Buying Cd's verses illegally downloading music
By eliza_bennet
@eliza_bennet (133)
South Africa
January 23, 2007 7:38am CST
Lets take a look at this. About 60 % of you buy your music cds from legal retailers. While the rest illegally download.
Musicians are people who :
1. are struggling to make a living
2. Create original pieces of work which we know and love
3. Use music in order to make a living
Now these people expect a certain income from their music especially since everyone is humming their songs and its getting loads of airplay. But they don't get this income. These musicians are therefore not adequately compensated for their hard work.
On the other end of the spectrum. Musicians albums are expensive. Some may say overpriced ,okay, lets go with costly.For example a Justin Timberlake album would set you back 149 rands (South African rands). That would be one days pay for a certain unfortunate soul. Now if that same album were to be downloaded . It would take you an hour and a half on the net which amounts to 15 rands. Then to put it onto a cd would be 5 rands. Therefore 20 rands.
The difference would be 129 rands.
So the question i pose would be. Are you morally inclined to download music illegally at a fraction of the cost or would you feel better buying it at a store :)
1 response
@Ciniful (1587)
• Canada
23 Jan 07
Musicians are struggling to make a living?!? In what universe??
The annual income of a top 40 band, like Nickelback, would pay for 50 large families to live upper class for at *least* a year. I don't really consider that struggling.
There's an aspect to this you're forgetting. The exposure musicians gain from online downloading is invaluable. Which is recognized by a good portion of the music industry. You have tons of artists who not only agree with, but support, online file sharing, because their fan base has increased with it.
I can think if five offhand that I would never have heard of had it not been for file sharing. Sweatshop Union, Viv Savage, Kyprios, Nightwish, Classified .... there are many more. Now, because the internet file sharing exposed me to their music, if they were to come through my city I would dish out the money in a second to catch their show. I buy the merchandise, I support their music ... because file sharing opened me up to their music in the first place.
A fan doesn't restrict themself to file sharing. They download a few songs from various artists ... and to an artist they like, normally go out and buy the complete album. However, I don't see the sense in paying almost $30 here for an album where I only want one song. I'd rather download it.
Fans also support their favorite musicans by buying the clothing, posters and other random merchandise that all profit the musician.
I'm still choking over that struggling thing ... lol.
1 person likes this
@eliza_bennet (133)
• South Africa
23 Jan 07
lol point taken... South african musicians mostly have a hard time getting their music sold because their songs are illegally available on the net.
Most of our artists here are struggling i would say because music is their sole career and illegally downloading their music is like taxing them a further 40 % along with the 40% they already pay. :)
@Ciniful (1587)
• Canada
23 Jan 07
Musicians here have no problem getting their music sold, and their work is still being downloaded. And the music is also their sole career, yet they make a bloody fortune. They can afford the losses, believe me.
We were just talking the other day about how different musicians are. The newer up and coming musicians are in full support of online file sharing, because they know they gain a huge fanbase that way, that their music is reaching more people, and that they couldn't pay for that type of publicity and exposure. But once they *are* rich and famous and swimming in money, all of a sudden they then have a problem with the file sharing, the same publicity that got them to where they are.
It's greed, plain and simple.
1 person likes this
