NEWS: Global Music File-Swapping Crackdown Imminent

LONDON- The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has released a progress report on its campaign to spread the message that file swapping is illegal. Within the report is the warning that new file swapping services are growing in popularity, and a global legal crackdown is required. However, there are odd upbeat statements in the report that seemed more aimed at positive publicity than reality. www.CNN.com "We believe that the music industry's Internet strategy is now turning the corner, and that in 2004 there will be, for the first time, a substantial migration of consumers from unauthorized free services to legitimate alternatives," said Jay Berman, IFPI's CEO. The IFPI Study: www.ifpi.org... Related news: U.S. suing 532 song swappers www.cnn.com Music labels see recovery in downloads and lawsuits CNET news.com CD's may soon go the way of vinyl records www.cnn.com Apple's Directory Chris Bell on iTunes music store www.ecommercetimes.com Related site: IFPI "Pro-Music" www.pro-music.org... [Edited on 22-1-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

I just don't see how Music swapping can be totally stopped unless one body takes complete control of the internet. File-Sharing extends past country borders and legal jurisdiction and the RIAA or the IFPI or both cannot fully stop the spread even with the help of the courts. Sure they can both sue the pants of people but they can not sue everyone because they would go bankrupt in the process.

Also one of the best ways to lose customers is to sue them.

Originally posted by BlackJackal
Also one of the best ways to lose customers is to sue them.

You know whats funny? Statistics show that people who download music online buy even more music than people who don't. Hell I download music and you should see my CD collection. I buy so much music I dont know where to put my Cd's anymore.

Originally posted by Ocelot

Originally posted by BlackJackal
Also one of the best ways to lose customers is to sue them.

You know whats funny? Statistics show that people who download music online buy even more music than people who don't. Hell I download music and you should see my CD collection. I buy so much music I dont know where to put my Cd's anymore.

Yeah thats me too. I have around 1200 CD's but if I got sued for downloading music I would never buy another one again.

Yeah thats me too. I have around 1200 CD's but if I got sued for downloading music I would never buy another one again.

i totally agree, i have prolly 800+ cd's that i actually baught like spent money on, but if i was to get sued for the say 300 songs i have i would never buy another cd agian, they are going way overboard on this.Also most of the stuff i dl is then ever realsed or live versions that you would never hear otherwise.

They are getting greedier and greedier.

Music is art that speaks to you. You can't say that you wouldn't buy it again if downloading is stopped, if you did you would be depriving yourself of something that would bring you great joy. I find this an issue mostly with younger people, and there are so many ways that they try to justify this. All I know is that if someone took my work, that I do for a living, and didn't pay for it I would be pi$$ed. You would be taking money away from my kids. Now I get millitant-see:Metalica. At their age I'm sure they have families, and if you've heard them lately they have a self life.

Intrepid,

How much procent of the cd album sales do the artists actually get??? And how much do the record companies get???

Thats what I said, the spin the KIDS put on it, and I mean you by your spelling, will use anything to justify it. Are you listening to the industry or Kazaa? If they were not going to be payed for recording why would they do it?

Yeah yeah yeah.. Bullcrap argument, judging other people because of their spelling. You won't get far here with that crap. Especially not with me. I don't have the time to go double check my posts for spelling, because I am doing different things at the same time, so I'm too busy right now to do that. Furthermore, the majority of people here don't speak English as their first language, so I don't mind at all if there are small spelling errors and you shouldn't either. This is a webforum, not an official letter or school.

Back to topic.
Of course they get paid, but according to me not as much as they're supposed to. The majority of they're income is from tours.

And right now one of the things that I'm busy with is making a song to compete in the biggest song competition on my island. And I wouldn't mind at all if it ended up on Kazaa. In fact, I would appreciate it.

The majority of their income come from tours? What do they play on tours? Do they play with Silly Putty on stage? Do they engage the audiance in conversation to provide entertainment? They do it with their music. And the only ones that can protect their interests are those that are established. Metalica, Ozzy,etc.. Who's going to speak for the White Stripes, for Evanecanse, for all those bands that are trying to make it, and it's being STOLEN from them? What if they give up trying? "Not going to live here." The industry will give us more of what we had in the 80's.....Crap. So keep sharing and in 6 years when you're getting garbage,not the band, on the radio, don't blame the old f*cks like me that warned you, blame yourselves.

