Headline: Studies: Music industry overstating threat of P2P piracy
In other news, bear shit in woods.
Who pirates music?
– Those too young or too broke to have a credit card or some other way to pay for music online. Nobody with more than ten bucks to his name is going to bitch about a buck for a song that he really likes. Well, maybe a cheap bastard, but he wasn’t buying a CD anyway, and neither is the broke kid who doesn’t get enough allowance in a week to buy even one. If I like only one or two songs on a CD (that’s usual), I’m better off buying the single tracks for 99 cents each because then I pay $2 for what I want, not $18 for what I want and a bunch of shit I don’t like (plus have to find storage space for the physical discs). If, however, I can’t get a credit card or my parents won’t let me buy anything online, then I’m pretty much stuck with Limewire (or whatever the kids use these days).
– People who have substantial music collections that they may already have bought all over again in a new format. If I have music that I like on vinyl, and I’ve already purchased it again on cassette back in the 80s, I might very well baulk at purchasing it again on compact disc in the 90s and/or a digital download in the 00s. If I own the Bay City Rollers vinyl LP and cassettes already, I’m for goddamned sure not going to see downloading a 128Kb copy of “Shang-A-Lang.mp3” as any sort of crime; I’ve paid for it enough times already and all I want to do is have Rollermania on my iPod, FFS. (P.S. Gawd, the BCR were cute little things back then, and I remember well my pre-teen crush on Stuart Wood! :lol:)
– People who really do want to preview tracks on a disc before coughing up the cash for it. A low-quality 15 second clip on Amazon.com just doesn’t cut it. Sorry, that’s barely enough for me to tell that it might be the song I want. It’s entirely possible that the cute, catchy little pop song that I heard for a minute and a half on the radio might turn out to be something I like enough to buy, or it might turn out to be something I’ll listen to over and over for two days, then never, ever want to hear again. If it’s the latter, I’m out $18 for something I don’t want or need.
– People who are sick to death of restrictive DRM. If I bought it, I want to listen to it on my computer, on the CD players in my home and my car, and on my iPod (or whatever). I’m not going to pay for half a dozen different formats to use on half a dozen different devices–fuck that. The corporations might say that I bought the right to listen to it on one device only (or two, if they take the same format), but that’s because they’re greedy, money-grubbing bastards. Money might come easy to them, but it doesn’t come easy to me. If I’ve paid for him, then wherever I go, I want to take Robbie Williams with me, thanks, and that’s just what I’m going to do.
There will always be pathetic dumbasses who can’t see past their own sense of entitlement. People like that have existed always and they exist today. They download music and movies without paying, they pirate shareware apps that work well and cost under $20. If it’s there, they’ll steal it, but most of us just want something fair. Apple’s new iTunes Plus tracks are a good example of fair to both sides; they cost more, but the quality is better and there is no DRM, just personally identifiable information that should be a good way to deter people from sharing with the whole damned world. To the people who say, “Well, what if my iPod gets stolen and the thief shares my files,” you might try reporting your iPod stolen; once it’s out of your hands and in the hands of law enforcement, even the mighty RIAA won’t be able to accuse you. If you think your iPod could be stolen without your noticing it, then get a fucking safe and put it in because you obviously don’t use it often.
