File Sharing is Killing Music!
Jul. 10th, 2003 01:34 pmGood rationalization for file sharing on this blog.
Frankly, in my circles, it's better to be thought of as a thief by the artist-cheating, crap-peddling, Monty Burns-run recording companies than be thought of as a sucker by people you know. (RIAA, and many people's moms, would ask "if everyone was shoplifting, do you have to do it to?" Never mind that copyright violations are a different kind of law than theft, more similar to a breach of contract where mens rea is irrelevant than a criminal deprivation of property rights.)
Time will tell if reasonable prices for downloaded music and a drop in CD prices will bring people back to contractual honesty with recording companies.
I buy used CDs from used record stores, eBay and half.com, and yard sales, usually for $1 (some yard sales) to $8 (major artists at used record stores). I'll buy indie releases from the artists at shows for $8-12. But I'll be damned if I'll buy a CD for $18 at a conventional record store. It's time RIAA realized this, and starts cutting their prices. (Not cheating artists out of royalties would be another good thing to do.)
Frankly, in my circles, it's better to be thought of as a thief by the artist-cheating, crap-peddling, Monty Burns-run recording companies than be thought of as a sucker by people you know. (RIAA, and many people's moms, would ask "if everyone was shoplifting, do you have to do it to?" Never mind that copyright violations are a different kind of law than theft, more similar to a breach of contract where mens rea is irrelevant than a criminal deprivation of property rights.)
Time will tell if reasonable prices for downloaded music and a drop in CD prices will bring people back to contractual honesty with recording companies.
I buy used CDs from used record stores, eBay and half.com, and yard sales, usually for $1 (some yard sales) to $8 (major artists at used record stores). I'll buy indie releases from the artists at shows for $8-12. But I'll be damned if I'll buy a CD for $18 at a conventional record store. It's time RIAA realized this, and starts cutting their prices. (Not cheating artists out of royalties would be another good thing to do.)