What are your thoughts concerning digital piracy?

I am quite opinionated in this subject matter. Not saying that I do download, but honestly I think things need to change. The model that the current system is based on does NOT currently work any longer. And to make things worse, people who do download 12 songs are being fined 1.5 million dollars! That is completely ludicrous!

I will always support the local artist struggling to survive, but the bigger companies need to change.

"I will always support the local artist struggling to survive, but the bigger companies need to change. "

Pretty much this. ^

I just can't feel sorry for bigger artists being pirated. They lounge in their 3-story mansions and drive Humvees to their next party, then whine about not getting more money to buy their private island. It's ludicrous.

Local artists and indie developers of games, they're the people to support! Without our money, they'll die off against the big-wigs of the industry. I'm more than happy to know that my money actually means something when I buy an indie game for an up-and-coming dev, such as Amnesia, from Frictional Games. Look at the game Machinarium. So many people pirated their fantastic game - due to the fact that it's easily shareable, no DRM or anything - that they had a pirate amnesty and were selling the game for like $5 or something. I bought a copy and -loved- it. Sometimes it's worth splashing out cash on a game that could well be a more enjoyable experience than some mass produced FPS.

No one should pirate games from indie developers, because it hurts them directly. Not like there's a reason to either - indie games are generally cheap enough.

GexTheLizard -  454 pts -  (1 year ago)

I also have no objections to a company legitimately trying to make its way in the world, rather than trying to line their already deep pockets with more cash. I have no problem downloading music off the internet, partially because the majority of record sales actually goes to the musician's recording agency and not the actual musician. Most of their $$$ is made from going on tour and doing concerts, and with product endorsements if they're famous enough to get any. Were buying MP3s off somewhere like iTunes actually supporting the artist, I'd have less of a problem with it, but I don't agree with lining the music industry fat cats' pockets any more than they already are. As for games, honestly I try games on emulator that I enjoy. If I think they're a fun enough game to warrant playing on my actual system, I do buy them. I played Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town for ages on VisualBoy Advance, and liked the game so much I bought it later on. Because I was able to try it on the emu, I decided I liked it enough... had I not tried it on the emu I would never have bought the game. Similar can be said about console emulators, really. Additionally, at least from what I've tried of console emulators, they don't tend to work very well by comparison. It's a nice way to get an idea of what various games are but even with a controller hooked up to a USB port it just isn't quite the same. The bottom line is the industry needs to learn to work with changes in mediums, including piracy. Fighting change tooth and nail is counterproductive, and serves little purpose but to piss people off for being unreasonable, ala EA Games and their EULA clauses.

I have never illegally downloaded music/movies/tv shows/junk, and I never plan on it. Artists make very little money from selling albums, so I wouldn't want to take what little money they make off of it away.

	GexTheLizard -  454 pts -  (1 year ago)
	Most make a good deal of money from concerts though. That's where most of their money comes from, the percentage they get from each MP3 download/record sale is pretty miniscule compared to what we pay. Paying for music is more lining their recording agency's pockets than anything.

I've not purchased music in quite a long time. I definitely feel that if I found a local artist and wanted to listen to their music I'd gladly pay their fee and help support them. That said, I haven't done this in a long time.

If I recall correctly Metallica made a rather large deal about people pirating their music and became rather angered. Something like this, for example, only makes me more irritated that such a large band would make such a fuss over money they don't need. And, while I agree they're selling a product and pirating is stealing, I can't help but feel they're being greedy.

The Dom -  170 pts -  (1 year ago)

Yeah, there was a South Park episode on it xD "Christian Rock Hard," where Cartman makes a religious boy band, and the other boys get caught downloading music. They get taken to celebrities houses, and they're taught that because of their pirating, certain celebrities won't be able to buy their son a private island, or they'll have to settle for an ever so slightly lower-class private jet. So the kids go on strike, along with Metallica haha. Episode made me laugh, 'cause it was fairly spot on. Piracy is stealing, thus it is illegal, but I agree that it's fairly greedy to moan about it when they're already living a pretty cushy life over us working-class folk. .__.

I thought musical artists made the majority of their profit from gigs?

The only time I ever pay for music is for local guys. Buskers, little known bands, that sort of thing. I have no problem with downloading Justin Biebers albums. Most of the money from albums goes straight to the record companies anyway..

Debating the merits and problems of digital piracy, even among my closest friends is always a torrent (pun intended) of misinformation.

Overall music sales in 1999 topped off at about 32 billion dollars. In 2009 we saw numbers peak at around 17 billion. In the interim file sharing via peer to peer networks and bit torrents increased exponentially.

One often hears the argument: If more people hear your music then more people will buy it. Unfortunately this argument has yet to be resolved with the facts that as piracy increased sales decreased.

