A bill would jail Internet song swappers

[Jim LotFP]

Although 38 per cent of heavy users said they were buying less music, about 28 per cent said their Internet activities had not affected the number of CDs they bought in a year.

And I did see this when forumlating my response, I was just pointing out how wording in the analysis can greatly influence what a survey says!

 

[thebleakaffinity]

It is legal to copy a CD you own onto a hard drive, there was a big fiasco about this a few years back and it was deemed okay.

It is illegal to share these files over the internet, that's illegal distribution. It is also illegal to download these files.

Do I still do all these things? Yes, and I'm not going to try to prove it okay. I know it's illegal but I still do it.

By the way, the 24 hour trial period is pure bullshit. Some stupid rumor which started years ago with ROMs of console videogames. It's completely untrue, and if you ever tried to use that to your defense in a court room you'd be laughed at.

 

[EdgeJ]

hmm, I've always been on the fence about this one. I like downloading stuff, and I like to download things I either cannot buy, period, or things that cost quite a bit to buy (e.g. imported stuff)
But I do like to support the musicians, problems is, like most people my age (moreso even, since I am pretty much lower class, economically) I cant afford a whole lot. So I like to be able to download music I cant afford yet. And I still do buy the music when I can, so I dont feel bad.... Problem is, some people dont share my attitude. Then again, most people who dont buy cd's period wouldn't anyway, I think.
Oh well, if they do ban it somehow, I guess Ill just have less I can access and I will have to blindly jump into new music.

 

[Zoracxis]

The times when I download music, I go to the artist or label sites to download samples or full songs that the artists put up on their sites to see what kind of music that they do before I decide to buy the album or albums that the artists have done.

The problem with this is...


A- The RIAA is an industry organization that is voluntarily paid into by record labels... for the sole purpose of being a lobbying and publicity front to be 'the bad guy' away from individual member's names.

B- Artists are paid by the terms in their contracts, and how is the RIAA changing that?

C- Artists contracts' stipulate that artsists are paid on percentages of sales... so if you're attacking the RIAA or boycotting them, that DIRECTLY trickles down to the artists... especially since the label gets paid before the band.

D- There seems to be a real and not imagined depression in album sales, even on a metal label. Artists keep saying budgets are getting slashed by as much as 75%... if labels could just budget less and keep the difference, they would have done that years ago. This is my weakest point because I don't have any hard figures to cite for you, but shit's hitting the fan, and the scene is being more polarized into really successful bands, and then the rest have NOTHING but just enough to pay for the next record. Just the opposite of what the MP3 revolution was supposed to do, right?

UM's lagging bad here at home and buffering my keystrokes, forgive any typos please...

My post was purely opinion, but I see what you are saying and I agree with you.

 

[EdgeJ]

hmm, I've always been on the fence about this one. I like downloading stuff, and I like to download things I either cannot buy, period, or things that cost quite a bit to buy (e.g. imported stuff)
But I do like to support the musicians, problems is, like most people my age (moreso even, since I am pretty much lower class, economically) I cant afford a whole lot. So I like to be able to download music I cant afford yet. And I still do buy the music when I can, so I dont feel bad.... Problem is, some people dont share my attitude. Then again, most people who dont buy cd's period wouldn't anyway, I think.
Oh well, if they do ban it somehow, I guess Ill just have less I can access and I will have to blindly jump into new music.

btw, I forgot to mention that I download songs to preview them if I've never heard the band/song/album/etc

 

[Opet]

I don't trust any of this research at this point, for anything, without seeing exactly who funded the study, how the they selected the sample group, questions are worded and exactly how the answers are allowed to be given, and how the answers are weighted. Any of those could make a world of difference.

I ran out of time yesterday but wanted to post those so called stats so I could read any responses today. I did intended on goofing thoroughly on why the stats that Blabberbutt had up were untrustworthy. The examples of which bands they were "studying" alone says a lot.

My guess is the stats put up were in some way intended to support online file sharing for the big time bands like Metallica. I mean, if it's true that "the scene is being more polarized into really successful bands", and file sharing online is (mainly) to blame, then that should be a major concern of everyone here greatly. Opeth isn't exactly considered a really successful band YET.