Downloading music free from the internet: Is it wrong?

[shims]

exactly. a free download will lead me to buy gig tickets, unreleased material, vinyl, t shirts, all which gives more money to the ARTISTS! It's the record companies who are scared to lose their millions.

Many people will just play their illegal download, which they would have otherwise purchased and spend nothing on gigs and merchandise.

 

anyone remember when cd's cost 13 quid but cost around 2quid to make? good riddance to the money grabbers.

The cost of a cd will vary widely. Pressing and the quantity of the batch pressed are only two factors.

[shims]

I presume you mean downloading it for nothing without the consent of the artist?

 

Personally I'd be happy for, say, Bruno Brookes, Dave Pearce or Adrian Juste (or whoever is on Radio 1 now - Edmonds?) to download one of my tracks illegally and without my consent and play it on their show. I suspect most artists would feel the same, which rather undermines your 'no circumstances' argument.

Perhaps, as people who earn big wages through music, the least one could expect is that they don't steal the track they play!

[shims]

download it to see if you like it and if you do buy it, if not delete it. pretty sure artists need illegal downloads so people hear the music and would wanna see them at gigs where they make the most money. Not that it's right to download illegally but more money goes to the artist through tours and merchandise

They don't 'need' illegal sharing of complete tracks, where track preview clips can be and are be provided on sites for people to audition.

[Muldoon]

I had to drag myself away from Torrent ************ blah blah... whilst downloading the last ephisode of Gotcha for this ???

 

Damn those free porno links.....

[fruitisbad]

My bold. Agree with this except that it is already causing irreparable damage, many great labels have folded over the last five years.

 

like who?

 

......

[Muldoon]

like who?

 

......

 

Carling Black Label ?? Sorry ! should that read Carling multi coloured Label ?

 

Should I get my cloak now ?

[shims]

what about artists who release material without appropriate sample clearance? is it ok to steal their stuff?

They are doing something creative (hopefully! ) using elements of someone else's work rather than just offering it to the world in general (ie. uploading it). Uncleared samples cause court cases and now labels have people who deal with such matters, unlike in the early days, although it does still happen - mash ups etc., which are generally bootlegs anyway.

[shims]

I download everything solely because im tight

Yes, people download because they can and because it frees up their spare cash for other things that can't be had for nothing. It's surprising how many people don't see the double standards in downloading albums they'd be prepared to buy whilst not shoplifting their groceries from Tesco etc.

[stereolab]

There are some situations where I think its ok though.

 

For example - there's a brilliant brazillian blog that's dedicated to finding extremely rare reggae singles and albums from the 60s and 70's. This is stuff where there were probably less than 100 copies ever made, the tapes no longer exist, its not available on CD or mp3 and there is no way of paying the original artist - probably no way of even finding them. I guess there are less than 100 regular visitors to the blog, who love this type of music and love hearing these old records.

 

I have no problem with that - it keeps the music alive that would otherwise be lost forever. (As far as I am aware they will respond to any take down request if its received too).

 

To me that's very different from wholesale theft of say, the entire Coldplay backcatlogue (ugh) - which is available cheaply on CD, on mp3, in Asda, on iTunes whereever and is in no danger of dissappearing any time soon (mores the pity).

 

So yeah ...er...... yeah.

[shims]

like who?

 

......

 

A few off the top of my head that I seriously miss:

 

Auralux

Blood & Fire

Makasound

Moll Seletkta

Motion