Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean
You're placing the value of a musical product solely on it's physicality, which is simply not the case. The production of an album involves hiring musicians that need to be paid, hiring people to work the recording and mastering sessions, paying for the use of a recording studio, the cost of marketing, etc. There are a ton of expenses that are often far more costly than just the physical media the album is burned to.
And even the monetary investments aside, there's the time and creative investment put in by the artists themselves. This is their livelihood. Like anyone, they can only afford to continue to do their job - making music - if it provides them with enough financial return to fund the process. If they put in the time and effort to create something and make it available for purchase, but you simply take it for free, then what return are they getting to make it possible for them to make more? Do you do something for a living that you could afford to continue doing even if it meant you'd be losing money rather than getting a paycheck?
And ultimately, when you take something that doesn't belong to you from someone that you're not supposed to, whether it's a physical item or intellectual property, it's stealing. Actually, are you familiar with the concept of intellectual property? You may not be based on your repeated claims that illegally downloading a digital file is somehow not stealing, or at the very least, not a problem. |
I KNOW it's not just the physicality of the object. And I do know what intellectual property is. But you need to realize that there's a difference between a digital file and a physical product. It is possible to 'steal' a digital file and cause absolutely no damage to anyone. There is an infinite amount of digital files. There is a finite amount of physical products.
The problem is that it's too hard to put a value on these files, especially since many studies conflict (often depending on whether or not the RIAA funds them). Remember how the music industry was preparing for Kid A to be a huge flop since it leaked 6 months early? (this was right at the peak of the Napster age) Remember how it hit #1 like experimental albums like that NEVER do?
Whether or not it's unethical I think is a real grey area. If I download a new CD that I really want instead of paying for it, yeah, that's unethical. On the other hand, just recently I downloaded some Primal Scream albums (which I otherwise never would have heard) and bought a ticket to their show; the band directly profitted from my downloading. It's not as cut and dry as you think it is.