What is your opinion of P2P & torrent sites?

[ENERTIA_Joe]

We're in the beginning stages of recording CD number 5, which will be released at some point in 2008 & I'd like to hear your thoughts on whether you are for or against downloading music & some reasons you feel the way you do.

I know the rest of the guys in my band don't share the same opinion as me, but I've always been very supportive of P2P & am a casual user of torrents. All of our previous discs have appeared on a P2P I use & I downloaded "Force" the day it appeared in the hub. Considering we spent 25K+ on that recording & thinking of the endlesss hours we put into writing that material, that is a lot to give away for free, but I do see some advantages to it.

What your your thoughts?


Joe

 

[imajellybeanx]

yikes no one has posted to this yet? im surprised. well i agree. i was just on the mike portnoy forum and he said it best...most people download music to find new artists and rare stuff you cant find anywhere else and at the end of the day if you really like the artist your going to want the physical cd or dvd or whatever in your possession. I for one love torrents. i hate that i have to wait for seeders though. im very impatient. other than torrents i use soulseek and thats pretty much it.

 

[zmetallica]

well i'll say this: i found out about the band from a friend. he gave me a tape with momentum on it back in 1999. Eventually i searched the web for more of the band (which took time since he never said who the band was on the tape!). then i proceeded to download flashpoint and law of three. then force came out, so I bought it. P2P definitely has it's advantages as you can tell. I am a full supporter of this technology. I usually buy CDs that i wanna hear on demand. if it's not THAT good that i'm not seeking it out in my playlist to hear, then i'm not paying for it. I may not buy the full discography of a band because i just can't afford it without a job, but i'll make sure the band gets support. I will always goto a show of a band that i've downloaded if they are in the area for a reasonable price. I would rather pay for an experience than a piece of plastic i'll just throw in my closet to probably never see again.

Does this give me permission to post Force (and maybe the rest gotta check the quality) in lossless FLAC on private music bit torrent sites?

I did this for another local band (Grey Skies Fallen) about a year ago, they've had about 450 downloads since. They posted it on their website, and i told them to Bit Torrent it it'll save $. anyway. As far as the 'worth it' 25k is a lot to dish out on one album. especially for an unsigned band, it sounded great though. I think that it's always worth it for people to hear your music that normally wouldn't. most people on these sites won't be able to come out to a show anyway. As far as buying a CD expect about 1% of the people that hear your music to support you. so definitely get it out to as many people as possible.

sorry I haven't replied to this post sooner... I've been busy and not on forums as a result.

 

[Janga666]

If I'm not sure about a band or an album I'll download it first to see if I like it. If I do, I'll buy it. Otherwise I'll delete it.

Also, sometimes I download the mp3s of an album that I already own so it will save time ripping the songs on my computer to put on my ipod.

For these reasons I think torrent sites are great. Of course there are those that take advantage of it and get all the music they want for free, but i don't think there is a way to stop that.