Is Piracy Right?

[JP]

I still buy CD's as well. Bought one 2 weeks ago, and I'll be buying another on Tuesday.

 

[hippie_hunter]

People need to start being honest with themselves and others.

You download songs because you're cheap. It has nothing to do with sticking it to the man, inalienable rights, corporate fat cats and sellout musicians. You're not Robin Hood, you're just cheap.

I'm cheap. But thankfully I don't care enough; I haven't bought a cd or downloaded a song in 2 years. Internet radio is all I need.

QFT

 

[AhabTheArab]

you are aware they want to ban internet radio?

share away friends. oo my downloads almost finished...

 

[Kahoot]

While I agree that piracy is wrong, and the general consent that stealing people's hard work is wrong, I will disagree with a black and white view of the law representing absolute right and wrong. Laws can be wrong. Anyone who faithfully marches along with anything and everything the government dictates is doing a disservice to the government itself-- as well as themselves.

We agree to let the government into power so we agree to follow there rule. If their laws are wrong we still must follow them co we put them in power.

I price gouging right?

huh

That's actually illegal now

Stilll huh What was he talking about?

Hasn't stopped record companies from continually jacking the price of their CD's through the roof even though the cost of mass producing and marketing them (including the recording and post-production fees) have dropped through the basement. It's an artificially inflated product.

jag

The artists who design the covers and CDs, the people that edit the mosic together and all those other nobodys get paid more than they used to.

 

[rdh007]

I had to vote yes. Oh, and here's a picture of me and the missus:

 

[jaguarr]

The artists who design the covers and CDs, the people that edit the mosic together and all those other nobodys get paid more than they used to.

They only get paid more than they used to in correlation with the increase in the cost of living/inflation. Comparatively speaking, they really don't get paid more than they used to percentage wise. And most of the actual musicians and recording artists that make those albums still only get $.3-5 cents per album sold if they are lucky. Very lucky. The creative people who make records, including the bands, the sound engineers, the editors, the album cover designers and so forth are not the ones who make a lot of money off of a record. 95% of it goes right back into the pockets of the big corporations that own the recording contracts. This is the very reason that many of the indy labels even exist.

jag

 

[Warhammer]

Haha @ some people in the thread.
People will continue to download music, and there is nothing that will be done to the majority of them. Nobody cares if it's wrong. There are more important things in the world that need concern. Who hasn't downloaded a thousand songs? If you haven't, more power to you, but get real.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

We agree to let the government into power so we agree to follow there rule. If their laws are wrong we still must follow them co we put them in power.

No "We" didn't.
I think Bush/Cheney should be in prison and I wouldn't vote for them to be in charge of a paper route let alone running the country.

Also people, if you're ever watching a show about the Holocaust, and thinking, "How on Earth did the citizenry ALLOW this **** to go on?!?!?"

Well, now you know. Kahoot, you'd've made a superb Nazi.



Next, if you steal art with your computer, you're a cowardly little lazy weasel-ass mooch f***. The people who Kahoot is talking about, the ones who try to justify it as some noble Robin Hoodly blow against the Evil Corporations?

Yeah, Bull****. Otherwise you'd be storming the Barnes And Nobles and Tower Records, stealing music and movies. You'd never do that because you'd be terrifed of getting caught, if someone could see what you're doing.


Next, part of the reason this stuff is so overpriced is because 8 out of ten people are contemptible leeches and thanks to modern technology, they can get away with stealing it facelessly, kind of like in those interviews with Al Qaeda that you see where their whole heads are wrapped up.
So they have to make up for the hUge losses by preying upon the small percentage of people who are ignorant of the methods used to f***ing steal art, and the people who actually have some sense of the interconnectedness of all people, and some sense of respect for art, and so, won't steal art.

Think about it, do you really think they're that stupid? That they don't know that most everyone is mega-turned off by an 18 dollar CD and a 12 dollar movie? The fact is, they CAN'T COMPETE with "free", so the only way that lowering prices is THE ANSWER is in a world where you offer some added, otherwise unattainable value, AND continue to coddle the fat-ass couch potatoes by keeping everything as convenient as possible since they're too lazy to get up and go to the store and physically buy a CD or a DVD. They're too ****ing lazy to even go rent a video now. They all have Netflix.


EVEN if you're unhappy with the percentage of profit that goes to a corporation instead of the creative people....

