[QUOTE="pianist"]I doubt this notion will be accepted as legitimate. In any event, you can thank pirates for all this nonsense. People say that the RIAA is to blame for piracy because they don't do what's necessary to protect their product against piracy. Then they complain when the RIAA DOES attempt to protect its product against piracy. Rest assured, if people weren't stealing music using the internet, none of this would be happening.
Blame the cause, not the effect.
dgbiker1
Take one step further back. The reason for piracy was CD prices that were artificially inflated and a distribution model that was not satisfactory to customers (Why did I have to pay $25 for a CD with only 2 decent songs?). I've used iTMS (or 7digital when possible) since 2003 since they gave me a reasonable avenue to purchase songs, I will support the artist/label as long as the terms are fair. Instead of fixing their business model, they've just incriminated their, and in some ways I think that has fueled more backlash and piracy.Why would a decent song not be worth $12.50 to you? How many times will you listen to it in the course of your life? How much enjoyment will it bring you? If you derive a great deal of enjoyment over the course of your life from that one song, listening to it many times, it's worth a hell of a lot more to you than many other things you would spend $12.50 on. And that is, of course, assuming there really are only two decent musical selections on an entire CD.
Besides, if this is the issue, you don't buy the CD. Simple as that. You don't like most of an album? Then you don't support it commercially. You support something you do like. Now that individual tracks can be downloaded for a far cry less than the cost of a CD, there's no excuse for continued illegal downloading with this 'justification.'
What it really boils down to is this. People avoid paying for things whenever they can. They don't care about anything but their own wants - to enjoy a song and preserve their money to spend on things that can not be so readily stolen. I have no sympathy for that sort of behavior. It is greedy, and incredibly disrespectful to the people who devote months or years of their lives and a great deal of money to the production of a CD, only to be told that $25 is too much to ask for what they offer.
Now, don't get me wrong. I think most albums are not worth $25 to me. But I don't buy them, nor do I download any part of them. They're not worth $25 to me because I dislike the music. But if you're going to go out of your way to download the music, it IS worth it to you. You wouldn't seek out downloads from a particular artist if you hated his or her work.
All sorts of excuses have been pioneered by pirates trying to justify their behaviour. I've seen some so laughable that they make it sound like the PIRATES are the noble ones, and are doing it to combat the big bad businesses that are exploiting artists. Modern day Robin Hoods... they steal from the rich to give to themselves. But in the end, regardless of all the hot air they spew, they're still just greedy crooks who will do whatever they can to acquire an entertainment service without paying for it. That's really all there is to it.
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