[Rumori] re: Songwriters Say Piracy Eats Into Their Pay

[David meme]

Arguing about whether or not the man lost money is ridiculous. 
Fundamentally I think it is a no-brainer to accept that if someone 
downloads an album then they are hardly likely to shell out cash for a 
physical CD (unless the quality is bad). Cassette culture worked 
because we didn't just rip all musicians off but instead we wanted the 
*higher quality* better looking cool vinyl/CD so went out to buy it. 
That is how musicians make money - from CD sales. MP3 culture could be 
the same but if people are swapping CD quality stuff then inevitably 
sales will suffer.

Th alternative idea of linking downloading music to a charity option of 
donating to support musicians does not work from my experience. People 
download it all and give you thanks but no donation. I can't live on 
thanks alone.

I like the idea of free music and sharing but you need to *sell* your 
music (in whatever way you do it) to get enough money to buy the 
expensive equipment that allows you to make more music (and of course 
to eat). By demonizing musicians rights to earning a living wage is not 
the right way forward. Musicians need to be able to make music and to 
make music requires money. Music does not grow on trees, people have to 
sit and write it and slave over their instruments and some form of 
compensation is crucial to enable them to continue doing it.

I agree some balance is required and maybe the record labels are 
overcharging but be careful not to throw out the baby with the 
bathwater...


On 7 Jan 2004, at 17:28, matt davignon wrote:

> Ok, you're right. It is correct logical structure, but is based on a 
> premise that would never be true. If you're going to say "If everyone 
> bought a cd instead", why not say "If everyone bought a cd and mailed 
> an extra $5 check to Mr. Strouse"?
>
> If you asked any reader of this paragraph how much royalty payments 
> Mr. Strouse lost on due to illegal downloading, they would answer 
> $46,000. Since very few humans think like Mr. Spock, it's possible to 
> use logical arguments to exaggerate or mislead.
>
> On singles, I remember 45's being $1-3. (...and I'm not that old.) 
> When cassette singles came out, the prices were often $4 or 5. Last 
> time I looked at cd singles, they were $6-8. These days, if you 
> purchased 2 cd singles, you might as well have bought the cd.
>



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