[Rataxes]

I personally don't download mp3s. I know several people, including my own brother in law, who are trying as hard as they possibly can to earn a record deal. I feel that if someone were to record their songs and plaster them all over the internet, they'd really be kicking these hard-working artists into the ground by dashing their hopes of making it big. Nobody deserves to have their work stolen - it's like running out of the Louvre with the Mona Lisa under your arm - you just don't do it.

Here we go again about inmaterial vs material loss. Piracy doesn't compare very well at all with it, but even stealing a poster copy made of paper would be a more fair comparison.

I also know a few people who are recording their own songs, one personally, and the rest on the music communities. My cousin once had a rap group together with some friends´. What little interest their music got (they weren't terribly good) was garnered on the Internet. They actually did make an LP and sold a few hundred copies, almost entirely due to the interest that had grown for their music on the Internet I dare say. How else would they have reached out? There are other ways I know, but whatever method garners the most interest in the artist and his music, is unargubly the best one, right? Nowhere does interest grow and spread as easily, fast and free as on the Net.

Wouldn't you agree that public interest is just about the most valuable thing an artist can get? I don't know about you, but if I had created some music of my own, I'd much rather prefer to have a generated an interest in my music on the net, even if no one of them cares enough to buy my record, than to have absolutely zero interest. Nowhere is it easier to reach out to people with your music than on the Internet, authorized or not.

I actually feel good when I go out and buy some vinyl or CDs - I know that whoever put the effort into creating these records is actually getting what they deserve. I don't begrudge them a measly few dollars. I love music. It's worth every cent.

I feel good when I buy a CD as well, knowing that I to 100% support the artist whose work I'm willing to invest money in. If I had money to spare, I wouldn't have any problems spending 20$ as soon as I heard a cool new song, but the fact is that I don't have the money to spare. With money to spare I mean the sort of quantaties you'd have to have in order to not care much if you spend twentyfive bucks on a crap record based on one good single. I would've been very reluctant to spend the 300-400$ I've to this date invested in artists, if I didn't fully support the artists behind the music. The fact is that that support would never have been established without Internet piracy, and the music industry and artists would never have seen a dime of those hundreds of dollars.

[ 04-13-2003, 07:54 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]