Filesharing - Give us a chance!

[Bengal]

Sorry for the grief. I too think it's a form of theft. But next time I go to the liquor store, I'll pop the top on a few Amstel Lights as I cruise through the store. If I develop a taste for it, I may throw down and buy a six pack.

Watch out Mark, soon we will be called out as "old".

Zeeg,
It's a tough one for us older folk to swallow. (Here we go with the "back in my day" speech) We didn't have what is available today to see if we liked something or not. Radio sure as shit wasn't playing Slayer or Venom or Metallica or Megadeth or Overkill.

I, and my friends, bought albums usually based on album covers. Sounds strange but that's what we did. We got burned more often than we found an Overkill's Feel The Fire. But thats the way it went back then.

So it's hard for me to get behind that arguement being burned quite a few times before. But that was also the fun of it too. Sometimes they sucked, sometimes they were good. It was like an Easter Egg Hunt!

[thetroy]

Troy,
My thoughts are if you can't afford it, you can't have it. Live among your means.

I don't see people doing this with other goods. "I'm gonna take this motorcycle, if I like it, I'll pay for it. If not, I'm keeping it anyway". Sounds kinda stupid when you put that idea to something bigger.

But hey, it's just a song right? Most of it sucks so why should I pay for it anyway?

I've heard the arguements, I don't really agree with them.

But to each their own. If you are cool with stealing peoples stuff, more power to you.

Until there is a penalty for stealing music and other media, I will continue to do so.


If I can't afford it and therefore won't buy it anyway, how am I hurting the band by stealing it? They can't count my download as a loss of a sale.

That is the difference between music and your motorcycle. Taking the motorcycle costs the company money to replace it.

[zeegler]

Completely different. The thing is, you want people to hear your music. Look at it this way, if I don't hear it first, then I absolutely for sure ain't gonna buy it. If I hear it, and like it enough to listen to it, I'll buy it. If not, I'm not gonna listen to it anyway. It's like non-destructive product testing, wheras opening a few bottles of beer would definitely be destructive testing.

Oh, and why the hell would anyone drink Amstel light voluntarily?

[SEEGERMANY]

Sorry for the grief. I too think it's a form of theft. But next time I go to the liquor store, I'll pop the top on a few Amstel Lights as I cruise through the store. If I develop a taste for it, I may throw down and buy a six pack.

[levantin]

I feel for you man, my bands album is available on several forums and file sharing. Any chance of tracking down the source?

That being said I do download music. I do try to buy the ones I like but I find that 75% of the good stuff isn't available in this country and buying online is a bluddy p.i.t.a. because of customs regulations and postage etc., but I have bought all of the local bands stuff. I would never ever download the album of a struggling band.

[Ben...]

Personally, if I download something, and really like it, I will make a point of buying a legit copy.

I do the same thing. I find that if I willingly listen to an album more than 3 or 4 times it is worth it for me to buy said album. Even if there is only a couple of songs that I really like (I'm looking at you, Ram It Down) I will happily spend the cash to get the album.

[Bengal]

Troy,
My thoughts are if you can't afford it, you can't have it. Live among your means.

I don't see people doing this with other goods. "I'm gonna take this motorcycle, if I like it, I'll pay for it. If not, I'm keeping it anyway". Sounds kinda stupid when you put that idea to something bigger.

But hey, it's just a song right? Most of it sucks so why should I pay for it anyway?

I've heard the arguements, I don't really agree with them.

But to each their own. If you are cool with stealing peoples stuff, more power to you.

[thetroy]

I always download things first. If I find they're worth the money (most are NOT), then I'll buy them.

Quite frankly, it would cost me on the order of $30,000.00 to buy all of the CD's I have in my mp3 library at $15 each.

Add in DVD's of movies, TV shows, and concerts which I have downloaded and the cost is ~$50,000.00 for the media I have.

Buying everything is simply not an option for me at this time. If you don't like it, take some action more than whining on a forum.

[joelayres]

You can get the file(s) removed by filing a DMCA notice with the web host and/or site owner where the file(s) originate.
In this case, it would be Rapid Share AND the blog hosting the link.

[zeegler]

That sucks man. Personally, if I download something, and really like it, I will make a point of buying a legit copy. You especially have to support the little guys. Like you said, it don't mean shit to people like Metallica, but up and coming bands, and guys with lower sales like COC, really need the fans to buy the product.

[Bengal]

I hear you. Filesharing is illegal.

But a lot here do it and admit to it. Where are those guys in this thread?

I feel for you man. Tons of bands get their shit leaked online. Tons.

Doesn't help with this though. I would go after that rock "journalist" with everything I had.

EDIT: It will be interesting to see how some respond to this thread.

[GryphonGuitar]

I just did a Google on my band and found out that our album's available on filesharing.

The thing is, it's not out until August 22nd! Some rock journalist dude took an advanced copy of the album and shared it and is just eats me alive - Give us a damned chance! These days if Your first album doesn't make a profit You don't get to make a second one, so for us it's so vital to make a decent turnaround just to stay alive in the business...

If I was Metallica I'd be happy to see people sharing my album because they get to make a new album no matter what. But for us, this stuff could just end our career and I just hate feeling this #¤"%& helpless about it.

And the worst thing is, right now there isn't even an option to buy it legally since it isn't out for another month - which means we run the risk of saturating the market before we've even set off.

I'm so pissed off I can hardly type. I know it's inane not to believe Your stuff will end up online, but give us a damned chance!!

Rant over.