No one ever, ever, EVER has a gun to their heads to sign up with a corporation, so if they did, they must dig the deal they got. They CHOSE to be there.

Creative people SAWK at business, often. There is a whole other universe of promotion and distribution that they couldn't even begin to wrap their heads around....regional stuff, legal stuff, insanely intricate connections, logistics.....the corporations work for that money, and it's the business side that makes these creative people mega-stars.

If Madonna had just self-released a bunch of demos on the internet, I wouldn't even know who she is. I started to know who she is because she was on TV every time I turned it on, and on the cover of every magazine, and THAT made everyone talk about her.

It's just like Paris Hilton. I never even used to know anything about her existence. Corporations brought her into my life, God Bless 'em.


AND, You can have the greatest mind and vision. Doesn't matter if you can't pay to make something of it.
If it wasn't for those evil corporate big-wigs George Lucas never could've made Star WARS, NE-VER.

It takes a financial investment to create art, and when a profit-minded corporate pig sees that an artist has sold 50 quadrillion copies of his last piece of art, he's going to be more likely to hand that artist even more money, to create even more beautiful things.

Doesn't matter if you odn't agree, 'cause it's true. I've read so many interviews with directors who made a movie that flopped and couldn't get another job, but then their DVD sold, SOLD...a lot, and so, they got more jobs because of all the SALES.
SALES!




I'm just rambling. I'll close by saying...
Kahoot's attitude that something is wrong just because it's illegal is disgusting and horrifying and, I'm disgusted that technology allows people to steal art now, because next to Love and Survival, it's all I value.

 

[jaguarr]

Wil, the recording industry has ALWAYS overpriced their products. ALWAYS. It's not a new phenomenon because of technology and piracy by a long shot.

I'm still not saying it's right by any means, but there are two sides to the creation of the current state of affairs and the corporations (and the government that's let them do the things they do) have brought a lot of it to bear on themselves.

jag

 

[Kahoot]

No "We" didn't.
I think Bush/Cheney should be in prison and I wouldn't vote for them to be in charge of a paper route let alone running the country.

Also people, if you're ever watching a show about the Holocaust, and thinking, "How on Earth did the citizenry ALLOW this **** to go on?!?!?"

Well, now you know. Kahoot, you'd've made a superb Nazi.

"We" are the majority. If you really don't like it find a leader than you agree with and move to be under his rule.

Also the Nazi comment doesn't fit. You don't get the death sentence for theft and in some places you do for killing.

I'm just rambling. I'll close by saying...
Kahoot's attitude that something is wrong just because it's illegal is disgusting and horrifying and, I'm disgusted that technology allows people to steal art now, because next to Love and Survival, it's all I value.

"Disgusting and horrifying" seems a bit over the top really.



What really annoys me is when I see some cop show in or around London and they pick a guy up with a bag full of pirate DVDs and just confiscate them and tell him not to do it again. There are adverts on TV making it out as a big bad law not to be broken but if they catch you they don't care.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Wil, the recording industry has ALWAYS overpriced their products. ALWAYS. It's not a new phenomenon because of technology and piracy by a long shot.

First of all, here's the system I like, and it's the one that works.

You can't say art is overpriced because their is no empirically set value to it. Andy Warhol's soupcan series sold for $10 Million to a guy who honestly thought he got a deal because of it's art history significance.
Other people, you'd have to pay them to take the paintings.

So, with this mass reproduction of art for the consumer...I had no problem paying $60 for the Star Wars DVDs. They're worth wAy more to me than that.
Others said "F*** that! I already have 'em on VHS."
Others said "F*** that! I don't want all that CGI-Revisionism gumming up my classics!"
Others said "DUhh, I'm too stupid and lazy to make money, so I'm broke. I'll have to download Star Wars. "



As I've said before, you can't just walk into the Gap, OR a yard sale....see a shirt that you like, say " I'll give you 5 bucks for that!, and then they say, "Uh....no lol. It's a classic. It's worth way more. I'm asking for $45."
And then say, "Well, by MY reckoning, it's not WORTH $45. It's worth FIVE dollars....and then slap a 5 on the table and take off with the shirt.

!

That's what art-thieves do. They say, "I decide what your work is worth. Not you, who put all the effort into it and who own it."
That's scary s***.

