Here is where I stand…
I download maybe an average of 20 tracks a week sometimes more.
I start out on beatport or something checking dj charts and the likes, if I hear a track I like that is only part of an album or restricted in my area I will try find it somewhere else… If it happens to be available somewhere for free, 9 times out of 10 il download it.
Out of the 20 tracks I download chances are 2/3 are obtained by somebody choosing to “share” those tracks with me.
On the other had if somebody accused me of stealing from an artist or the industry in general I would have no problem showing them my cd collection, my vinyl collection and my purchase history from beatport,I tunes, stompy and dj download and let them decide for themselves am I stealing from or contributing to the industry.
I donno what you guys make of it or if you would feel comfortable posting how ye option music but I def would like to here where ye stand on it.
Surely as kids we all made mix tapes etc etc so really its the equilivent of this - is the music industry going to die just like the film industry says every year since the invention of cheap VHS players - I think not, the music industry just has to come up with new ideas in selling their wares
It may be immoral to d/load things illegally but its not going to stop
ultimately the Internet is as "good as it is “bad” so yeah people are downloading music illegally bit musicians and label now have other ways to reach people and make money.
Imo this is only gonna get worse. Im 20 years of age and I only know 2 or 3 people who actually pay for thier music. However I will say that people who usually illegally download usually only follow what is on the charts and in actually fact don’t care about the actual music, but infact just use it as a social talking point/ way to talk about their latest celeb.
All great points guys!
The internet is a strange one really, in one hand it’s helped a lot of new artists not only get their name out there but also thier music, it’s also allowed it so that you don’t ‘need’ a record label in order to sell your music either.
However you weight things up, there is pros and cons to the internet however you look at it.
Remember though, recording on tape and VHS never had the same ‘quality’ as actually buying the single on tape, for instance when i was a kid, if you wanted to record on tape you’d more often than not also have part of the track with the radio DJ talking on it.
There is also the arguement that just because there has been a track illegally downloaded, that track may not have actually ever been bought in the first place. So there was never any ‘loss’ in the beginning.
But then you also have the fact that some people download lots of stuff, find out what they do like and then buy the actual product. Where as if they’d never downloaded the material, they may never have found what they liked (such as new artists / albums / etc) and bought it in the first place, so in that respect… the original ‘illegal downloading’ actually turned profitable to an artist rather than a loss.
However there are those out there that literally rape everything because they’re too tight to give anything back, which is unfair.
If you enjoy the music, you should give something back, think of it like a donation to the artist (as a thankyou perhaps even?) so they can make more music for you to enjoy.
On that note, physical album sales have increased a lot, whilst 99% of singles are bought legaly via download now as opposed to a physical product. Only 19.6% of albums are bought digitally, which means that a lot of people out there are still buying the physical product.
I used to illegally download all the time, but as soon as I did a music tech course, and tried producing myself I stopped completely.
People put a hell of a lot of effort into their tracks (well most anyway) I just feel proper tight stealing it now. And like you say roben, 82p ish ain’t a big price to pay for your favourite producer to carry on going
I usually search through beatport, trackitdown or whatever then get it half the price on iTunes if it’s available.
That’s interesting you should say that, perhaps people don’t realise that even though a track is 4 minutes long say, that it still takes weeks / months to produce.
Another argument I’ve heard from someone once is “I’ve seen Cribs, they get enough money as it is”, which is a really narrow view to the actual reality of majority of musicians.
Personally, I have done it before. I think most of us have, if not all. However, here is my take. Who is really getting rich off of the artist? Not the artist. The production is only their gateway to performance. Just about all recording artists make their money from touring, not record sales. It used to be the opposite way. The record industry is ever evolving, however, with the advent of iTunes and the like, I don’t know if the future of the music and the movie industry have a promising future.
[quote]howiegroove (15/01/2011)[hr] However, here is my take. Who is really getting rich off of the artist? Not the artist. T[/quote]
This is a very valid point
I’m quite interested in Billy Bragg and the FAC
[url]http://www.featuredartistscoalition.com/our-charter/[/url]
Yeah definitely agree with that, a lot of artists now can only make a living through performance, which unfortunately doesn’t leave much for ‘songwriters’, where do they stand? They get such a small % of song sale as it is where as the ‘artist’ gets most (depending on the deal they have with the label, think some major labels get the biggest cut as it’s not 50/50% in that world).
So will we lose songwriters? Well… the songwriters who don’t / can’t perform.
