Be honest, do you pay for music?

[quote name='mykevermin']Elaborate. Are you telling me you never make impulse buying decisions?[/QUOTE]
Elaboration: That's correct. I always check on the internet for reviews and the best deal. I'm very smart with my money, and I know how to shop.
 
[quote name='Brak']That should never be done with music, in my opinion.[/QUOTE]
Yep, my b/f tells me all the time about how he used to do that when he was younger (before downloading and MySpace Music), and now he's stuck with a bunch of 1-hit wonders and their crappy albums.
 
if i didn't pay for music, i probably wouldn't find bands that kick ass any other way. Its by searching emusic.com that i find some real gems.

Can anyone say they've ever heard of Between the trees, .tape., CODA, or Shark Quest?
 
Nothing beats owning the real copy, especially with vinyl, so I tend to get a lot of albums. I've been working on replacing all of my pirated music with real albums, and while I'm not there yet, in the past month I've purchased around 20 or so, I think.

Now, with all the talk of supporting artists and such, what are your opinions on used CDs? Cheap way to get the actual copy, but no money goes to the artist/record company.
 
the real way to support a band is to go out, see them live, bring friends who don't know them and buy their CDs directly from them. especially smaller bands.

it's not always an option, but it's better than the "drop in the ocean" method of buying a CD from Best Buy.
 
[quote name='6669']Yep, my b/f tells me all the time about how he used to do that when he was younger (before downloading and MySpace Music), and now he's stuck with a bunch of 1-hit wonders and their crappy albums.[/QUOTE]

Fair enough. I think there can be some reason to impulse buying - a particular record label, for instance, that you've liked everything released by thus far - or a particular artist that you're fond of. One person whom music aficionados constantly verbally fellate with praise is Mike Patton, and many of them will impulse buy a project he's worked on without hearing it first.

I'm not criticizing it, as I do impulse buy. If I read a new record is out by a band I've not heard, but consists of members of bands X, Y, and Z that I like, and/or is influenced by these old bands, then chances are I'll buy it.

To me, it's like buying wine. It's a crap shoot, and the majority of the fun is drinking it finding something good you never knew about before.

Above and beyond all that, if it's on iTunes, you can sample the song. Again, justifications for downloading music, to me, are just after-the-face excuses people use to justify stealing music.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']It isn't that simple at all, but I mostly agree with what jollydwarf is saying. I am very skeptical of those few people who claim that they download and buy later, or those that claim they do other things to compensate a band. I think they're trying to do some post-hoc justification of their downloads, and I truly doubt that people who can't even go to a store to buy an album will go out of their way to make sure the band gets something for what enjoyment the user gained from listening to their album.

For small bands, the user hurts themself as well as the band. By denying them some semblance of sales, you ensure that these bands are required to have part-time or full-time jobs to pay the bills. That cuts down significantly on studio and touring time. It's hard to be prolific when you are tied to 40 hours a week. Many small bands are available for download via iTunes; there's a local smalltime punk-rock/grindcore label whose catalog is available via iTunes. Ironically, their pricing structure ($10 per album minimum) makes it unattractive to buy (the label charges $8 postage paid per cd). That's not the point, however. If you demand it now, and if you demand it digitally, I imagine very few of you could not find a legal means of paying for that luxury.

Now, of course, there have been benefits to downloading music. When I buy an album, there's occasionally a record-company produced extra (bonus tracks, extra dvd included, etc.) that make it worthwhile to buy an album. They're incentives that started showing up directly as a result of music downloading. For that, dear pirates, I thank you.

There are exceptions to downloading: live concerts (why limit that to something the hippies do) are one. In my opinion, deceased artists are fair game; Howlin' Wolf is long gone, as is Johnny Cash. Why should I pay for their music?

In the end, I don't believe most justifications for downloading music, as it's some person's way of legitimizing theft (the most common, the "evil record company" justification, is a logical fallacy and not to be taken seriously).[/quote]
I agree with all of this but I wonder why you make a distinction for downloading music when the artist is dead. Copyright insfringement exists to protect the owner of the copyright, not who created the art in question. A lot of musicians don't own the rights to their music - they exchange those rights for studio time and promotion from the record companies. In theory (correct me if I'm wrong) I think you just want to see the musicians get paid for what they create and it's hard to disagree with that.

EDIT: Ken Andrews is my Mike Patton - I buy anything and everything I can get my hands on that he has a part in without hearing it first...
 
[quote name='javeryh']I agree with all of this but I wonder why you make a distinction for downloading music when the artist is dead. Copyright insfringement exists to protect the owner of the copyright, not who created the art in question. A lot of musicians don't own the rights to their music - they exchange those rights for studio time and promotion from the record companies. In theory (correct me if I'm wrong) I think you just want to see the musicians get paid for what they create and it's hard to disagree with that.

