Record Industries taking on Napster clones next....

[Ponyboy25]

I was reading this article on Zdnet, and I'm starting to get even more frustrated with these companies, their copyrights and their damn penny-pinching lawyers. When will this sh!t stop:|. Are these companies ever going to figure out that there will always be others who will set up shop?? It just pisses me off that they're looking to take everybody down, but if they took a step back and realized that if they stopped overcharging people for all their products and changed their marketing schemes, maybe we'd actually purchase their stuff and stop ripping them off in return. With all the crap that they're pulling, it ticks me off more, and now I'm downloading as much stuff as I can, even stuff that I'll never watch, listen, use... And if it comes down to supporting the free market, I'll even setup my own server just to piss 'em off even more:|:|:|

 

[FrogDog]

Do you really think the majority of people who use Napster are going to pay for a CD if the prices drop, when it's still free for download though? Plus the convenience of mp3s are another strong attraction.

 

[Raspewtin]

how do they plan to pursue programs that have no central server and no company behind them?

 

[Tauren]

If you lived-off royalties from products you created, I'm sure you would feel different. what if your company expected you to come to work everyday and produce, but only paid you every now and then?? Would you still work for them? I doubt it. We pay them to entertain us, otherwise they would be doing something else entirely different in order to support their families. It is still called stealing.

 

[tontod]

Yeah, but the recording industry still made tons of profits even with napster, how do you explain that? Napster is a good way for lesser known artists/musicians to spread their music fast. The recording industry dosent seem to want this.

 

[Ponyboy25]

Some, not all, entertainers are overpaid for their contributions to society IMO. Sure you can have your cake and eat it too, but you can't screw us over and think we'll be happy about it. I try to support the artists that I really like, but paying the big companies that overcharge us our money isn't my way of doing it. The steal from us, we steal from them. It's how the world works now. They take down Napster and now they're just trying to scare everyone else. I'm sure all their legal costs will be handed down to the consumer, as always.

 

[SmiZ]

Raspewtin makes a very good point, and I've been saying it for a long time. Who do you sue when you're pissed at something like gnutella? There is no central server needed for a client like this. You're only option is to sue millions of individual users. Good luck with that. :|:|

 

[vi edit]

What cost's more? The non-existant loss in record sales, or the cost of hiring all of these lawyers to fight your cases?

 

[Tauren]

So, record companies shouldn't be in the business for profit, just for sh!ts and giggles??

 

[SmiZ]

<< So, record companies shouldn't be in the business for profit, just for sh!ts and giggles?? >>



Maybe the ease of music transfer should signal a change in the music industry. They need to adapt rather than fight a no-win battle. They piss people off by doing it and they aren't going to accomplish their goal.

 

[vi edit]

Tauren, here's my beef with the music industry - a lot of CD's cost around $10-$12 to buy at a store like Best Buy. Guess how much the artists get - about a dollar. One lowsy dollar per CD. Now devide that by an average of 4 (number of members for an average band) and each musician makes $.25 a CD.

Meanwhile, some record exec is sitting in his $1000 Armani suit raking in the dough. In order for many musicians to get a deal they have to release the rights of their music to the studios. That's just flat out wrong in my opinion.

 

[Tauren]

SmiZ - I agree completely. I have said for a long time that the industry needs to move to the internet. A pay-by-song download type of arraigment. Complete with snippets of other songs by the artist that doesn't get radio play. I'd personally love it, I'm sick of spending $17 for one song and a bunch of crap.

 

[Tauren]

vi_edit - I agree but without record companies bands couldn't afford the entire process of getting a band off the ground. record companies have the bands by the balls and they like to squeeze. when a band gets popular enough the ratio of royalties changes for the better.

 

[Ponyboy25]

No, not what I'm saying; everyone needs to make a living. Personally, I don't like all the glamour and fame that these people get (no, I'm not jealous), and it's all due to the huge chunks of cash they get. It's things like this that cause so many to pursue and fail with their aspirations to be &quot;rich and famous&quot;. Sure, pay 'em good, because not everyone has talent, but don't sell media at high prices to pay them and the execs millions of $$$. Keep it reasonable, which they haven't and it has been published, and maybe people will be reasonable too and pay the cash for their interests. Of course, there will always be people like FrogDog, but their will be other like me who are willing to pay those that entertain us at reasonable prices.

 

[Tauren]

Ponyboy25 - It's basic economics: supply and demand.

 

[warcleric]

The point is, pirating copyrighted material is illegal, I am not above it, I have mp3's and warez, but it is illegal. It is stealing, you have no right to b!tch about them protecting their copyright.

 

[Tauren]

warcleric - AMEN!

 

[Ponyboy25]

Yes, they do. If I had a company and people found a way to rip me off from making billions, I would do anything in my power to stop them too. I guess I'm just trying to say that there will be no end to their battle. They'll take down some here and there, but they'll never get everyone. It's the law of &quot;a free world&quot;. I feel bad for all the people who actually pay for their stuff (not me), as they are the ones who are getting the legal costs handed down to them. I said I feel bad, but not bad enough to stop downloading...

 

[apoppin]

Without giving a moral opinion here, how will the RIAA go after Napsterlike servers located in countries beyond their reach (i.e. former Soviet Union countries)?

 

[bigd480]

i think it's great that the record industry is wasting millions trying to fight an invisible enemy.... ufck em.... i hope they fire all the idiot execs who were too stupid to realize that it's a hopeless cause....

i guess they're not satisfied w/ the fact that every piece of crap teenybopper album they put out sells in recordbreaking #s.... they have to go and try to screw their main customer, teens and young adults....

how many people do u know who use mp3s exclusively? like nobody.... i have a collection of about 1800 mp3s and still have probably 500 songs on CD and continue to buy CDs of good artists....

with the rec companies being such bastards, it's going to make me a lot less likely to buy CDs at all (except whatever Madonna puts out)

anyway you look at it, artists will get screwed by record companies over and over.... they're the reason the industry exists so it's surprising they don't have much power in this....

some of the more successful artists should spend some of their millions on creating independent labels that use a more direct model of selling to the consumer... use the damn web... you think limp bizkit would sell less records if they were only available on the internet? maybe, but not by much...

mp3s are here to stay and the 1000% profits that record companies make on CDs are only going to exist as long as people keep buying them...

 

[bigbootydaddy]

cant stop that things like hotline and ftps...so dont grow grey hairs, we know its here to stay for free...so chill.

 

[The Stigenator]

if they cant get teh sharing system. they might attack the format (.mp3 / .wma).
then that would suck even more.. Sorry if they do that I will be sending messages their way.