The affect of this goes beyond just profits. As the corporate record label (post 80's wallstreet buyout of major labels in America and Europe) sees sales drop they are even less inclined to take chances. Subsequently they are less inclined to develop new talent and it becomes even more of a struggle for a new artist with a unique style to 'break' on this market.

Jesus made the argument that most artists reap most of their profits from touring, merchandise and other non-royalty related sources. This is more or less true- however the sales I believe are being lost to downloading have spurred what is called the "360" deal. A 360 deal is a new kind of contract in which the label takes a cut from merchandising, touring and all sources of income relating directly to the artists music.

For the people who are saying that piracy is taking a stab at corporations who are exploiting the artists- well... Piracy has done nothing but contribute to an even more restrictive, exploitative and questionable standard contract. Thus piracy has not helped artists- only hurt them.

While an artist should be glad people are showing an interest- and a great way to promote pay-downloads and physical products is to offer your fans free MP3s... The fact is that it is even more difficult than it once was to make a decent living doing music.

Proud Pirates like to pretend they're making a stand for individual liberty, standing up for the little guy, and trying to take down an evil corporate structure which is bleeding artists dry.

In truth: they just want something for free.

There is not and can never be a moral argument for piracy- no matter what spin is there you are still hurting the industry at large which affects even the most independent artist. Further there can be no question that there is absolutely no legal ground for piracy- no one has the right to take someone's intellectual property and share it unless, of course, that IPR relates to a technology or medical treatment that is paramount to quality of life (See: ACTA, Title 17, WTO TRIPS agreement).

I'm an artist. I've released several albums both myself and through labels. No one who pirates my albums is doing me a favor and the general economic slump the record industry has seen is not making it any easier for me, the little guy, to claim a piece.

I'm Mike Pallante and I approve this message! Paid for by the ranting society of New Jersey.

I agree with Mike. The whole 'I'm in it to fight for the people' crap is a feable excuse - learn the facts, stop justifying your own level of theft - we not talking about you taking a bullet for the starving women working the warfs. Your perspective is born from an 'I deserve it whether I work for it or not and I'm going to get it immediately' It's and ugly american thing

Thanks, guest, for saying in a nutshell what I said in a bushel!

I am an ugly American with feeble excuses. I just want something for free. This is how I own every CD, DVD, video game, console, piece of clothing, accessory, program, and stick it to the man all in one. Why would I want to support a local, struggling artist? They are shit and mimic other artists, thus are incapable of establishing a fan base... obviously. Besides, if every two-bit talent made it on the charts simple because their mommies and daddies told them that anything was possible, then I would have no one to flip my burgers at mickey d's.

I believe they put out those stupid propaganda commercials,"You wouldn't download a car!" You are right. I wouldn't because cars are wasteful and I would still have to pay for vehicle insurance. When the insurance is able to be digitally pirated too, call me.

So wait- you download artists you don't like? You don't download artists you do like? Why not? You're a very curious fellow, Nugget!

	Parasyte -  6040 pts -  (1 year ago)
	Nugget is a girl.

	mikep -  147 pts -  (1 year ago)
	Fellow: noun, an equal in rank, power, or character.

	felixthecat -  4794 pts -  (1 year ago)
	"Ex"cept as an academic title, "fellow" is used as a descriptive for males. Synonyms: man, guy, old man, boy, lad and so on.

mikep -  147 pts -  (1 year ago)

We use different dictionaries, my friend! No worries tho. Its grammatically acceptable to default to male in cases where gender is unknown. And of course I meant nothing by it. For the sake of consistency I'll just state that I would presume someone would pirate music they like, opposed to music they don't like. Which sort of renders this often repeated argument inert. Pirates only download things they like. They are thus infringing on the intellectual properties of artists they respect. Which makes it all the worse...

Attempting to removing a person's right to privacy because a company wants to make a profit is vile.

Digital downloads only happend because companies put their products out in a common area.
If they didn't want you to download it they wouldn't put it out there.
It's very much like a bait-and-switch issue.
They intice you by putting it out for free and then they turn around and yell foul because you accepted their gift. And instead of the companies making a better product, they want the government to violate your rights and change the law in the companies favor.

Their apparent desired end result...they can still use inferior technologies, be sloppy with company procedure, .....however .... you become personally liable for the laziness of company employees and the mistakes they make.


As a side note: You just digitally downloaded this web page....and the company that owns it is quite excited that you did. Matter of fact the owning company would be even more excited if you would add some content and not charge them for it (aka type in a comment). That is to say they want your copyrighted material without them paying royalties for its use.

I've looked at the constitution a million times and I still see no right to "Download free stuff because I don't think the product is very good." Not even in the quriky version the republicans decided to read this year!

Tho... Our guest does make a fine point: Does MCA, SONY or BMG have a .... time machine? I think that's what we're talking about here right?