Internet piracy in the music business is quite possibly the worst thing that can happen. It is happening every day, but there is nothing that anyone can do about it. Piracy is the unlawful taking of ideas (music, art, theses, etc.) without proper compensation. In the music world, it is usually illegally downloading of the songs or albums. I am all for the digitizing of music, I love my iPod, but I am not for the blatant theft of music.
Musicians put heart and soul into the songs that they create. Sure, they may have chosen music as their career, but that doesn’t mean that they should all be working for free. Most artists already don’t have any sort of insurance (health, dental, vision, or life), so why would we want to take away from the small amount of income that they do earn by selling records? There are arguments that the album sales are not the main source of income for the bands, but they are still a product that has costs. For instance, on a very low budget record, there is the studio costs (usually about $1000- 3000), the production costs (about $1000 for very low budget pressings) and the marketing (anywhere from free to a few thousand). If the album can be sold for $5 per copy, then there are at least 800 copies to break even. Keep in mind that these figures are estimates for small local groups; the numbers for national or well-known acts can jump even higher.
The only good that comes from piracy is the fact that it gets the music out to crowds that maybe can’t afford the albums, or just people that are cheap. Some say that this can bring fans to the concerts and create revenue for the bands. But one has to realize that the people that are stealing the music probably won’t want to pay to go to a concert or buy merchandise, so I feel that is a dead point. Theft of music does nothing productive or helpful for the music industry.
The stealing of music hurts the bands in other ways as well. Record sales can indicate to labels and promoters the profitability of the groups. If everyone is downloading the album rather than buying it from a store or online vendor, then the sales may show only 20,000 fans instead of the actual millions. If the promoters only see that there are 20,000 nationwide fans, then there is not going to be any support for a concert tour, which then takes away from the ticket sales profit and the merchandise profit. Downloading ruins the profitability of the bands in all three categories- sales, tours, and merchandise.
The only thing that I ask of you, my reader, is to think about this the next time you are about to download a song or album online. A single fan cannot make a difference, but if you can relay the message to two friends, and they pass it on, and so on, then there can be a difference that can be seen. Go spend the $9.99 to buy the album, go to your local tour date, buy a T-shirt, and support the music and the bands that you enjoy listening to. Your $10 lets the band know that there are still fans out there, and they will stay motivated to write, and tour and love you back. Just about everyone wants to have fans, for the fans are what drive the musicians to keep putting themselves out there.
I also disagree with using internet piracy, I feel bad that people still do it knowing that it is wrong. unfortunately anyone can put just about anything online and there's nothing that the music industry can do to prevent it. Luckily most musicians still make money from other sources but they probably lose money when it comes to sales. Like you mentioned. there are expenses that go into making the music and not to mention making the CD clovers and buying CD cases. For musicians that are not too big, this harms them the most because they are not yet established and for a musician just starting out, they need the sales more than others.If only there was a way that the artist can demand money from these companies for each song they let someone download. The hard part would be keeping track of everyone who downloads your music. What people do not get, is that musicians have to make a living too. What you said at the end also makes sense because without the sales of the musician's albums, there's no way to really know how many fans they have and it may discourage them from continuing to make music. The fans should also keep that in mind if they really enjoy a certain artist or band.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with illegal downloading. I do not know why they cannot stop the people making it available. When a minor purchases alcohol illegally the person who sold it to them is in trouble. Not the minor or the parents. That is how I feel about piracy. Whoever made the downloads available should be punished. And quite frankly I think most of them are soooo greedy. I cannot feel bad at all that they are losing money on the garbage they are pushing. They are making music but should not be idolized. We all need to make a living but they are not satisfied with a little dental or medical insurance. We are funding their jet set lifestyles and funding their aggressive sexual agendas that openly support abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, drug addiction and child molestors. The very things that are destroying the people and youth of America today. Less money for them to advertise and produce that junk. So how do I feel bad about them going on and on about it? They need to handle it by being more aggressive in finding the source of the downloads instead of heavily fining the parents of these little teenagers . Maybe their million dollar mansions, cosmetic surgery and limo rides will just have to wait.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is we need to get back to God. Commandment #1: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength. Commandment #2: You shall make for yourself no graven images.You shall have no idols. Sounds like a plan to me. God goes on to say, “I know the PLANS I have for you to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11. I know that some of the artists really appreciate their fans while others are like I’m so great how could you not love me? But the truth is no of them loves you enough to die for you and God does. So who should be getting our adoration and worship? God and God alone.
Well, I don’t agree with theft but back in the day when I liked a song the only way I had to keep that song in my life was to record it off the radio onto one of my old tapes. Ever since the internet was made accessible to the public it has become a bigger and bigger issue. I don’t really see the difference other than it is now on a much larger scale. All of those songs that I illegally used for myself actually didn't all go to waist. Once you listen to a song or bunch of songs by an artist you will probably end up liking the music even more and eventually if the music is what you love you would want to give anything you have for the chance to see them perform. Just because you steal a song or two doesn’t mean you aren't saving all year to spend that $200 on a seat to the live show. I never paid them for the use of the song, but that free song ended up giving me a lifetime of dedication to particular artists. At the moment I cant afford it but I just go to good old youtube.com and that works great.
ReplyDeleteThe fight against piracy is a losing battle, as anyone would expect. In a growing technological age, there would naturally be a larger increase in piracy. I understand what you’re saying by “supporting the musicians” and I can see how musicians will need other jobs in order to earn a regular living.
ReplyDeleteThere is an increase in “free” music availability, even more so now than ever before- this will only continue to rise. There is no clear answer what will happen in the future, but more and more access to music is becoming available to everyone at no cost. One can easily find anything they want on YouTube nowadays; why would anyone pay for music if they can simply create a list of favorites on YouTube, and listen to all those songs that way? Keep in mind that this is not piracy, rather it seems like an improvement.
Piracy, or theft, stems from either the stimulus of the act or the inability to acquire something legally. We’d like the latter to stay true to its terms, however we can see that slowly, more and more people are resorting to downloading because it is free and easily accessible. Going out to buy something requires time, gas, and money. The tradeoffs are obvious, we’re just becoming more and more cheap. There are those individuals who go out and buy albums to support their favorites, but I would like to keep in mind that this notion will soon die out.