Should it be illegal to download music?

[TimeParadoX]

Firstly, I'd be very careful about mentioning LimeWire on TechSpot. We don't take kindly to the name of any piratical program being brought up nonchalantly. And, though the artists are completely made, and they do get money from merchandise and live performances, it's still nice to give them a little gratification every once and a while. Especially independent artists: they make little enough as is.

You just mentioned LimeWire just now

It doesn't really matter if I say it because i'm not specifically saying what people do with it, Im just naming a program.

Initially he had bad spyware as his son uses two p2p fileshare programs and downloads heavily.

That's from a post I saw earlier, yet you didnt go in and complain about it

 

[thebaronjocelin]

About the "two P2P" post: well, I don't go around the forums searching for the word P2P. I just mention it in posts I look in.

And I normally have no problem with the mention of a P2P program, but you mentioned LimeWire being used to download songs. However, I did just notice that you said "you'll download" instead of "you download" or "I download". So that's okay.

Anyhoo, it's beside the point. I'd just like to reinforce the idea, to all future posters: mentioning a P2P program being used in a method that is currently illegal, without the proviso that your statement is hypothetical, is against TechSpot forum rules.

 

[ravisunny2]

Well, the artists still aren't exactly poor.

Sorry, I didn't imply that artists are poor.

 

[Alex.A]

www.stealingisillegal.com

 

[kitty500cat]

Nice link. An excellent website, which nicely sums up the thoughts I have on the subject.

 

[Alex.A]

yeah i found it on other forum and i thought that it matches to this thread. it sustains that music is illegal and it explains why it should be.

 

[ravisunny2]

Of course stealing is 'illegal' (unethical, immoral, ...). Problem is to define stealing.

 

[MetalX]

It's not stealing when it's freely available on a website. When it's on a P2P program maybe, but if it's on a Website, if the owner really cares, they can sue the website unless they have it taken off.

So if you download an emulator and/or ROMs from a website, that's not stealing.

I have tons of emulators and ROMs, so much that I don't have any consoles because I play all those games on the computer. I didn't steal any of them because I got them from websites.

I can see how it's stealing if it comes from a P2P program, but if it's music well, the artists get a very small share of the sales, most of it goes to the publishing company, and most of that amount goes to the CEO who just sits lazily in his/her office every day drinking $100 cups of import coffee and practicing his/her golf skills.

That's why I don't give a **** if I download "illegally" or "steal" music.

 

[TimeParadoX]

It's not stealing when it's freely available on a website. When it's on a P2P program maybe, but if it's on a Website, if the owner really cares, they can sue the website unless they have it taken off.

That's why I don't give a **** if I download "illegally" or "steal" music.

Good speech

I agree with you 100% on that, it's the person who puts the files on the internet for free who is stealing, if you just happen to download it it doesn't matter because all you did was Rightclick and save...

 

[kitty500cat]

So I can exceed the speed limit in my car simply because the car goes that fast? The government can sue the car company for enabling their cars to exceed the speed limit.

If your friend stole $20 from someone and gave you half of it, would you accept it just because it's there? According to your logic, the police could arrest him but not you because he was the one who stole it and gave you some. All you did was accept it.

End of rant.

 

[CMH]

Meh, this discussion can go on forever.

I personally reckon that downloading stuff off the net without permission is illegal. There isn't any other way around it. Whether or not that is fair is a different story I reckon.

I think I'll just say that I do download some illegal content. But I see it as "demo"ing . If I really like whatever it is I downloaded, I'd buy it (if possible). (Only if I like it, I hate Windows. I like Office 2007 though, gunna pick up a copy one of these days).

I really don't care about how people decide who is rich or not. I know that someone who's making $100k a year don't have to make someone who's making $2.5m a year $20 richer.

If these guys really want to make more money, find a way to make piracy work for you. There is such a great distribution network out there right now, make use of it. Distribute all music for free, charge for other things which you can't distribute (concerts, games servers, memorabilia, support services, etc). The consumer gets what they want, they get what they want.

 

[jb444]

So now you can only afford a ferrari and not a lambo too?

That would be a shame.

