Oh, absolutely, Scott. We are all probably guilty of this at one point or another.

But as musicians, with a more vested interest in having the recording industry actually be profitable (we all should at least aspire to having our recorded work make money for us!), we need to be careful that we don't make this seem perfectly OK.

There are MANY mp3 sites that are legal. Only after we have exhausted all those should pirate sites be acceptable (barely)...

BTW.. Want to get rid of all this spy-ware cr*p...? Get a new Intel Mac. Run Mac OS for the web stuff and email, and still run Windows for your Windows apps (if you HAVE to use them!). Limewire works perfectly on a Mac, no mal-ware at all...

Hi Diki

Yes, I agree. It's just one of those things.

Take for example the Roland G70 or E80 styles. As soon as they were converted and put online Roland made everyone take them off their site using legal threats.

But, enough of them got out so that a bunch of players could try them out and liked them. The result? Many players ended up buying a G70 or E80. More than if those styles had not gotten out.

Same with mp3's supposing I get one for a tune with this new singer and I either don't remember clearly how it went or maybe it's something I never heard. So, say I download an mp3. Maybe I like it so much I'll go out and buy this guy's CD's. OR even more importantly, we perform the song, a lot of people like it and they go out and buy the CD.

This is really where I'm coming from. Sure, if I had a CD out I'd like to get the royalties as much as anyone else, but then there is the modern reality of the internet and other sources.

My previous statements would probably have been better understood if we were talking in person. But, I stand by what I had to say.



[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 07-31-2007).]

I only mention it because every thread mentioning a certain keyboard there is a member that jumps in to complain about samples. So it depends who is doing the stealing. And I have to admit I'm just as guilty as anyone so I'm not trying to be righteous about it.
I'm just pointing out the hypocracy of it
And I wonder What does he have against them anyhow? It's beginning to sound like a personal thing.

I guess I missed the thing about the samples.

Try MP3 Rocket Pro. I've never had a problem with spyware etc.

Yes, I believe it DOES matter who is doing the stealing (and what they are stealing)...

I just believe that it is a different thing for individuals to do this compared to a corporation. There is little enough corporate responsibility nowadays, IMO, but for a company officer to actually BRAG about sample piracy as if it is a 'feature' of his product is beyond the pale (once again, IMO)...

At some point or another, we have to hold governments and corporations (the two are inextricably linked, nowadays) to a higher standard than individuals, otherwise, as I said on an earlier thread, we are faced with the prospect of 'Well, I break the law from time to time, even in a small way, so it is OK for my President to do it in a big way, or it's OK for a corporation to break it with impunity'.

If you have to be COMPLETELY blameless before you can criticize a corporation, government or public figure, well, that basically opens the door for them to do anything they want to, doesn't it?

Only one person ever WAS blameless, and they crucified Him, didn't they?

I know where you're coming from on this, Diki. You've been in the game for years so you surely know that the recording industry has been screwing artists for decades. This is a major reason why so many aspiring musicians choose to release their work individually via the internet. So this could hardly be considered theft.

Well, if they screwed us while they made fat profits, they are only going to screw us harder as their profits diminish. There are FAR fewer development deals out there now their profits are down, labels expect the bands to self-promote and even self-produce in many cases. This didn't use to be the way things worked. So many artists are web-based now because they HAVE to (very little A&R money left after piracy drops profits 30%+), not because they want to... And, so far, without a major label, few ever reach the top that way.

And while, yes, I've seen many artists get screwed over by their record companies, I've also seen many an artist screw up, and lose millions of their record company's money, too. That door swings both ways...

If it was so easy to start a record company and make a profit while staying honest, there would be a boatload more successful labels out there... There's an awful lot more to it than just screwing your artists!

Don't quite follow the logic of that one, Diki. If their profits diminish to the point of 'belly up', then they're not going to be screwing anybody, having successfully screwed themselves out of business.

No sir, the situation recording companies find themselves in has been almost entirely self-wrought over a period of many years.

Face it, they've had it all their own way for far too long, and now that they're getting it up 'em, they don't like it.

Sounds like they're fast disappearing up their own orifices.

Oh . . . I fear we've wandered off topic here, sorry Scott.



[This message has been edited by renig (edited 08-01-2007).]

It's amusing to find a forum dedicated to arrangers and OMBs (fairly senior citizens, in general ) turn out to be so full of anarchists... :

I fail to see what the record companies have done that precipitated the piracy problem they now have. I would have to lay that one squarely at the computer and software industries' feet, there. As this thread seems to indicate, even a dollar a tune isn't enough to deter piracy, so the cost of CD's doesn't appear to be a factor.

Remember, the VAST majority of people pirating MP3s have never been screwed over by the record industry...