Intrepid: This post.

Originally posted by Ocelot

You know whats funny? Statistics show that people who download music online buy even more music than people who don't. Hell I download music and you should see my CD collection. I buy so much music I dont know where to put my Cd's anymore.

And I have read about that myself.
Furthermore, it costs at least 10 less to make a cd than what they sell it for. Also with most, if not all of the albums being sold, the most songs are crap and there are only a few good ones.

Originally posted by intrepid
The majority of their income come from tours? What do they play on tours? Do they play with Silly Putty on stage? Do they engage the audiance in conversation to provide entertainment? They do it with their music. And the only ones that can protect their interests are those that are established. Metalica, Ozzy,etc.. Who's going to speak for the White Stripes, for Evanecanse, for all those bands that are trying to make it, and it's being STOLEN from them? What if they give up trying? "Not going to live here." The industry will give us more of what we had in the 80's.....Crap. So keep sharing and in 6 years when you're getting garbage,not the band, on the radio, don't blame the old f*cks like me that warned you, blame yourselves.

Personally 80's music IMO is the best music ever made. But thats just my opinion. Ont he other hand you say stuff about the White Stripes, etc.....Did you ever realize that alot of bands who are not "major" groups ended up being discovered online through these file-sharing programs. For every "high profile" artist who opposes file-sharing, 100 garage bands and future musicians support it. Remember, the future bands and groups that will perform in the near future have grown up with these file-sharing programs and have supported them intensely. If you want to stick up for jackass' like Metallica who sues the little man when they have made hundreds of millions of dollars from tours, merchandising, etc, then so be it. I for one was part of the lawsuit that Metallica tried to put on Napster users back in 99. Since then I have not bought another Metallica item, or litened to their music even if it comes on the radio. So by trying to go after file-sharers, these people are doing nothing but alienating their fan base.

PS - I have a excuse for bad writing, my wrist is broke.

[Edited on 22-1-2004 by Dreamz]

I agree with many people here. Almost all of the cd's I have bought were b/c of dowloading a song. For all the whiny little pop acts that banked their whole future on music I have one tip....GET A NEW JOB. If you cant write good music that will sell albums then you are in the wrong business. If you doubt me then look at the greatful dead. Im no hippie but I admire the fact that they have such a huge fan base( even though garcia is dead) and still manage to make money. They even let people record their show and swap them. It comes down to this....There are a lot of sissy's who thought they could make it big but were not good enough. If you are bad at your job then find a new one. Dont due the fans. As for the people in the background who work the sound editing and running studio's and the engineers, dont worry, there will always be music and there will always be music. heighten musical quality, not quantity.

One thing I have found about file sharing networks like Kazaa and others is the ability to track down rare tracks issued by bands who never even tour the US, whos CDs are neigh on impossible to find, and imports that never see light in but a few countries. Also many cover songs bands perferom are never put on any CD and released for sale, so the only real way to get it would be download a bootleg version from a file sharing service.

As for the whole argument over stealing, its two sided really. I have no problems paying for a CD, especially of bands I particularly like and choose to support. What gets under my skin are bands like Metallica for example (dont feel like finding the list of bands arguing over filesharing, so the cliche will have to do) who get up and rand and rave about it being theft, when they have already made enough money to never work another day in their lives, and possible to have thier children do the same. Its straight out greed on the part of artists who have become spoiled by the luxuries of buying a new car every month, spending 5000$ on a single piece of clothing and having gold lined ceilings in their homes (Master P I think) If they are barely able to feed their children, then yes they have a reason to be pissed, but not because they have squandered their fortures that ammount to more than most normal citizens could hope to earn in 5 lifetimes. If the artists are so concerned about being ripped off, they should be looking first to their record labels which pocket huge ammounts of their money, and throttle them creatively to the point of near slavery.

Originally posted by Dreamz

Personally 80's music IMO is the best music ever made. But thats just my opinion.

Are you serious? The 80's? Really?

it takes me a minimum of 1 hour to pirate a cd (from googling the track list to burning) If cd's were ten bucks it wouldnt be worth my while. I guess you cant buy mass quantities of jet fuel and blow with the margins on a 10 dollar product that costs a nickel to produce.