I can't stop listening to the new Adele Album 25

[DARKSEID]

You're cheating the artist and making it more difficult for other artists, not as popular as Adele, to make a living.

I grew up in the 90's when music was really expensive. If I bought a CD in '97 for around $12 it would roughly cost $18 today. In today's technological environment, I don't have to buy the whole CD and can select only the songs I like. With the average song around $.99 on Itunes, that's very affordable and the cost, dollar-for-dollar, is less than what it was 20 years ago. That's a fair price I'm willing to pay.

How exactly? If I find an artist I like, I can support them directly through networking and going to their shows.

[Mr Ehrmantraut]

No chance i am paying for anything readily available on the internet for free.

[BostonGuy]

How exactly? If I find an artist I like, I can support them directly through networking and going to their shoes.

The artist is paid royalties on the music that is sold. And how does supporting them through "networking" help them financially? Going to the their shows helps them but what about the artist that can't afford to stage a tour?

[krazyn8tive]

pirating music is theft. you're a thief.

Who cares though? I mean really.

[krazyn8tive]

No chance i am paying for anything readily available on the internet for free.

Exactly. The record companies and all media companies know this. Yet they still "sell" or peddle their product on the web. Uhhhhh...not paying for that **** when I can get it off a torrent site for free

[DARKSEID]

The artist is paid royalties on the music that is sold. And how does supporting them through "networking" help them financially? Going to the their shows helps them but what about the artist that can't afford to stage a tour?

My question was, how does downloading music harm struggling artists? If they're struggling it must mean nobody likes their music, and if nobody likes their music, then why would anyone want to download them anyway?

If there's a struggling artist that I like then I can support them directly. I can hypothetically still download music and support the artists I want to support at the same time.

[Weltschmerz]

oh dear.

My initial post was made jokingly, did it escape you all. As someone else said, if I really dig something, I'll go ahead and buy it too... probably on vinyl too.

[New England]

Who cares though? I mean really.

one person downloading music illegally isn't signifcant.


there was a dude named kant, who knew some sh#t about a lot of sh#T. he said something along the lines of, "don't act in a manner that everybody can't replicate."


what happens if everybody starts downloading music illegally? will musicians and record companies just say, "well, they beat us, i guess we're going to work for free for the rest of our lives."

[BostonGuy]

My question was, how does downloading music harm struggling artists? If they're struggling it must mean nobody likes their music, and if nobody likes their music, then why would anyone want to download them anyway?

I don't even know how to respond to such flawed thinking. Not every artist is gonna be the next U2, Adele, etc. A lot of struggling and 'unknown' artists have a much smaller but devoted following. If that person puts his/her music up for sale on the internet, what gives you the right to download it for free? You're preventing them from making a livelihood. It's no different than if you walked into a grocery store and stole a pack of gum. It's pretty black-and-white, if you can't grasp that concept then you need to evaluate how you reason about things in the world.

[Weltschmerz]

People are smart enough to support underground or up and coming artists, and steal corporate stuff at the same time.

I'm sure Adele is comfortable already.