Alfred

I get free music, don't I?

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sweet_nothing

And you'll burn in hell for it!

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lucifer_sam

Whenever music becomes an entity created, published, distributed and sold by independent musicians THEN it will be the musicians who are hurt by people pirating music. Right now, 90% of the losses are reported by the recording industry, not by individual artists. And that's certainly something I can live with. If you REALLY want to support independent musicians, go to local shows that aren't supported by Ticketmaster. Otherwise, shut the fuck up because you're just feeding the machine.

This is why I get so pissed at people that walk around with an air of "I just saved the world because I paid $20 too much for a CD." Of that money, approximately $1-2 actually reaches the musicians. The rest is assimilated by the distributors, retailers, publishers - basically, the recording industry at large. The majority of musicians' incomes result from live shows, which almost always net large profits (think: the tickets themselves plus the sponsors and the merchandise sold).

The point is that people that download music are in no way "bad" people, and those that think so are ignorant of the bigger picture.

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first.am

The Unfan

I'm in favor of it. I actually discovered a lot of my musical likings through file sharing. I also tend to support artists to whatever extent I can. In that sense I'd like to think file sharing has lead to me actually supporting more artists.

From the standpoint of a musician, it's been free advertising.

boo boo

I think the last album I actually bought was Z by My Morning Jacket, and that was 2 years ago.

I don't bother buying music anymore, because there's no record stores where I live, just wal-mart, and their cd section is horrible. I flat out refuse to order albums online and besides, I like the convenience of just downloading them, its one of those laws that rarely seem to ever be enforced, like the government realises its just a bunch of stupid bull**** anyway, artists get most of their money from touring and self promotion, everyone knows that, all illegal filesharing really hurts are record companies and well I could care less about them.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

15Steps

exactly.
i have been trying to say something like this to my friends all along who have been thinking im the devil for using utorrent.

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dac

interesting side note to this discussion:

rumors have it that radiohead's online pay what you want in rainbows release netted them a sh*t ton of money, while saving costs in the production of the physical cd's and the distribution of them.... do you guys see other bands following that stunt?

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Minstrel

Radiohead was already hugely established and the constant reporting and hyping of their payment gimmick took the place of the massive marketing blitz.

If an artist that wasn't well-known did it, with no one reporting about it, it's fairly unclear that it would work at all. Marketing does tend to be important for drawing in people who don't search the net for music news.

I could see it working for bands with huge, established followings who will do their own research as to when a band is releasing new music. I don't think it would work for non-uberstars.

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"Blow your tuneless trumpet, the choice is yours / We don't want the glamour, the pomp and the drums / The Dublin messiah scattering crumbs"

sweetleaf

I do the same, If the artwork is awesome I will buy the vinyl or I will make a point to see them live and then buy up some merchandise if I like it.
As for Radiohead's idea it was brilliant... yes you have to have a huge following to make it work. This is what Coldplay should have done if they really cared about saving paper and plastic!

Urban Hat€monger ?

I don't support it I just do it anyway.

Who in their right mind turns down free stuff.

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