MP3s suck as far as sound quality, and as a music lover, i prefer CDs any day. But i disagree entirely with the ideas that if i can afford the internet, then i can afford to purchase music or “If you can’t afford $9.99 then you obviously can’t afford a computer either…” My computer was given to me and has entirely practical uses that have become a necessity. i’m never going to pay $15 for an album unless i have heard the whole thing first. Its a simple waste of dough.

People really need to stop bellyaching over file sharing. It’s not a matter of downloading Versus buying. I steal music every time some idiot drives by with the stereo cranked up. I think it’s funny, though; I remember recording songs off the radio with cassettes when i was a kid. Never thought i would get sued for it.

It’s completely different.

You had to know when they where going to play the song. You had to know someone who had the album.

It was wrong then and it is wrong now, but the difference is that the internet has made the scale worldwide and access universal.

The former was no different from the latter but access and scale made it’s harm negligable and not worth bothering over. That has all changed now.

Publishing rights is where the artist and labels mainly make their money.Its up to the artists to make sure that they are getting their publishing roylities.(Get a good layer)Being a artist myself with a c.d. out I would like to see ASCAP reconize file sharing but it would have to be done in a rational way Im sure if theres a will theres a way.

We are talking on average $9.99

most college students spend that much at Starbucks for drinks in one day easy.

If you can’t afford $9.99 then you obviously can’t afford a computer either…..But wait you can, so you should pay for the music and not steal it.

Thanks for sharing this with us.

I have not read any of the other reply posts, so forgive me if I repeat anything.

I am going to address your son’s excuses one by one…..because that is what they are: excuses

1 He tells me the record sales make money for the record label, not the artist.

WRONG. True some labels have ripped off artists in the past but other artists made good deals with labels. It all depends on the individual artist’s business savvy and their leveraging power.

But here is something else to consider: Even if the artist has made a bad deal. If you steal their music through pirating you ripping them off even further.

HOW? A label deal is a loan. A bad label deal is a loan with MEGA interest attached to it. The artist has to pay back every penny that was put into recording, manufacturing and promoting their album.

When you steal their music you are robbing them their ability to pay back that what they owe the label.

What’s more the lack of sales (from piracy) could result in them being dropped from the label, having all promotion of their album dropped and being in debt to the label.

To sum up: When you use the excuse. The labels are ripping them off, you are also saying that it is ok for you to rip them off too. You are now no better than the label you are criticizing.

2 He says that the artists make all their money from touring and live concerts.

WRONG: Not all artists can tour. Not all can afford to tour. I can’t. It’s too expensive.

Also your son is not thinking about the songwriter. The recording artist is not always the songwriter. The songwriter only gets money from the sale of the music and from airplay royalties. A songwriter gets about 8 cents per copy sold. If they have to split that with the publisher they get only 4 cents, if they have to split that with the recording artist (even though the recording artist had nothing to do with writing the song…and yes, this does happen in the industry) they have to split that too.

3 He thinks the pirated music promotes the concerts and therefore helps the artist make more money.

WRONG: No one asked your son to promote their concerts by pirating their music. As an artist I give away certain set of songs free as promotion….and that’s it. That doesn’t mean I want you to pirate the rest of my music. Other artists do the same thing. That is all they are authorizing. If they didn’t authorize it you are STEALING IT!

3. I still don’t allow pirating in my house.

Good for you and God bless you for taking a moral stance.

I have heard every excuse in the book and I have a comeback for everyone.

Here are few of the most used ones, just in case your son tries to argue further.

Every one else is doing it – Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t make it right. A lot of people living in Germany didn’t speak out against Hitler because everyone was doing it.

I wasn’t going to pay for it anyway – I wasn’t going to pay for that hamburger at McDonalds so I should be allowed to have it for free, right? If you didn’t pay for it, you don’t have the right to own it and you are a crook.

4 But tell me what you think – as artists out there having your work “shared,” are you just glad to have it being enjoyed, or does it bother you?

That is why I have the set 8 free songs that I have authorized for sharing and no more. I feel that those 8 free songs are enough to decide if you like my music. If you want the rest, you should purchase it. If you pirate my other songs you are stealing from me. You are robbing me of my ability to make a living with my music and I have nothing but contempt for you. It does not make me happy that you are pirating my music.

5 Admittedly, he is stealing music that is recorded by major record labels,

Stealing from the rich is no different than stealing from the poor. Stealing is stealing. And just because you are stealing from major label artists doesn’t make those artists rich. In fact many of them are in debt (As I outlined earlier).

6 so maybe it’s different than the independent musician working for his living. But I’d still like to hear what you think.

The only thing that is different for independent artists is that it is even harder to make money than it ever has been.

Maybe your son will feel differently when has to sing his own money into recording his album, getting his CD manufactured, paying for distribution and all the other costs associated with trying to put out a professional CD to compete in the marketplace.

The music industry is in a shambles and there are a lot of reasons for it. A lot of it is the fault of the record labels. Their greed, & their short sightedness. But some of the blame also must fall on the consumer for pirating rather than paying for their music.

Thanks again Valerie for sharing this. You sound like a good mother and your are doing your best to raise your son right.

“This is an excellent demonstration of how the “stealing” analogy doesn’t work.”

Whenever you take something that is not yours, it is stealing by definition.

“I wouldn’t walk out of a record store with an album without paying for it because then I would be removing something from the record store. Before they had an album, and now they don’t.”

Would you spend $18 for a blank CD? If you answer “no” then you admit that the music on the CD has value. The music has the same value without the CD. When you “share” music, you are taking or giving something of value which you do not own. If the music had no value, you wouldn’t want it to begin with.

“When I share music on the net, nothing is taken from the “record store”; the person who gave it to me had a copy, and now we both have a copy.”

Something is taken. You don’t have to right to make such a copy. You are taking that right from the copyright owner. That copyright has value.

“Why must we think about a world in which everyone can have something for the same cost as two people having it, as if it were the world where you have a loaf of bread, and I steal it, and now you don’t have it any more?”

Because people have rights. They have the right to be compensated for their work. You do not have the right to take the results of their work without their permission.

As far as the loaf of bread, it is nothing but flour, yeast, water and a few other ingredients. Yet you pay more for a loaf of bread than you would for the ingredients. You are paying for the expertise and effort of the baker. When you buy a CD, you aren’t just paying for a piece of plastic. You are paying for the expertise and effort of the musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers, promoters, etc.

“They’re completely different, and demand different analysis.”

You only believe them to be different because you are trying to justify illegal and immoral behavior. Property rights are property rights. You can’t violate them just because you want free music.

If you really believe you have the right to take the results of someone’s work without compensating them, tell me if you would continue to work if your boss refused to pay you for your work. Chances are, if you work in an office, you what you produce for your employer is some form of intellectual property. If you believe you should be able to take someone else’s IP, then you have to be willing to donate yours without getting paid.