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hh_clubs2006-01-13 12:37 am
laynie.livejournal.com) wrote in hh_clubs2006-01-13 12:37 am
Entry tags:
Music Club Activity #1
Hey Music Club Members! It's time to have a discussion/debate. It's no secret that in the past 5 or 6 years, the music industry has experienced a sharp downturn, mostly due to peer-to-peer file sharing programs such as Napster. The music industry's largest target market (teens and young adults) have turned to the internet for their music needs, where songs can be downloaded for free. After numerous lawsuits, programs such as ITunes have popped up...where songs can be purchased for a small fee. However, illegal music downloading still continues.
So here's the question: Do you think it's wrong to illegally download music, and why? Do you download any music, legally (ex. ITunes), or illegally (ex. peer-to-peer filesharing programs)?
Note: Everyone's opinions WILL be respected here. And there are good points to be made for both sides of this issue.
Brooke / Gryffindor
So here's the question: Do you think it's wrong to illegally download music, and why? Do you download any music, legally (ex. ITunes), or illegally (ex. peer-to-peer filesharing programs)?
Note: Everyone's opinions WILL be respected here. And there are good points to be made for both sides of this issue.
Brooke / Gryffindor
no subject
Now, onto my actual post:
I've noticed that several people have mentioned CD cost as a reason for illegally downloading music. This seems a wee bit silly to me for several reasons.
Firstly, even if the list price of the CD is $30, there are so very many ways of legally purchasing the CD for cheaper. One can walk into Best Buy, where the CDs are usually 12.99, purchase from amazon.com, where the CDs seem to average about 13.99, purchase from iTunes, at the price of 99 cents a song or 9.99 an album, or buy the CDs used from your local music store. Any of these seem like perfectly reasonable options, and end up costing not much more than a mass market paperback, and yet no one is arguing that we should download books illegally because of their price.
Secondly, music is a luxury item that the artists put a decent amount of time and money creating and the companies put a decent amount of time and money into producing and marketing. Generally, simply because one cannot afford to pay for luxury items does not mean one deserves to aquire them for free.
Thirdly, there are lots of ways to listening to music for free out there. I have yet to go to an area that doesn't have at least one radio station which I enjoy (of course, I'm aided by the fact that I enjoy NPR), and that is wonderful free way of listening to all sorts of music. In addition, there are now many internet radio stations that one can listen to for free, as well free music podcasts available through iTunes.
I've also noticed several people discussing the idea of downloading music as kind of a "try before you buy" deal. I'm a little more torn over this idea. I certainly can understand not wanting to purchase a whole cd if you don't know what is on it, and it's clear that downloading is an easy way to figure out if you like the CD or not. However, the truth of the matter is most people who download a CD don't delete it if they decide they don't like it enough to purchase. They simply leave it on they're hard-drive (or mp3 player), and listen to it whenever they feel like it, because it is easy to like a CD without liking it enough to purchase it.
In addition, there are currently several legal downloading services that cater to just this need (Rhapsody and Napster To Go coming to my mind). They offer a cheap monthly service ($15 a month I believe) for unlimited downloads while subscribed to the service. Thus, one could subscribe to Napster or Rhapsody and try out tons of albums, thus determining which ones you want, all legally!
I've also noticed a lot of comments a long the lines of "why pay for the whole CD when you just want or two songs?" Well, that's what iTunes/Napster are for. I have to admit that I have never actually used these services myself, but I have used my friend's iTunes account (I'm really lazy . . .) and it seemed to be a very reasonable painless process . . .
Now, my last comment is going to be about "you send it" and other such programs. I noticed these being lumped into the category of illegal downloads, but one of the nice things about these is that are generally not. You see, when regular tapes came out there was a lot of discussion and what not over recording and sharing back then, and the decision was reached that to share music between "a small circle of friends" for listening was perfectly legal. So if you have friend that says "ZOMG! I've become obsessed with [insert song name here]. You all totally need to listen to this right now!" and then puts up a YSI link, it is legal pretty much encouraged. And really, is pretty much what music sharing is supposed to be about . . .
OK. I'm done rambling now, and I apologize for forcing you all to listen . . .
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And actually,
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And you're also right when you say that Albums are luxary items...people have no "right" to them. If the public had complete rights to music for free, then there would be no such thing as Copyrights. I mean, what the hell do people think Copyrights are for? They're so artists can exploit (make money off of) their intellectual property.
Anyway, I completely agree with you.
no subject
Sarah/Gryffindor
no subject