The effects of piracy on artists

[Vezon Dash]

Art is a horrible profession to go into in the first place. You don't have a solid paying job, and your type of art may or may not be interesting to anyone else. (includes music, painting, etc.) We really only hear about the big artists out there all the time, and they wipe their asses with Benjamins. I could really give two [cabbage]s about taking money away from them. They (as well as all of modern society) need to be less greedy and shove it.

[Giordano]

Art is a horrible profession to go into in the first place. You don't have a solid paying job, and your type of art may or may not be interesting to anyone else. (includes music, painting, etc.) We really only hear about the big artists out there all the time, and they wipe their asses with Benjamins. I could really give two [cabbage]s about taking money away from them. They (as well as all of modern society) need to be less greedy and shove it.

Why is it wrong to do something you enjoy while also providing an expensive service to many people and then expect to be paid for it?

He never said its wrong, its just a very difficult profession to be in.

 

And I agree.

 

I hope to become a filmmaker someday, that could be considered an artist profession, and I know it's going to be very difficult to make decent money in it. Do I reject the possibility because of the hardship? I don't, Verzon does, maybe you won't neither.

[Guest Rob]

And the difficulty of it is what makes the artists deserving, too. They took a risk, they do deserve a pay out. Imagine winning $10,000 on a lottery ticket, then having them take it back from you because you had a low chance of winning?

[das1330]

And the difficulty of it is what makes the artists deserving, too. They took a risk, they do deserve a pay out. Imagine winning $10,000 on a lottery ticket, then having them take it back from you because you had a low chance of winning?

 

The risk/reward payout is why people go into the field in the first place. If potential benefits decline due to piracy, less people will go into the field, but the risk/reward equation will always make sense for the individual artist because otherwise they wouldn't go into the field.

[Range_This11]

If they're a real artist, they aren't in it for the money primarily. But that's a completely different topic haha.

[Alg]

If they're a real artist, they aren't in it for the money primarily. But that's a completely different topic haha.

True, though the money does allow them to be able to devote their full attention to the art itself.

[mcneilp]

I'd rather spend the money I could've used on buying an album on a concert ticket to see a band live than buy the CD if I can get that album free from the internet. I used to buy CDs all the time but my circumstances have changed and I figure I can get the CD download from the internet free, leaving my money free to spend on supporting whichever artist via concerts, gigs and shows.

[Range_This11]

If they're a real artist, they aren't in it for the money primarily. But that's a completely different topic haha.

True, though the money does allow them to be able to devote their full attention to the art itself.

That's where being a "real" artist becomes a little paradoxical. I feel as long the artist stays true to their voice (abstract, not literal) and doesn't sell out, they're entitled to whatever money they receive.

[lordkafei]

Piracy isn't theft. Theft is taking the original copy without consent. Piracy is taking a copy of the original and leaving the original still intact. Physically taking a CD from a store without paying for it is theft because you're removing an actual item from the store, so nobody gets it. That is a bad analogy and doesn't really fit.

 

The original copy is in the record companys vault.

 

Pay for your damned music.

[pennywise]

Piracy isn't theft. Theft is taking the original copy without consent. Piracy is taking a copy of the original and leaving the original still intact. Physically taking a CD from a store without paying for it is theft because you're removing an actual item from the store, so nobody gets it. That is a bad analogy and doesn't really fit.

 

The original copy is in the record companys vault.

 

Pay for your damned music.

 

 

Still a bad analogy, because if you steal a physical cd nobody will get it, if you pirate a song online somebody will still get it.

[Racheya]

 

If you weren't going to buy an album, but pirated it, where's the loss?

 

Nobody else loses the chance to buy that album - not theft.

You weren't going to buy the music so there's no loss of earnings.

 

Of course that's a bit of a slippery slope but consider it for more than just music. The western anime industry DEPENDS on piracy. If people didn't get the shows from Japan, fansub them, and spread them around, shows would be far more likely to tank if they're brought over here. Most anime that gets released & dubbed in the west needs to have a fanbase already built up to sell it to - without piracy that wouldn't exist.

[Omar]

Art is a horrible profession to go into in the first place. You don't have a solid paying job, and your type of art may or may not be interesting to anyone else. (includes music, painting, etc.) We really only hear about the big artists out there all the time, and they wipe their asses with Benjamins.

That's because of the recording industry and the star-system. If it wasn't for those two, you'd hear a lot more good/diverse music on TV.

[foursideking]

I still don't get why piracy is such a problem. I mean c'mon, they make 10million bucks per year on albums, yet they're still whining about being out the '3-4million' that they would've earned if people had bought the cd from the store. Overall, this entire thing is kinda pathetic, seeing as they'd probably use that money on petty/useless things, rather than helping out those who really need $ (jagex, I'm talking to you).

[Alg]

What bands are making 10m/yr aside from the ones that have been famous for decades now? I'd bet the average musician is getting nowhere near that.