EDIT: Ken Andrews is my Mike Patton - I buy anything and everything I can get my hands on that he has a part in without hearing it first...[/QUOTE]

I don't make a distinction for "Dead Musicians" simply because in my innocent mind, any living relatives might get a cut of whatever profit is made..

But the truth is, I just appreciate the recording process. Why should I pay for classical music?! It's all public domain!

No, people still take the time to play it, record it, clean it up, make sure it's accurate, and put it in a nice jewelcase with some liner notes. That al one is worth the price to me, something "itunes" or "mp3" simply can't give me.
 
Some of you can get in trouble for admitting that you illegally download music right?

I don't download music from anywhere except iTunes. BestBuy has a buy an outlet charger for the iPod, and get a $15 iTunes card.

Where on the internet would somebody who wants to report this go to? I'm not saying that I will.
 
[quote name='SneakyPenguin']Saying downloading music is killing the industry is naive. Yes, it hurts the record comapnies, and makes the big stars just slightly less famous, but I know personally I would have never heard of most of the artists I listen to if it were not for downloading. Now that I know them, I buy their albums, merch, and go to their shows when I have a chance/funds. Downloading actually helped these artists.[/QUOTE]

Exactly.. I wouldn't have ever heard of 80% of the bands I listen to. If they don't get radio air, how would you?
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Above and beyond all that, if it's on iTunes, you can sample the song. Again, justifications for downloading music, to me, are just after-the-face excuses people use to justify stealing music.[/quote]

Copyright infringement is not stealing.

Between DRM and the possibility that you could lose a paid-for music collection if your hard drive crashes, I think there are legitimate reasons to avoid using the current mainstream digital music marketplaces.

Looking at this from a practical market-based perspective, one could surmise that digital entertainment is quite possibly the only marketplace where the knock-offs are better then the officially licensed product. In almost every other market that is in danger of losing market share to piracy operations, the sellers make an effort to ensure that their product is of a higher quality then the unofficial copy-cats. They also offer warranties to protect their paying customers from getting stuck with a lemon and they treat their paying customers with respect.

If Rolex was run by the record labels, then every official Rolex watch would come with no warranty, it would be sealed shut to make sure you could never open it up and see the intellectual property inside (too bad for you if the battery dies), and there would be a tracking device inside the watch to ensure that you never resold it or gave it away. In such a world, wouldn't knock-off Rolexes be more popular as well?
 
[quote name='sblymnlcrymnl']Rolexes don't use batteries. :lol:[/quote]

LoL - really? Then the RIAA would reconfigure the watch so you could only rewind it 3 times. ;)
 
[quote name='thespillcanvas']90% of the stuff I listen to is impossible to find around here, so yes, I download music. If I like an album, then I will order it. It's nice not ordering an album, waiting a week for it, then realizing you don't like it, or there are only two good songs on it, when it arrives.[/quote]

Your name is a great band, and your sig is of Botch if im not mistaking. I love you.
 
If I hear a song I really like, Ill give the other songs a listen via various sites that let you hear clips. If I like the rest, I buy the cd. If its just crap and I only like 1 song, Id be interested in dl it.

However if theres stuff that is oop and is hella hard to find, Ill try to find a way to burn or dl. Sometimes there are songs that just werent put out there hard copy wise.
 
[quote name='D_Icon']Some of you can get in trouble for admitting that you illegally download music right?

I don't download music from anywhere except iTunes. BestBuy has a buy an outlet charger for the iPod, and get a $15 iTunes card.

Where on the internet would somebody who wants to report this go to? I'm not saying that I will.[/quote]


Boy, don't you know how to make friends.
 
If I can't find a really good song anywhere, then I'll resort to using my 10 free dollars on iTunes and purchase it. So far, I've only had to do this once with The Racounteurs - Steady As She Goes (Acoustic)
 
[quote name='musicnoteless']If I like at least 2-3 songs I downloaded from an artist on the same album, I'll go buy the album to go support them.[/quote]
Yeah this is my approach too. If I really like the band or artist I will buy their cd's to support them. If I am just a casual listener who likes 1 or 2 songs from an artist I will probably just download those songs or the 1 cd they are on. I also tend to download almost all the rap I listen too and buy almost all the bands cds I listen too. I think I do this because I feel that hip/hop artists make a lot more money than the average metal band. So I choose to support the artists who aren't as wealthy.
 
Downloading music does NOTE equal stealing, in the legal definition, anyway. It's copyright infringement. Look it up, all of you who are calling it "stealing."

Also, lol at RegalSin. You make my head hurt. In a semi-good way.
 
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