News Downloading Music Ain't Illegal! :)

[Scouse]

According to the people who actually make the music

So that's a nice big CTFOADOA for the few tits on here who say "blah blah, it's against the law" .....

 

[DaGaffer]

That's not what the actual article says. It says artists think punters shouldn't be prosecuted for downloading, which isn't the same as saying its not illegal. The artists don't actually make copyright law unfortunately, and actually have a limited say in the matter as things currently stand.

I'm all over this subject like a rash at the moment with work and I actually hope the artists get some traction with FAC, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Scouse]

Yeah, I was going for a tabloid El Reg style

But yes. The sooner the middlemen get p00ned out of a job the better IMHO. There's no reason for artists to have to pander to the corporations anymore. And there's no reason we should be shelling out what we do for music...

 

[DaGaffer]

Yeah, I was going for a tabloid El Reg style

But yes. The sooner the middlemen get p00ned out of a job the better IMHO. There's no reason for artists to have to pander to the corporations anymore. And there's no reason we should be shelling out what we do for music...

Idealistic. There will always be middlemen. All that's going on now is a move from middlemen called EMI, Sony, Universal, Warner, to middlemen called Google and Apple. Not necessarily an improvement imho.

 

[Scouse]

Idealistic. There will always be middlemen.

Defeatist. There doesn't necessarily have to be. Certainly not the money-grabbing format we have now

 

[Sar]

There won't always be middlemen.

Look at what Radiohead and NIN did with their albums - sold them / gave them directly to the public without a label being involved.

Plus many established artists set up their own labels - Prodigy with Take me to the Hospital for instance.


Even the RIAA have ceased prosecuting downloaders now, as they've realised how self-defeating and pointless it ultimately is.

 

[Scouse]

Thankyou Sar!

But I disagree with this:

Even the RIAA have ceased prosecuting downloaders now, as they've realised how self-defeating and pointless it ultimately is.

They haven't realised that. They've done a cost-benefit analysis and the results they get from prosecutions aren't worth the costs.

They'll forget that in a few years and start again

 

[DaGaffer]

There won't always be middlemen.

Look at what Radiohead and NIN did with their albums - sold them / gave them directly to the public without a label being involved.

Plus many established artists set up their own labels - Prodigy with Take me to the Hospital for instance.


Even the RIAA have ceased prosecuting downloaders now, as they've realised how self-defeating and pointless it ultimately is.

The problem with the Radiohead example is a. they were already famous so effectively reaching an established audience, and b. it didn't actually work. People didn't pay anything like a market value; as an experiment in trust it was a failure (I think if you search on the Reg you'll find the article).

This is the common misconception about the music industry, that's its somehow sat there doing nothing and just scarfing up profit; their role is break new artists. Now you don't necessarily need that function to be carried out by EMI or whoever, but there WILL be a middleman involved in almost all cases; why do you think NewsCorp bought MySpace? No-one knows just exactly what the new structure will look like yet, but I guarantee, and am prepared to bet as much money as you like, that for the vast majority of successful musicians there will be a middleman (or middlemen) of some sort, and it won't necessarily be better than the current model (I think it will, but I look at the way the games industry is starting to shake out and that is probably going to be worse from a consumer choice perspective).

 

[DaGaffer]

Thankyou Sar!

But I disagree with this:



They haven't realised that. They've done a cost-benefit analysis and the results they get from prosecutions aren't worth the costs.

They'll forget that in a few years and start again

No, they've just realised its more effective to go for the ISPs instead, and let them be the ones who have to endure the customer backlash.

 

[Deebs]

I really hope that TPB wins their trial, at least then it will make the big 4 realise the following:

1. Digital media is the way forward
2. They charge too much
3. Noone likes DRM at all
4. Tapes didn't kill vinyl sales, TV didn't kill radio (both predicted by the industry) and that digital media won't kill music.

At this point in time I would not want to be in Ireland on Eircom's service as they have given into the MAFIAA and the RIAA and by doing so given up on "common carrier" status.

These "middlemen" are NOT chasing the filesharers for the good of the artists imo, they are simply trying to protect their profits based on an ages old system.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

This is the common misconception about the music industry, that's its somehow sat there doing nothing and just scarfing up profit; their role is break new artists.

Maybe if they stopped breaking only the type of artists they think will sell to the teenage girls that eat up this shit wave of indie-pop people would actually think they're doing something for music, and not for their own big pockets.

 

[DaGaffer]

Maybe if they stopped breaking only the type of artists they think will sell to the teenage girls that eat up this shit wave of indie-pop people would actually think they're doing something for music, and not for their own big pockets.

You're missing the point. Whether the music industry is doing its job well or not is irrelevant (for the record, I agree with your view entirely), all I'm saying is once they're gone we won't be living in a happy clappy world where artists and customers interact without middlemen. The middlemen may look different, but they'll still be taking their cut.

 

[SheepCow]

 

[Tom]

You're missing the point. Whether the music industry is doing its job well or not is irrelevant (for the record, I agree with your view entirely), all I'm saying is once they're gone we won't be living in a happy clappy world where artists and customers interact without middlemen. The middlemen may look different, but they'll still be taking their cut.

There's a fantastic artist I discovered on What.cd. Called 'The Flashbulb', he released his album onto that site, got tens of thousands of downloads, and a hell of a lot of praise. It really is a fantastic album:

Soundtrack to a Vacant Life - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have no idea how many people bought it due to that, but I was one of the ones who did.