[Omar]

What bands are making 10m/yr aside from the ones that have been famous for decades now? I'd bet the average musician is getting nowhere near that.

I think he's talking about big labels. Pretty sure Justice made a very big amount in a very short time, either way (gotta check their DVD, they were checking out a house, and the guy asks for 8M and they're like "not interested but that's no big deal", but I wouldn't be surprised if they were just doing it for the laughs and had 20$ between the two of them).

[blaah]

I used to only have the music from the CDs my family owned. I then began going to my friend's house to get music from her. All of her music is either from physical albums, purchased on iTunes, or taken off CDs from the library. I figured this was just as good as buying it, but really, taking music from my friend or from the library is still only coming from one source and ending up on many iPods. Now, I borrow music from that friend still and get pirated music at a different friend's house. I find a song I like free, YouTube the artist, and decide if I'll buy the album. I'm in with the people who support the artists they like best, and for those others I take one song from, I'm sorry if it means anything at all to them. I know all of us sharing that attitude can have a larger effect, but doesn't the artist want to affect as many as possible? I hope I'm not ruining anything for anyone. But I'm 17. Take that for what I intend to say, that I have only a little money to support the people I like best, or take it for I don't care because I'm young.

[Vezon Dash]

Art is a horrible profession to go into in the first place. You don't have a solid paying job, and your type of art may or may not be interesting to anyone else. (includes music, painting, etc.) We really only hear about the big artists out there all the time, and they wipe their asses with Benjamins. I could really give two [cabbage]s about taking money away from them. They (as well as all of modern society) need to be less greedy and shove it.

Why is it wrong to do something you enjoy while also providing an expensive service to many people and then expect to be paid for it?

He never said its wrong, its just a very difficult profession to be in.

 

And I agree.

 

I hope to become a filmmaker someday, that could be considered an artist profession, and I know it's going to be very difficult to make decent money in it. Do I reject the possibility because of the hardship? I don't, Verzon does, maybe you won't neither.

 

You are right. I never said that it was wrong, but you should know that it is hard to make a decent living as an artist. I just have too many dreams to get an occupation that may not give me a solid income.

[Omar]

As far as I'm concerned, I'm willing to live in modesty if it means I can make music as I wish...

[Omar]

Bump (still on first page, but only by one row)

http://kovtr.com/

This is a goldmine of information, though for those of us who know nothing about economy it might be tough to follow.

Also, for those of us who care about the aesthetic of the graphs, you're going to cry.

[Vulxai]

Frankly,

I don't care whether or not the artist gets money or whether the label gets a money, I don't have much respect for musicians and couldn't care less if they get a decrease in the ridiculous salary they already get (around $200,000 per show). I couldn't possibilly comprehend how a music artist could want more money.

 

Besides, 79p a song isn't reasonable! I mean I will only listen to it once.

 

Piracy isn't theft, only an idiot could think that.

 

You just described mainstream artists. What do you think about indie bands, which certainly don't get $200,000 a show?

I have even less respect for them. They should get a side-job, being an artist doesn't consume all of your time!

 

I know, very late reply to this post, but I just saw it...and it blew my mind. What world do you live in where being an artist doesn't consume all of your time? Do you play an instrument? Have you tried writing a song? I can answer that. No you haven't, or else you wouldn't have said that. I've worked countless days with a buddy of mine perfecting ONE song, and that's just drums and guitar. You don't really understand the complexity of the musical theory and the harmonization, and everything that goes into it. I've actually fallen asleep on my kit while working on a song.

 

Again, I know it was a late post...but that comment was just absolutely absurd.

[Naraku893]

I will buy CDs from artists that I like the most. Others I would pirate or just listen to on youtube. Artists complain about people being able to get their songs and listen to them for free, but what about youtube? You can do the same thing, search any song you want, some random person will have it uploaded with lyrics on the video. Is that pirating too? Sure you don't have the song but you have access to it and you can listen to it whenever you want on youtube just as you would if you had it in your itunes library.

[httpBen]

Personally, I pirate music. But I don't keep most of it.

 

For me, it's:

-Download album.

-Listen through once.

-Decide if I like it.

-If no, delete it.

-If yes, keep it until I am able to buy it. (which is generally within a month)

 

I don't see the point in paying to download music, to be honest. If I'm paying for something I want to be able to hold it in my hands.

[Furah]

Personally, I pirate music. But I don't keep most of it.

 

For me, it's:

-Download album.

-Listen through once.

-Decide if I like it.

-If no, delete it.

-If yes, keep it until I am able to buy it. (which is generally within a month)

 

I don't see the point in paying to download music, to be honest. If I'm paying for something I want to be able to hold it in my hands.

I don't have the space to hold all the CDs.

 

That, and - excuse my French - I want to buy some [bleep]ing music, not some [bleep]ing plastic that's going in a box as soon as I rip the CD to my computer.