Couldn't agree more with Brett about copying and pirating. Maybe two years ago or so, a band who was fronted by a friend of my guitar player, got signed to Capitol. Well of course the band was ecstatic and figured they had hit it big time. They had bigwigs telling them that they were going to be the next best thing since sliced bread and all that crap.
They recorded an album, it got radio play but did not sell well enough and six months later they were dropped. That's it. Six months and it was based on CD sales. If you pirate music you very possibly could have contributed to what was probably one of the most depressing things that happened in these four peoples lives...
If your a musician, think about how you would feel if Capitol walked up and offered you a contract, one good enough your entertainment attourney says to go for it. They are going to pay to record, market, and get YOUR songs on radio stations and in record stores around the world. You'd be walking on clouds, calling the boss to quit the day job and telling all the people who said you should persue something with more of a future "HAHAH I told ya so!"
Now think of how you'd feel knowing that you were dropped because CD sales weren't up to snuff. Think about how you would feel about people who pirated your music. If you pirate music this is what you contribute to. People cry "I can't afford to pay $20 for a CD" (nevermind the fact that I can only think of a few CD's I paid more than $16 for and only a double disc set that was $20) , when you break that over the number of tracks it's like $1.25 per song. You can't pay $1.25 per song that you get to listen to over and over?? Then don't and listen to it on the radio. Just because you can't afford something doesn't make it right to steal it. I can't afford a freaking Corvette but that doesn't entitle me to just go and steal one does it? No, I have to work within what I can afford. Comparing the cost of a vette to a CD a bit extreme?? Then go into your local store and try walking out of there with $15 in goods and explain to them "I can't afford it and the companies that produce these goods are just ripping people off anyway" and see how far that get's ya. After you do, why don't you post the address to the local jail your sitting in a week for and I'll mail you some cigarettes to keep "Bubba" your bunkmate off of you for a few more hours.
It's funny because it seems like people around here are always bitching about the record companies ripping people off. If anyone is ripping you off it's the freaking CD shops. I posted in a different thread a stat I read in a trade mag once. 9 out of 10 signed bands never see any money after the initial advance. This is because they don't make enough money to cover the advance. That means record labels lose money on 9 out of 10 projects they sign. It's money that enables record companies to sign bands and promote bands. Less money means they will sign fewer clients. In smaller labels this is really appearent. When you steal music you are making it harder for someone else to get signed. No one seems to get this and they want to blame record companies for why music is so expensive.
But what do CD stores do? They mark the price of the discs and they take close to 50% is what they do and yet no one says anything about that. You think they deserve half of the cost of a CD? Appearently so since I havn't seen one single gripe about that. You think record companies set the price on the CD? They let the retailer know how much they expect to get back on each CD and the retailer does the rest. The retailer is the biggest screwer in all of this. I have yet to see retailers taking risks signing bands and giving musicians a chance at some real big money, have you? And so you want to bite the hand that may someday feed you if your lucky?
I'm sorry this is so long but pirating has gotten out of control and as a full time musician it really pisses me off. All of this "Oh the bands make so much money on tour they don't care about the piddley little amount they make from CD sales" may be true for a select few, but not for the majority of us out there. And the earlier mentioned "They have so much money they'd just as soon do it for free because they are only in it for the creativity and expression" is the biggest pile of crap, and is a statement that only someone who hasn't relied on their musicianship to pay the bills would make.
Kobe Bryant has more money than I can shake a stick at, yet you don't see him out there performing for free do you? Why not?
Think about it. Everytime you pirate, YOU, not the record companies, are killing the music industry. Stealing is stealing and you can rationalize it all you want and blame the industry all you want, but you are still a thief.
Now that I have set the record for two of the longest posts in history, I will go rest my weary fingers in ice water.
). Big artist may want fancy ass studios for weeks with the top technicians, but the fact is that especially young and beginning artist don't need the record sompany to get a good sounding recording of their talent.
I think that it has become so common that people don't really think of it as being wrong anymore.
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Papa James