Bootlegging/Piracy what are your views on the subject?

Personally, I love it. I know it’s illegal but I just got Cinderella Man, Anchorman, and Family Guy seasons 1 and 2 for 15 dollars

And music… don’t get me started. I have about 1450 songs which amounts to about 7.17 gigabytes.

Now, I just recently started buying albums I enjoy. Since I moved to Canada here’s what I’ve purchased.

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Audioslave - Audioslave
Audioslave - Out of Exile
Coldplay - X & Y
Red Hot Chillie Peppers - Californication
Yes - Highlights the Best of Yes
Jethro Tull - Living in the Past
Jethro Tull - Living With the Past
Genesis - Platinum Collection

some are old, some new, but I don’t end it there. I convert them all to high quality MP3’s and upload them on torrent and p2p sites. I know it’s illegal but for some reason I just feel like it is something I have to do… I don’t know why.

What do you guys think about the whole piracy subject?

I used to get files online. According to the law, if there isn’t any money in the process and you get small ammounts of data, it’s not a crime. It’s the same as recording a tape for a friend.

Now my computer is 100% piracy–free, but you have to understand I have a load of CDs here and I spent some good time looking for the best radios on the net.

You should do whatever your ethical sense says it’s right. I thought it was right to get rid of the pirete CDs.

There’s so many different ways to look at this.

For me, I will download movies to watch rather than pay to goto the cinema. If I like the film I may keep it and legally purchase it on DVD when availible.

Same goes for songs, I will download songs, but if I like 50% of the tracks on an album I will legally purchase the album. I don’t have the money to spend on movies and albums just because i “might” like them. Since they offer no other way to check an album/movie for free I have little choice.

When it comes to purchasing though, I will always pay that extra for the legal item. Aside from the garuntee if it’s faulty, if i am going to buy I will buy the legal item why pay for something illegal? I can do it for free myself if I want it that bad.

When it comes to programs/warez I will use them, but if I can afford to I will buy them. If I cannot I will use them for free, but understand I don’t see it like the company is losing out they make millions $ a year. If I didn’t use it for free I wouldn’t use it at all so they gain/loose nothing either way.

My views on the subject? I’m cool with it–there’s a risk factor of getting caught, but I think it being illegal and that risk factor makes it all the more cooler! :cool:

I’m a person of many morals–but when I see an easy opportunity I seize it by the neck and strangle it until it bends to my will… :content:

Considering that I work as a DJ, I can’t afford to risk using illegal music files, since there’s a potential $10,000 fine attached which is just not cool. The industry is subject to checks, and lately there’s been a major crackdown on music piracy. This isn’t to say I don’t download files from the internet, but I make sure I use legal downloads.

Also as a songwriter myself, I definitely don’t support illegal downloads, as every pirated copy takes away from the money the artists and songwriters should be entitled to. It really does amount to theft, and although it might not seem like much on a small scale, there are people out there who download thousands of songs for nothing - and are effectively stealing thousands of dollars. There is nothing right about this, especially as individual tracks are so easy to legally purchase on the internet, too.

You think just like a normal Brazillian citizen would.

I was told by my friends that most of these musicians make the bulk of their money from performances… I think he’s just trying to justifying his breaking of the law.

But seriously, I will always download music.

I also download video games, hell the only game I ever paid for in my life was Everquest and World of Warcraft and that is because you cannot pirate those games

And there real risks is only if you sign up for Torrent sites. If you use free sites like mininova or torrentspy there isn’t really as much of a risk as using an invite only site such as supertorrents.

Don’t get me wrong, back before suprnova got shut down I got a cease and desist order from the MPAA for downloading a movie, it was quite frightening and I haven’t downloaded a movie since then until I moved to Canada.

My friend just got sued for 250,000 dollars because he was a member of a Torrent site that got shut down and they had to give their userlist to the authorities. His parents ended up settling for 2,500 … that’s still a high number if you ask me.

i have a friend who’s dads a cop
you wouldnt believe how many pirated cds/dvds/vids he’s got
as for me…i dont really care…i got some filmmaking software for a couple 10 pond notes when its supposed to cost hundreds

I don’t believe there is any excuse for piracy.
If you really want something, go out an pay the money to the person or people who worked hard to make it. It’s worth it.
I am also a musician. If I downloaded music now, and then hit it big one day and decided that I didn’t want anyone to download my music, I’d be a hypocrite, wouldn’t I? :wink:

Really, downloading music is not taking away that much from the artist. Buying Pirated goods e.g. fake T-shirts will really hit them big, because that is where most of their money comes from, along with performances.

The false t-shirts are usually bader than the originally .
it is not the same product .
Downloading may lead to the same quality

I dont see anything wrong with free downloads, but Larse from Metallica had to whine, because he felt he wasnt making enough money. About four or five years ago there was a music eutophia going on music was free for everyone thanks to Napster. I would rather have the C.D. anyway for the art work, but some of the music I like is hard to find, and thats why I loved Napster.

But the point is that the musicians don’t get as much money from the actual music; their label and managers do. Often times, they don’t even own their own songs. Look at the beatles. Michael Jackson owns the Lennon/McCartney catalogue now.

The effect downloading has on the music industry goes waaaay beyond whether artists get payed or not.

First off, yes, artists don’t see a dime until their record labels are fully re-embersed for the money they’ve invested into the band, which can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. So if you were a musician, would you work for free?
Secondly, (here in Canada), unless you’re the songwriter, you make about one dollar off every CD you sell. Unless you really hit it big, your not going to sell a lot of CDs through a record label. When you factor in piracy, your really not making a lot of money off record sales.
Also, when bands who have been around for a longer period of time realize they are getting ripped off through piracy, they stop releasing newer music, and with good reason. Why should they release music just for it to be stolen? This has lead to what I think is a downturn in quality in the modern music industry. The record companies are looking for something that is generally not that good, but will sell because of an image or fad, for a short period of time. Then they’ll move on to the next flavour of the week, then the next, etcetra…

So anywhoo, it’s not just that the artists are complaining about not getting paid for the work they do, it’s that illegal downloading has a very adverse effect on the entertainment industry as a whole.

Mmmm , I totally agree with that , andhate it . In my eyes should the music be owned by the band.
If i love the band I buy the cd , but Ihave no prob. with downloading a song . I agree with Josh , there aint good that artists arent making the money they want to .
There fore .
Buy the stuff you love .
Download the "modern, fashion music you dont listen to a week later " :wink:

But guys :

Metallice , beatles and Company earns big money .

It is the little artist`s income who will collaps, its the small ones cdes which never comes to shop because of this :sad:

Petter, that is so true. Indie musicians suffer the most. Their original work is usually hard to find, so people think it won’t hurt to make their friends a copy. However, independent artists are usually those to whom each CD, each music, each mp3 file counts.