Why I download music…

First, let me just say…

I download music. Yep.

It’s not as much a “fuck you” to artists as it is to their record companies, the same record companies who are trying to squeeze every last cent out of people as many times as they can for the same music… which really pisses me off. It seems to me that, in a nutshell, the record companies stand by notion that if you own the music then you own it, you can make all the mp3’s you want (you’re just not supposed to give them to other people). So, if I owned the music 20 years ago why do they keep re-charging me for it as the technology to play said music moves along?

Let’s say I bought a Kiss album back in 1976, Destroyer to be exact, and it cost me around 10 bucks. After which I’m listening to my album and everything is groovy. Then, oh snap! Car companies develop the technology to play 8-tracks in the dashboard! But, if I want to listen to “Detroit Rock City” in the car I need to buy the 8-track version – so I drop another $10. Life is great, I’m listening to my Kiss 8-track for years until a cow walks out in front of my car and I crash into a nitroglycerin factory… bummer! So, I’m off to buy a new car to play my Kiss 8-track in when I come to find out that 8-track players are no longer available in cars, only cassette players. Shit, now what? So, I spend another $10 on a cassette version of the same album and 8-track I already own just so I can listen to it in the car. Repeat for Compact Disk that cost about $15 each, keeping in mind that the technology to record from one media to another was always many years behind.

$45 for the same music recorded back in 1976. If I owned the music, which is the records company’s rock upon which they stand, then why couldn’t I just show up at The Wall with my record in hand and pay for the cost of materials when I upgraded each time?

I gave one artist’s production as an example, imagine how much money the record companies have made on all the music I’ve upgraded over the years. How about all the music that every person has upgraded. Or, even better, all the music that every radio station and person has ever upgraded to stay with the technology. Yea, that’s a whole hell of a lot of money. I’ll support the small bands and local music scenes, but as for the big Metallica-type bands, “sorry guys, if it’s for free – it’s for me.”

You like Destroyer that much?

I share Double Ex John's sentiments.

Seems like i keep buying the same roll of toilet paper every week.

I sincerely hope it's not the same roll.
Here's a quick test: does the "new" roll seem crustier than last week?

Why I download music



Get free music and subvert Capitalism. Kills two birds with one stone.

Me too!

In a nutshell, you're wrong. You do not "own the music." If you lose a CD, should you be entitled to a free copy?

Well, you don't.

this is a silly argument, unless you're only downloading music that you already own in a different format (incidentally, there is technology out there that can put any music you might own into any digital format you want! You should steal a copy)

It's not that I think downloading is "immoral" or "wrong," but this is probably the lamest reasoning I've ever heard.

BTW, could you stream a copy of Destroyer for me?

Thanks for the Destroyer reminder! I just bought "Detroit Rock City" on iTunes foir 99 cents.

<honesty>

I download music because I can't afford as much as I want to listen to but feel entitled to it anyway, because I can, and, in a distant third, because buying new CDs from major labels makes me feel dirty, almost like someone making a donation to the Republican Party in my name. When I buy music, I also feel ripped off, because a CD just doesn't feel worth $15 - 18 to me, especially when I could buy a DVD for a dollar more that has 2+ hours of entertainment in a higher quality format that cost far more for the producer to make. When I listen to music, however, I am happy. Solution? Listen to music without buying it.

The pie is in the window, no one is looking, I'm hungry, and the owner of the bakery is an asshole, is what I'm saying.

</honesty>

[Edited on Nov 15, 2005 by Keith]

Fuck. Yes.

Your argument is fallacious and doesn't take into account many things.

First, you don't own the music. Not even close. You own a copy of it, the right to listen to it, and some "fair use" rights to make copies for yourself. You could make a CD from your eight track if you wanted to.

Second, by your "musical ownership" argument, if you bought the eight track of an album and your dog ate it, you should get another one free. It's just as absurd as your insinuation that you should be getting free upgrades.

Third, when new media is created from old masters, work goes into it. Lots of work. Those people need to get paid. The words "Digitally Remastered" don't just get stamped there for no reason.

And last, artists make plenty of money off of new media re-issues, not just record companies. So you're still denying them their fair share.

How about you just stop rationalizing, acknowledge that what you're doing is unethical (even criminal), that you're not sorry, that you really don't care enough about the artists to buy the song off of iTunes for 99 measley cents, and move on.

well said.

BS.