I second this, the large amount of money does not go to everyone who puts work into producing the song etc, these people get payed £%@* all, the royalties go to paying for lavish lifestyles for people who do no more work than you or me.
So woe is the artist if they suddenly discover theyre only getting paid what the rest of us do, downloading music does not take money away from anyone who needs it, i dont cry with pity for Bill Gates and his mere however many billion dollars he has as i install a downlaoded copy of vista.
So from a moral point of view i can see no reason not to download music. Since law should be designed to uphold common morals theres no reason for downloading music, films, software from large companies etc. to be illegal.
And another thing, I recently bought a king of the hill dvd from amazon.co.uk, and at the start of the DVD are endless trailers for Dolby etc, and a 3 minute anti piracy video (which cannot be skipped). I got so fed up with watching this every time i turn on my dvd player I went and downloaded the entire season i just bought and watched it on my pc instead. I get the feeling they have shot themselves in the foot there...
(sorry if this is repeated, I only read pages 1 and 2)

 

[Nodsu]

Maybe the thread should be called "Is it wrong to download music?"

"Illegal" means "against the law". And, as I have said before, law is just some gibberish some people have written down. None of us can say that we "think" that something is illegal or not. Copyright law is specific. We can only discuss whether something is wrong or not.

Nice site, that stealingisillegal.com, but it was obviously made by someone who things US is the centre of the universe. Different countries have different laws. Some laws allow copying for private purposes. Different versions of the copyright law have different copyright aging times.

 

[CMH]

I don't even know if downloading crap off the net here is illegal or not.

I really should check it out, or does anyone here knows?

 

[MetalX]

I think everyone's scared to post here... fear of howard closing the thread or one of the other mods :dead:

So I can exceed the speed limit in my car simply because the car goes that fast? The government can sue the car company for enabling their cars to exceed the speed limit.

If your friend stole $20 from someone and gave you half of it, would you accept it just because it's there? According to your logic, the police could arrest him but not you because he was the one who stole it and gave you some. All you did was accept it.

End of rant.

About the cars, speeding puts other people in danger. That's why they arrest you. Downloading does not put others in danger.

And the bottom statement does match my logic. If someone stole money and gave me some, I would not consider that the money they gave me was stolen.

It is a different story if I told them to steal it for me... but if they stole of their own accord and decided to give me a portion, then I would accept that as a gift, not as a theft.

 

[Peerob]

I have to admit that I have downloaded music. But, I have had to buy some albums twice eg vinyl and CD. Also what some people dont realise is that it can lead to increased sales. e.g I download songs that I would never normally buy just to check them out. If I like the music/group/artist I have gone and bought, CDs DVDs and downloads legitmately. I like to have the genuine article if I like it!

 

[beef_jerky4104]

I think everyone's scared to post here... fear of howard closing the thread or one of the other mods :dead:

No.

About the cars, speeding puts other people in danger. That's why they arrest you. Downloading does not put others in danger.

I agree!

And the bottom statement does match my logic. If someone stole money and gave me some, I would not consider that the money they gave me was stolen.

I would.

It is a different story if I told them to steal it for me... but if they stole of their own accord and decided to give me a portion, then I would accept that as a gift, not as a theft.

Why would somebody jack stuff for you?

 

[Peerob]

Technically it is stealing but then how many artists have been made by downloads? legal or otherwise? Popularity, word of mouth etc. People only download 'successful' artists who generally have already made it. It is a marketing tool.

I have lost count of the number of times I have bought albums in the past because I liked the sound of a track only to find out the rest is crap! Who is cheating who then? At least I can hear before I buy when downloading. It is like taking a test drive in a car.

 

[CMH]

Its so sad to see this thread die off, so I'm reviving it...

I still don't know if downloading is illegal in Australia.

 

[MetalX]

But don't we all want this thread to die off? I mean all it's doing is sending everyone (myself included) into big rants.

 

[CMH]

rant on!

I reckon we should send around a petition to get the RIAA disbanded

 

[beef_jerky4104]

That is a great idea! No really. We could try.

 

[AlbertLionheart]

The root cause for either illegal downloading or copying is the margin made by the industry out of the artists. There is a parallel in the IT industry. The argument goes that if the price was "right" we would all buy originals. The same goes for Gucci and the fasshion trade I suppose.