Proof that record companies are stealing from us

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: eakers
"an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind"

No, then you just have more people walking around with one eye.

-PAB

 

[WinkOsmosis]

IMO the tea analogy is off, and so are the arguments in favor of the record companies.

The tea that the colonists used was not English tea. Most of it was smuggled from Holland, in keeping with the non import agreements. The English tea was brought from the East India company, and was cheaper than the smuggled tea. Before then, tea ships were simply turned away.
If you wanted to, you could compare smuggling tea instead of buying overpriced English tea to pirating mp3s....

IIRC, musicians get a very small amount of the profits, like a few percent. They won't starve if record companies go out of business. Think about it this way... if they are all garage bands, doesn't that level the playing field, eliminating factors like "connections"? If everyone gets music through the internet, more bands will be heard. "How will they make their money?!" They will work for it just like everybody else. You know those things that people pay to go to and listen to the band playing music? Concerts I think they are called?

 

[Jzero]

Did you even bother to read what I wrote? What I said was that we can survive just fine on simple food (for example potatoes and vegetables), then why do we spend our money of beef, chicken, caviar, coca-cola, Mountain Dew etc. etc. We don't NEED those to live, therefore they are a luxury. And since they are a luxury, companies that make them are free to decide between themselves how much they cost. I mean that is according to your logic.

The idea doesn't end because CDs are a luxury item. The idea is that just because you can't afford a luxury item doesn't mean the companies charging too much for a luxury item are somehow stealing from consumers.

You don't see people accusing BMW or Audi of stealing from consumers because their cars cost more than the can afford.
If you can't afford a computer YOU DON'T BUY ONE.
If you can't afford fillet mignon, do you accuse beef farmers of collusion, or do you buy a cheaper cut of meat?

I haven't bought a big-label CD in a long time, so I'm rather surprised to "learn" that someone has been stealing from me.
I'm sure you can understand why I'm sceptical....

 

[KKiller]

I can't understand... are you guys naive enough to believe that record companies agreed to shell out 150+ million dollars because of no fault of their own?
Do you realize that 41 states were after the record companies for their illegal practices?

No fault agreements are common in settlements. They however don't mean that the prosecuted party has "no fault".

Record companies are some of the most savy industries when it comes to litigation. They practically live in the courtroom suing artists and other companies in order to better control their interests. Imagine what would have happened to these companies if they were not legally savy. I bet you the settlement would have been a LOT more.

I seriously can't believe you guys are dumb enough to believe that record companies have "no fault".

 

[mithrandir2001]

I guess you can beat upon the chest ad nauseum but I think we all are too jaded by file sharing to worry over our personal integrities. I don't think there's much wrong with the practice. We traded tapes when I was a kid; now we have better technology at our disposal. You can say I am trying to rationalize my "theft" but I've become too numb over the last several years. It's like telling me not to speed on the highway anymore. Sorry, I won't. I can't. It's part of my psyche.

I think that intellectual property is actually owned by the public at large, in certain situations. For example, in 1988, Harrison, Lynne, Dylan, Petty and Orbison released a joint album called The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1. This album has been out of print for many years because of disputes with Roy Orbison's estate. There are 50 copies of the album available on half.com with the cheapest being offered for $23.68...obviously this is a rare item. Seeing that there was no way to buy this album at a "normal" price, I downloaded this album on WinMX. I feel that the public owns intellectual property "freely" in situations where the original copyright holder has failed to make their property available at all. This is not a patent. This is music. If the industry won't sell it, then the public should own it without compensation.