photo courtesy of PinkMoose
Buying music versus illegally downloading it seems to be quite the controversy these days. No matter what type of music you like, you can easily find it on LimeWire for free and at any time you want it. It makes getting the music you want fat, simple and easy so it is easy to see why people do it. However, music artists and those who develop and sell the less and less popular CD’s or iTunes songs are as thrilled. The reason that they are not so happy with the fan base getting their music elsewhere? Less money in their bank account of course! As selfish as it seems it is the basic reason. For those who make their money solely on the sells of the music- I can understand; but artists- definitely not. Making music should be about enough your craft and sharing it with everyone not trying to make so much money that you do not know hat to do with it all, that seems a bit excessive.
In the past few years the laws cracking down on downloading music illegally has increased but has anyone thought of the consequences of these harsh actions? As of know, and based on the trends of the last five years or so the amount of money being lost because of customers downloading it themselves is not enough to change an artists’ lifestyle or affect them to any real extent. Even if there was not an ability to steal music, because of this recession people would not be spending their hard earned money on music rather food and oh I don’t know...a house! In addition to this, the fines for being caught downloading music are way more dramatic than the crime. I read a couple of months ago of a mother being charged $1.9 million dollars for getting only twenty-four songs (Stevens par., 1). That is more than most criminal’s bonds to get out of jail. This ludicrous judgement is only going to further separate the costumer from the artist and developers...at least that is what I think!
Later in the article it says she even sinks to the point of blaming her children and also her ex-husband of downloading the twenty-four songs and says she shouldn't be the one charged- they should (Stevens par., 2).
Later in the article it says she even sinks to the point of blaming her children and also her ex-husband of downloading the twenty-four songs and says she shouldn't be the one charged- they should (Stevens par., 2).
Stevens, Tim. "Woman Fined $1.9 Million for Downloading 24 Songs." Switched - Gadgets, Gizmos, Reviews and Downloads. 19 June 2009. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. <http://www.switched.com/2009/06/19/woman-fined-1-9-million-for-downloading-24-songs/>.
I remember a time when some bands, like The Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin, actually encouraged people to sneak cassette recorders into their shows to record them and release them to the public for free. Some of Led Zeppelins best music comes from their old shows--they were fairly awesome in concert.
ReplyDeleteSomething that struck me in your blog was your mention of how the artists' lifestyles aren't being changed. In fact, I think most musicians make the majority of their money, not from CD sales, but from concerts and other merchandise. Giving the songs away for free may actually be putting more money in their pockets.
I was just watching a video the other day about this issue. The RIAA and the music industry want to go after individuals for big bucks in the hopes that these cases will deter the rest of us from illegally downloading. As far as I can tell, it hasn't. What the artists need to be doing is finding a new business model--one that eliminates the "middle man," the record companies in this case, and sell their music directly to the public. I would more likely buy a song I liked from a band for $1 if I could listen to a sample of it first and give my money directly to the artist or band rather than knowing someone who had nothing to do with the writing and playing of the song was making a profit of something that should really belong to the person who made it (by the way, when you sell a book or album, you give your copyright to the publisher or record company, which I think kind of sucks.).
There was a lot to think about in this post. Keep up the good work.