Well songwriters can make money by writing forfilms ads and TV - its all about being diverse - there will always be winners and losers, probably more of the later but thats just life
I would at a guess say that 99% of people on this forum are not in it for the money but for the love of the music which is priceless - sure we all dream of a lucky break and the more people illegally downloading your track the more famous you are getting so its not all bad if you follow my logic 
I agree with howie about it . Producing Music is a gateways for paid gigs . nowadays where everyone is a Dj , poser, Producer, need to understand that u cant make money just doing one thing . reality sucks sometimes !!! 
[quote]howiegroove (15/01/2011)[hr] Just about all recording artists make their money from touring, not record sales. It used to be the opposite way. The record industry is ever evolving, however, with the advent of iTunes and the like, I don’t know if the future of the music and the movie industry have a promising future.[/quote]
True to a point, but also, and especially in dance music, many artists aren’t prolific enough or choose to consider playing live as an option.
They may have no interest in DJing either so any form out playing out isn’t an option. Back in the ‘day’ selling 6000 Vinyls might have turned up a bit more cash than 6000 mp3s + illegal downloads.
I just happen to have met with Nick Halkes (started XL records, discovered the Prodigy, recorded ‘The Bouncer’) and the stories he was telling really reminded me how different things these days!
The only way to stop this is for extremely harsh penalties for people that get caught, and then heavy publicity in the news, papers etc about these people going to jail or getting fined 10000000000000 etc. Another option is to start tackling sites like speedyshare, rapidshare, zippyshare etc. They need to start sueing the **** out of these websites that might also help. As for not being able to see who downloads what illegaly etc thats bull****! If they can catch an entire pedofile ring scattered accross the globe from one IP address they can see whos downloading what. The big boys of music need to change too, CD’s are way too expensive and i think more needs to be done on stuff like itunes, beatport etc. These are just some ways that might help stimulate the economy but things are going to have to change very soon and people that d/l music ilegaly should be schooled and made aware that they are killing the music making industry.
Slender also makes a really good point i’d rather have a million people download my tracks illegaly then 100,000 that buy it. However you look at it its all about getting your name out there and then cashing in on your performances.
Look at Hollywood and how you can watch movies now on the internet, they are all crying and bitching yet these actors are still getting paid like 10million dollars per movie etc
But the punishments need to be made more severe if you really want to put the brakes in.
I think alot of it is about education.
Personally, as someone who produces, i can say that trying to produce great dance tracks has proved to be a thousand times more difficult than i thought it would be!
I don’t download any music illegally now, because i have been educated as to how much hard work, dedication, commitment and practice etc goes into producing great music.
People who do produce great music deserve to be paid something for it.
I am thinking (and hoping) that if many more people could learn this, then many more people would pay for music!
Out of curiosity David does that mean that people who produce, what you think is, crap music dont deserve money for their hard work?
K im downloading every brostep track out there!
Only taking the piss btw, I get what your saying…
No it’s a valid point!
Should people always pay for what i might call ‘crap’ music?
I would say that, even to produce music that alot of people would consider not that great i.e highly commercialised music, that is simply made to try and make money by getting in the top 40, for example - it still takes a dedicated team of highly-skilled professionals alot of time to get the sound quality that you need for such a high-profile release.
The people that have contributed to getting this sound quality deserve to be paid for their hard work i.e the sound engineers, arrangers etc.
No doubt they have all worked hard for many years learning their craft - anyone who has tried to make professional sounding music will know that it’s not easy to get that kind of sound quality!
[quote]jwalley08 (15/01/2011)[hr]
In the end, every kid comes up with the same regurgitated “I’m just a college kid and I’m broke” justification. Whether or not that’s a bs response isn’t for me to debate.[/quote]
believe it or not there is a lot of truth in this. and not just college kids!! all kids!! just being a kid your going to try and get for free!!!
do you remember KazAA?? audio galazy?? we all did it!! when we didn’t have the money!!
Slender is right the the music industry has to come up with a better way to protect their artist and their sales.
i pay for all my tracks now…so those artist can keep making more!!!:D;)
Yeah i used Kazaa and so forth when i was young - mind you, this was some years ago now, so it was quite a novelty thing back then, and because it was new, there was no way we could understand the possible ramifications that illegal downloading might have on the music industry!
So i guess things are different now, even for kids. The general concensus in this day and age, is that they are doing some ‘damage’ to the music industry by illegal downloading in one way or another, so they need to be educated so they understand that if they never buy any music, it may mean that less of the music that they love, gets created in the future!
Of course this won’t stop everyone doing it - but hopefully it might stop some, which would be a positive.