Comments on: Five Flawed Reasons Illegally Downloading Music is Good http://runawayjim.org/2007/11/19/five-flawed-reasons-illegally-downloading-music-is-good/ Musings on beer, music, technology, urbanism, and life... Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:54:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: George http://runawayjim.org/2007/11/19/five-flawed-reasons-illegally-downloading-music-is-good/#comment-262 George Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:49:09 +0000 http://runawayjim.org/2007/11/19/five-flawed-reasons-illegally-downloading-music-is-good/#comment-262 Even for artists who are not on a major label, who "churn out amazing songs in their spare time", it still takes time and, if you want to do it right, money. Sure, anyone can record themselves and their guitar in their bedroom at their computer, and overdub some tracks, and throw it up on MySpace. But, if you want it to sound good, you have to get a sound engineer, and maybe a mastering engineer if you really want to do it right (btw - the best sound system I ever heard was in a mastering studio - but I digress). These things cost money. That money comes out of the band members pockets. It's not "free promotion" if the band gives the music away. Most bands who try to record an album on their own will likely never make all of that money back (unless they get really lucky). So, even removing the evil record companies from the equation, you should still pay for the music. The record companies may be in danger of dying out to independent musicians who can distribute their music without having a label, but if people continue to think it's ethical to get their music for free, those independent musicians will quickly die out as well. Even for artists who are not on a major label, who “churn out amazing songs in their spare time”, it still takes time and, if you want to do it right, money. Sure, anyone can record themselves and their guitar in their bedroom at their computer, and overdub some tracks, and throw it up on MySpace. But, if you want it to sound good, you have to get a sound engineer, and maybe a mastering engineer if you really want to do it right (btw - the best sound system I ever heard was in a mastering studio - but I digress).

These things cost money. That money comes out of the band members pockets. It’s not “free promotion” if the band gives the music away. Most bands who try to record an album on their own will likely never make all of that money back (unless they get really lucky). So, even removing the evil record companies from the equation, you should still pay for the music.

The record companies may be in danger of dying out to independent musicians who can distribute their music without having a label, but if people continue to think it’s ethical to get their music for free, those independent musicians will quickly die out as well.

]]>