Just because an industry springs up and tries to capitalize on a technology by rewriting the law doesn't mean I don't own something I buy. Its legalese BS.

If I don't "own" the music on a CD, why can't I take it back to the store and get my money back after I get sick of listening to it? You sell a product, you lose the ability to regulate it, since you no longer own the product. If you don't want to sell your product, then let them come and experience it without taking it with them. (clubs, live shows, movie theaters etc.)

Someone pays you, you give them something, they own it. I don't care how many laws you write or how many lawyers you have. Simply trying to redefine the rules of currency doesn't cut it.

I download music, because buying blind makes no sense to me anymore.
it is my "rental"

if the album has 3 good songs out of 11, whoever made that record, is shit out of luck.
step your game up.

I download

1. I cannot find it on a source anywhere
2. I am broke
3. I am partially broke because I put so much into the recording industry- and what did i get (i am also using another medium here) a new version two months later...quit fucking with the customers and perhaps you will sell more.
I can think of one in particular
45 discs long...oh and they added two special ones....but hold on, they stopped making this "complete" collection short of 2 discs - money spent? over 2k on that
then came the small, complete package..a little more condensed, but sold in four chunks price? over 500 - btw...still missing those two fucking discs.- and they took out the two special addins
then came the gold edition- which just was the four chunks made as one bigger one, supposedly with new things...alas, there was none price? 300
then came the ultimate collection - the EXACT same thing as the previous one still missing the 2 discs- and the 2 special discs put back in price? 250
NOW? The have a platinum edition...does it have the two missing discs? I have no fucking clue....do I care? no...price 200-250

That is called scamming people. They can suck my left nut and lick my right one at the same time. I USED to be totally ANTI on D/L'ing...now? FUCK 'EM

I have found other ones of the same examples....where something would have cost me 900 now I can get the same thing, in a tighter cleaner package for 120.

I use downloads as a "try before I buy" (I'm too much of a record collecting geek to give up buying music) or just to get the one song that I like that is on an album filled with shit songs

uh, yeah, you "Own" it. But you own the CD, not the rights to the music in whatever form it may come in. Don't be fucking ridiculous, it's not "legalese." If you "owned the music," you'd be able to go to a store if you lost the CD and get a new one, but you can't. If you buy a print of a famous painting, you don't own the art, and to say you did is just stupid.

You stole that from me.

i bought bread and then ate it why do i have to give money to some fascist to upgrad eto new bread wen i already bought the fuckin bread rights god wat a bunch of cunts the bakers are!111!

I think that if you're worried about the hardship that $45 worth of media upgrades over the course of three decades is going to cause you, you ought to be concerned more with improving your fiscal situation than with consuming music. Especially when that $45 entitles you to hours upon hours of untold enjoyment with KISS.

When you go to King's Dominion or whatever, you pay $45 or so for a day of riding the rollercoasters. This adds up to maybe 8 hours if you're really trying to milk your dollar. With your album, you can ride the KISS rollercooaster from dawn til dusk and then on through the night-time world every day for years. Totally worth it.

Im not against downloading, but only on a smaller scale.
I cant see anything wrong with maybe downloading 4 or 5 tracks from an album, and if you like it, buy it, but people shouldn't download and burn entire albums just because they dont like record companies.

Alot of the record shops in the u.k are large chain stores making stupid ammounts of money each year who chose to charge more for albums than they have to. Does that mean i should be able to walk in and just shoplift an album because I dont like the big chain stores??

Downloading from smaller bands on small labels is also a definate no no for me.

My band, and the label we are on have spent alot of our own cash on putting out our latest e.p, so why should anyone feel that they should just be able to take that for free??

Is that.... TOM? from MYSPACE????

I'd like to back up PointBlank with an easy analog: Software.

When you buy a copy of World of Warcraft, you own the media and a license to use it, much like when you buy a music CD. You do not have the right to reverse engineer, make/sell copies, reuse portions of it in your own software, etc. You own the disc, you own nothing on it. You have some rights to make backups and whatnot, but that's really as far as it goes.

The phrase "Someone pays you, you give them something, they own it." just doesn't apply, nor should it.

Ya know what? There are a few artists that kinda suck, but they have a couple good songs in there and I like the mp3s. Might as well give them a DOLLAR; it's not that big of a deal.

I'll have to see how this iTunes thing works.


...Of course, I'll always download songs to see if the music is any good. Or if the CD is Sony DRM protected.