Torrents? Myth or Fact?

[Cardinals.Ken]

Honestly...the only artists, studios, or record labels that have to fear the loss of revenue from downloadable content are the ones who's work sucks.

Myself, and those like me, are not opposed to spending money on quality product. It's the fact that costs are so high for various forms of entertainment that it becomes prohibitive for the average consumer to take the risk on inferior product.

For example: I downloaded Dark Knight, and watched it the evening before release. It was so good that I saw it three times in the theatre, and I purchased the blu-ray the day of it's release. It was the same case with the latest Star Trek film, and The Watchmen. On the other hand, I downloaded Superman Returns, watched it and never spent another cent on it.

Moral of the story? Don't make **** product, or if you do, stop charging an arm and a leg for it and you'll nip internet piracy right in the bud.

Just my opinion.

 

[Beaver]

At what point does it become pointless to make music or any other art?

When the trade fails as a chick magnet

 

[Gaddabout]

When the trade fails as a chick magnet

Dude, they're already preparing to replace the musicians.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/virtual-musicians-real-performances/

 

[Sandan]

Not exactly. When you steal a CD from someone, they no longer have it themselves. Downloading it is like going to their house and burning a copy of their CD.

Trying to stop illegal downloading of anything is a lost cause. The focus should be on going after the providers (uploaders). But even that is proving futile. It's just not a priority with law enforcement when they don't even have enough manpower to catch murderers, drug dealers, and rapists, etc.

True enough but it is still theft even if you don't get caught

 

[Gaddabout]

True enough but it is still theft even if you don't get caught

I'm just about worn out trying to make this argument. It's so common and prevalent, people consider it the equivalent of hiding $12 on your income tax forms -- illegal but not necessarily wrong, and in some cases justifiable.

It's funny. People complain about the state of music today. Downloading ultimately won't hurt, say, Nickelback or the Jonas Brothers, but it does eliminate funding for artist development. There will be fewer and fewer acts, because the money will always be funneled into the money makers -- i.e. current acts who aren't going to experiment or bring anything new to the table.

I keep waiting for the indie explosion due to technology and the internet, but it's so fractured and niche as to never building any audience of substance. My friend produced his own Grammy-nominated release and has yet to make back the money he put into it. You can say it's because he doesn't make music that appeals to a lot of people, but it's been illegally downloaded 20,000 times (that he knows of) through various warez sites.

He's never going to make another recording again and going back to doing session work making jingles, commercials, and movies. Can't afford to make his own music.

 

[TheHopToad]

My friend produced his own Grammy-nominated release and has yet to make back the money he put into it. You can say it's because he doesn't make music that appeals to a lot of people, but it's been illegally downloaded 20,000 times (that he knows of) through various warez sites.

Just because it's downloaded, doesn't mean it's good. If 20,000 people download it and most of them think it sucks, they're not going to then go out and buy it. A lot of us use it as a "try before you buy".

Sometimes you need to listen to a song a few times before it hooks you and you want to go buy the CD. And if you're not a major artist getting a lot of radio airplay, then you have to rely on people downloading your stuff to get it heard.

My guess is your friend's song just wasn't very popular with the mainstream...

 

[Gaddabout]

Just because it's downloaded, doesn't mean it's good. If 20,000 people download it and most of them think it sucks, they're not going to then go out and buy it. A lot of us use it as a "try before you buy".

Sometimes you need to listen to a song a few times before it hooks you and you want to go buy the CD. And if you're not a major artist getting a lot of radio airplay, then you have to rely on people downloading your stuff to get it heard.

My guess is your friend's song just wasn't very popular with the mainstream...

You can listen to it all for free on many services -- Rhapsody, fm.com, Pandora.

 

[Cody]

surprised this thread isn't closed with all this illegal talk.

 

[DWKB]

As Beaver said, you can use IsoHunt to grab TV shows that are over-the-air broadcast. For instance, on Wed nights in Feb/March I get the "SEC Game of the Week" instead of prime time. Which means if I want to see Modern Family, I have to look online. DLing a torrent of the show in HD is an easy way to see it.