I was wondering what everyone's take is on music Piracy whether it buying bootlegged albums or downloading unauthorized material off the internet. Does it affect sales?! Does it damage the artist? Here is my take..

I am a music pirate. I don't sell music and never will but i download it constantly, maybe six or seven albums a week. Mostly stuff that i would never consider buying basically because i have an insatiable appetite for new music and i get bored pretty quickly listening to the same stuff over and over again. On my HD at the moment i have numerous pre releases and loads of classic funk from the 70's and 80's, I now have musical tastes that have massively expanded since downloading files.

Why don't i go out and buy the music? One because it's too expensive. Secondly and the biggest reason being that often i have very little idea on what that artist is going to sound like as more often that not they dont get airplay, and im not going to buy an album based on hearing maybe one song. This therefore saves me from buying a bad album. Which begs the question? Have sales dropped not because of people freely pirating and having access to files or because we have become more active consumers due to the product being worse nowadays than it's ever been? I think more the latter than the former.

Do i feel guilty for what i do? Absolutely not. If it's an album i truly dig i will buy it. If i merely like it then i've discovered something new and i will probably go and check out that act live when they come to my area (I've attended over 200 concerts) which is more than the CD's i have in my collection.

Also. For all those new artists i have discovered. If i buy something, even if its only one item from their discography they have gained not lost. An extra concert ticket sold is also a gain.

To finish i want to relate this to Prince. I have a good friend who never liked Prince, she saw him as the guy who performed Kiss and a couple of eighties hits. I then gave her two CDs with MP3s of every single album he has released so far. Piracy?! you bet. My friend listened and became a Prince fan, a major fan. She now has her fave albums on CD and is now a member of NPGMC and attended three shows of the ONA tour. Did Prince gain from this? Absolutely.

What are other peoples opinions?

You are just justifying breaking the law.

You are not allowed to speed on the highway even if you can say that it doesn't hurt anyone, saves fuel, inspires you to buy a faster car, etc. I obviously meant this comparison as a bit of a joke, but you get the idea.

It's against the law - enough said.

There is no clear cut answer.

There are reasons for both sides.

I have to things that validate my persnal opinion on this:

1) The only person who truly gets robbed is the record company. The bands still get thier mtv and radio royalties, and they still gain endorsements and have people come to thier concerts (the real places where they make money). So does the Record Industry treat artists fairly? NO. Do they "pirate?" YES. They take control of music other than in a handful of artists who they use as examples when wooing future bands.

2) Once I hear a song, I have it in my head. I have made a copy of that song and I play it back from time to time. Am I expected to pay royalties for that? NO. When I hear a song on the radio, I have the song in my head and the record company, the band, and the radio station all get paid one way or another. At this point, I feel justified in having an electronic copy of that song.

Now...there are also these issues:

I can buy the Britney Spears album at any store. Instead, I go to my friend and have him burn me a copy for a dollar. That's undercutting available product.

On the flip side, I have a Out Of Print Vanity 6 CD. I make a copy of that for a friend for a dollar. Still pirating, but without the undercutting.

Bootlegs are more of a grey area. The main problem with bootlegs are that they ARE the property of another person (the artist/band), but were stolen by or entrusted to engineers, lovers, family, etc. and then turned around and sold for profit.

This also falls into two categories:

I get an advance copy of the new J. Lo CD. It's out to retail in 3 months. I make copies of it and sell it for $10 a pop. That's depleting initial record sales. Those sales determine popularity of an album thus affecting how many times it gets on the radio (royalties) and what kind of endorsements a band gets. Undercutting future sales.

The other one is Prince will never record songs with cuss words again. This means that ExtraLoveable and Days of Wild (studio) will never see the light of day. I make a two track CD and sell it for $5 a pop. Still pirating! But now only _possibly_ undercutting future sales.

In the end, it is wrong. But you can ease make it less wrong (yes, it IS possible) by ensuring that the artists whose music you nap are paid one way or another (by the CD, go to thier concert, request the song on the radio).

lovemachine said:

It's all about moral stance really. I bet 95% of the people on the org have Prince outtakes and have bought bootlegs. Perhaps yourself?! But this is considered OK despite

1. The product in question isn't even legal to begin with.

2. The release of the music was unauthorised.


Most people turn a blind eye to it though and openly discuss material that isn't supposed to be even out there. Hell we all love this stuff! I also have numerous Prince bootlegs on original and i love them to bits. As for his soundtracks and other Prince material I have No Doubts Rock Steady and the Radical Man soundtrack on original. Do you? Do most people on this site? I bet they don't but i bet they've got Waiting Room and 2045:Radical Man.

"It's not what people do, it's why they do it"

Take 50 Cent&R.Kelly?? Both Albums during there First Week Sales almost did 2 Million Combine.nothing wrong with Down-Loading etc..&it won't stop anybody from Buying Product if the Music is Tight.the Problem is that Most Acts only have 2-3 Tight Tracks out of 16&the Record labels want almost 20 bucks for that?? if I Can't get something I'll DownLoad it.only Rare or the Stuff that The Record Companys won't Re-Release or Outtakes.I Don't really want anything that is Out Now.My thing is about Older Stuff,etc..