So, if You don't like the prices...they're too high? DON'T BUY THEIR PRODUCT. If you STEAL their product, all you're doing is driving the price up even further, f***ing the honest people who won't steal it.


So gross.


And as far as that subjective, "It' always been overpriced. Pirating is not a factor."
Uh, I'm not saying it hasn't always been "overpriced", but pirating is a HUGE factor, and has made the situation WAY worse. I've read so many interviews with videogame developers and musicians that have chilled me, listening to how bad it really is.
I've actually been following the development of this game for years now, and it was finally released, and it was a huge gamble for the company...make or break....but they gave it their all.
NOW.....if only they can get big enough sales, it was all worth it and they won't have to go bankrupt.


And the other day my best friend is trying to find it to steal it online and I was just repulsed!
ALL that YEARS of effort this team put in and he can't reward them ONE bit?!?!?!?!? Even though heh DOES want to play their game?!?!?!?!?


DIS-GUS-TING.

 

[Kahoot]

Wil, the recording industry has ALWAYS overpriced their products. ALWAYS. It's not a new phenomenon because of technology and piracy by a long shot.

I'm still not saying it's right by any means, but there are two sides to the creation of the current state of affairs and the corporations (and the government that's let them do the things they do) have brought a lot of it to bear on themselves.

jag

I've noticed that CDs and DVDs are getting cheeper. It used to be £30 - £40 for a new DVD but now its £20 - £30. CDs used to be £15 - £16 but now they are £11 - £13.

Partly it could be said to be a factor of HD-DVDs and BlueRay or iTunes type download sites. But who knows.

Computer games just get more expencive though

 

[jaguarr]

^^^^

Hey, the system is obviously broken, man. There's a reason it's falling apart at the seams and requiring government assistance to keep it going. I don't advocate stealing of music or art, either, but it's happening and it's not going to stop until the people making and selling these things learn how to adapt their business model and pricing to something that's sustainable in today's technological age that people will actually use. Until that happens, you're in for a long streak of disgust.

jag

 

[Darthphere]

I would give Bush a paper route.

 

[jaguarr]

I would give Bush a paper route.

Does that mean you'd like to roll up the Sunday New York Times and shove it up his ass?

jag

 

[Kahoot]

I don't mind Bush that much. Sure the Iraq thing was wrong but his dad should've finnished the job the 1st time.

 

[Darthphere]

Does that mean you'd like to roll up the Sunday New York Times and shove it up his ass?

jag

Perhaps.

 

[redmarvel]

After a dissection between Kritish and JAL last night I thought I'd make this thread. I think I know how it'll go down but let's just confirm it.

Is Piracy right?

My view on the matter can be summed up like so. Piracy is an unlawful act - it is against the law. You may not like how the law stands but if you engage in piracy you are breaking the law.

I repeat - like their policies or not - it is against the law - therefore WRONG.

There is no grey area.

Agreed - piracy = theft. It's like shop-lifting, a lot of folk try to justify it, but that doesn't make it right. We all end up paying for it.

If you don't want to pay the retail price, rent or borrow (libraries lend out DVD's too).

 

[Two-Face]

Oh crap, I voted wrong way!

 

[kane9321]

its wrong,but why pay the crazy cost for a single cd when you can download the same songs for free.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

its wrong,but why pay the crazy cost for a single cd when you can download the same songs for free.

'Cause you might be a decent person who wants to reward the hard work of people who have brought pleasure into our lives and you might want to vote with your dollar.

I'm confounded in the opposite way.
If you like some guy's music, why would you want to steal it from him?
Do you steal from your friends and family too?
Are you like, "Why should I go all the way to the store and pay the crazy cost for a single pizza when I can just eat my roommate's pizza for free?"


So ****ing disgusting.

And the ONLY reason you amoral thiefs DON'T go and rob people's savings and steal your neighbors possessions is because you can't anonymously download them.

 

[Darthphere]

Do you steal from your friends and family too?

Yes.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

I think we call agree on the fact that it is bad.

but we still do it anyways.

go limewire!

limewire? jesus, why dont you just send your name and address to the government while you're at it.... You couldnt be using a more mointored piece of software if you tried.

 

[kane9321]

jeez wil ya making me feel bad

I'll get back to u after i finish downloading ...young jeezy

 

[Orko Is King]

Honestly, I have no problem downloading music from dead artists. And I think it's worse to pirate movies than it is to pirate music.