The music industry is GREEDY! They are targeting the wrong people.

Why do you think it is that they are going after middle-class families whose CHILDREN are downloading this music. Let me enlighten you…

((This is a valid and completely true argument in MAJORITY cases))

A majority of the middle-aged parents in the United States don’t even have knowledge of these file-sharing programs. In most cases, they have no idea what these programs are. Technology is new to these middle-aged people, they do not know what file-sharing programs look like and they certainly do not know that they can be used “illegally” by their CHILDREN. And do you really think that a child under the age of 13 understands what they are doing is WRONG. It is DISGUSTING the way the music industry is taking advantage of the situation and targeting those who have no way to defend themselves. These “middle-class” families I referred to, end up having to settle for thousands of dollars. There is no way a hard working “middle-class” family can afford to fight a FEDERAL CASE and risk losing up to five times what they can settle for. They are obligated and they have no other choices. Why should a parent be held responsible for something they TRULY have no knowledge of. These parents whose CHILDREN have CLEARLY been the ones downloading music, should not suffer losses of thousands of hard earned dollars. The children are oblivious and the parents are INNOCENT!

This is a complete SCAM!!!

Therefore, the music industry lawyers use this weakness to their advantage and this can not be justified in any way. They definitely are targeting the WRONG PEOPLE and this will back-fire on them. Do you really think all these THOUSANDS of hard-working people being sued are going to ever buy a CD again? Especially, when they have no knowledge of the program and/or no knowledge that their CHILD even had the program. The music industry will regret what they are doing to these INNOCENT people. Now they will make CDs from their computer, Now they will NEVER buy another CD and Now the record companies will suffer for the CRIME they are committing against middle-class America!!!

I think your argument was pro-artist and anti-kazaa, but I couldn’t understand it due to the poor grammar, cursing and made up words.

So much more can be said when done through correctly used language.

The rest of you who are complaining about the music industry and artists’ greed need a reality check.

You need to think about the MAGNITUDE of the file sharing. Sure, it doesn’t seem like a big deal if YOU are downloading / sharing songs. You’re only one person right? Well, 500,000+ others have just shared the same song. So, with that said, that’s .10 per copy that the artist is now out because 500,000 people no longer have the need to go BUY the CD. That’s $50,000 the artist just lost (If you’re like James and most likely can’t do the math).

The artists nor the recording company are in this to distribute FREE music. They put hundreds of thousands of dollars investing in these Artists. The Artists pour their heart and soul into trying to make it. Most of them do not, but for those that do, and those we like, we should be supporting them. BUYING their CD is a $13-$18 investment and it is the most simple way to tell the Artist thank you for creating this audible artwork. Call it a silent round of applause.

Then we have those of you who think they’re all greedy because the artist gets such a small amount per CD, but the CD cost $10-20.

I would urge you to put it into perspective and look at the GAS market.

Oil exist already. It doesn’t take the hard work of an Artist or Record Company to bring it to the masses.

It takes someone to get this FREE substance out of the ground, refine it, and then send it to the masses.

A barrel of crude oil cost about $50. This equals .90 per gallon. So why does it cost $2+ at the pump?

Refinement. The oil goes through a very costly process of refinement. Once this is done and it’s transported here and transported there…and everyone who transports it gets a fractional cut of profit from each gallon they’ve handled, it gets to you so you can pay the now inflated price of $2.00-$2.75 per gallon.

Refinement is the key argument here. It takes the Artists years (unpaid) to refine their music. It takes the record lables sometimes years to refine the artist. Most of the time, as I stated before…it’s a lot of money spent in hopes that they make it back from YOUR record purchases.

Sure the CD cost substantially more than what the artist or even record company is making in profit off of it, but that is due to the production costs.

Record lables must build in profits for everyone down the line. From the Artist themselves to the little teenage pimple-faced worker down at the local music shop.

It’s a much larger process then most of you care to realize or admit. It is important that you do.

My final analogy will be this.

Hypothetically, Let’s say I buy the new Super Duper GX5000 DVD/CD burning machine, which burns any cd/dvd copyright or not and burns them in masses of up to 5000 at a time.

So, I take my machine, set up a store front and allow droves of people to come in and copy whatever CD/DVD’s they want as long as they supply their own CD/DVD’s.

Along with supplying this new and fast copying machine, I let them use the machine for free, so no transactions for the copying are taking place in my store.

What I do, however, is place sales people on the floor to approach the customer’s on new credit card offers, survey’s, time-share while they’re waiting for their CD/DVD’s to burn.

Now, although I’ve “posted” a small sticker on the machine, written in a complex legal dialect, to “prohibit” or warn against copying protected materials, every so often I go on my machine and find cd/dvd’s left that are obviously commercially protected content.

This does not alter my business because, after-all it was the customer, they are the one’s who copied the content. I didn’t even charge them for it, they just simply used the technology that “I” provided them.

BACK TO REALITY….

Does this analogy bring the issue back into focus?

In this analogy the customer’s represent those using technologies such as Kazaa. The software represents the machine which the store “owner” provided. The store owner represents those who created and proliferated such technology.

Obviously it would not be legal for someone to set up a store front and offer such a service. Just as it’s not legal for anyone else to do so in a virtual environment.

Whether you be the store owner, or customer using the product he’s supplied to you for free (in some instances almost free), either way you’re breaking copyright laws and financially damaging those who have worked so hard to create the music/movies you love.

I know that few of you will side with my position, but hopefully this will convince a few of you to unload your piracy software and be proud to go out and BUY your entertainment disks.

Thank you.

People who download music aren’t doing anything morally wrong. So why are record companies telling us we’re doing something wrong when they themselves are too sinical and apathetic to care about our financial situation?

Most Copyright infringements are set by greedy corporations like record companies to profit with no limits and make life difficult for people who don’t have the money to enjoy a bit of luxury. There is plenty of water for everyone, we don’t need to be greedy and suck every last drop from the bucket. People with that kind of attitude are impeding the world from progressing to a higher state of spirituality.

In closing: File SHARING is a good thing! I encourage people to keep doing it.

I also happen to agree with the whole “I don’t want to shell out 20, or in some cases 30 dollars for a whole cd for a single song” it’s stupid.

Also I don’t like much conventional music. pop shit and what not. or even rap. now while those styles are in abundence everywhere that has oxygen. my music is harder to come by. (examples being lesser known bands, or some forms of instrumentals)

I have bought more then 30 cds as a result of my time on kazaa in the last year alone. in my mind P2P programs are the single best form of advertisement in existence.

Also the whole idea of a peer to peer network is sharing files, if you move said files out of the shared folder they are no longer being shared. making you a leech on the network, and simply put if everyone stopped sharing, then there wouldnt be a network at all. (but given the way everyone is being spyed upon what choice do you really have?) I hate what the RIAA is doing. fucking artists going around bitching because we are taking away less money from them then I pay in taxes every year!. fuck them.

One thing I know. I will never purchase a cd in a store again. And I don’t understand everything about this I know one thing $750.00 for one file being downloaded is a disgrace. Who will stand and fight for us…..