posted March 04, 2002 03:11 PM            

I've found out interesting things, some articles talk about how file sharing has actually increased sales. People seem to be listening to different types of music and buying CD's.

Tell me what you think

posted March 04, 2002 04:55 PM            

I'm all for MP3 sharing because it allows people access to new music as well as hard to find songs (or song versions). The corporate intent is to provide music that is accessible, and therefore profitable. As I once heard, the half-truth in the music industry is that "People don't know what they like." The problem with MTV, VH-1, and top 40 radio is that they only play what sells at the expense of better music. For the individual fan, it is their right to have a forum where they can have access to all kinds of music, whether it is Top 40 or not. File sharing does that. Morever, if the file sharing is free, it helps people who are cash strapped from spending a lot of money at record stores (i.e. Tower, Sam Goody, etc.). Why should the consumer have to spend $17.99 or $18.99 for one CD? That's outrageous. I don't have a problem with people making money, but I do have a problem when they try to rip-off other people. Of course, there are places like Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy, which sell CDs for reasonable prices. However, in my experiences, their selection is not as good as Tower and Sam Goody. Perhaps I'm wrong.

While I understand where artists like Metallica (in particular Lars Ulrich) and Dr. Dre are coming from, they handled the situation poorly in my opinion. Musicians have a right to be paid for an individual's use of their intellectual property. In fact, that right is protected by the U.S. Constitution. However, in sueing Napster specifically, they kept other file sharing sites running, while new sites were being started. That, in my opinion, is why the RIAA, Metallica, and Dr. Dre are still fighting file sharing today. The RIAA is going to try to curtail file sharing as much as they can, but with technology the way it is today as well as the number file sharing sites, its going to be an uphill battle all the way.

My personal opinion is that the artists have a new medium where they can personally interact with the fans. After all, before the corporate factor took over in rock music, one of the artist's objectives was to personally interact with the fans. This is not happening today for the most part, and music would be nothing if not for the fans. To me, there are other ways of making money that does not align with selling CDs, such as investing in the booming CD-R industry or actually investing the file sharing sites themselves. Of course, as precarious as the file sharing situation is, it may not be a worthwhile investment right now.

But that's just my opinion.

Peace,

Richard

posted March 04, 2002 06:00 PM            

If they had quality music such as Duncan's, then maybe I'd consider it, but all that's out there right now is Boy Band crap and Britney Pairs, err, I mean Spears. The fact is, they push crap out the door these days and you never hear of the good artists anymore. I wouldn't know about half the musicians that I know about right now if I couldn't download some of their songs, for example, Don McLean and Nick Drake. I didn't know anything about either untill I started downloading their music. I fell in love with it and bought CDs.

Plus, total cost for making CD's is about 3 dollars, why don't they keep their promise they made when CD's first came out and drop the price to about 10 to 12 dollars.

Just my opinion and rant

posted March 04, 2002 10:16 PM            

peace - ericka

posted March 05, 2002 12:38 AM            

File sharing is a good way to preview music, so an individual can decide whether or not to buy (or burn) the music. Last weekend, I downloaded songs from Paul McCartney's "Driving Rain" CD. I wanted to like that CD so much, but realized that there were only a couple of good songs on it. So, I didn't burn it on one of the CD-Rs I have. A year ago, I would've probably wasted money on a CD that would garner a couple of listens.

Peace,

posted March 06, 2002 12:16 AM            

Mohannad