowly building a new business for themselves. In 5 years time I imagine that buying music, for anyone, will be a special event. The domain of record collectors and enthusiasts only.

Another thing I also find strange about the whole music piracy issue is the fact that IFPI (International federation of phonographic industry) is concentrating more on stopping music piracy than understanding it. Before you can change something you usually have to know the reasons behind it. I'm talking about the psychological factors of music piracy. Why do we engage in the piracy behaviour?

If you try to search answers to or researches of psychological aspects of music piracy there isn't so many results. By understanding the motives behind the actions you can have much more influence on the matter.

i used to buy cds when i was younger, never do it anymore, 90% of my music is pirated, and im fine with that.