Soapbox time!
Dan here.
Why is it that people view mp3s as a god-given right? This is getting out of hand. I was just at dinner, eating by myself. There are two girls at the table next to me, complaining about how they can't download any songs, that Kazaa doesn't work for them, and that Morpheus must be running into problems with the school's firewall. For those of you that don't know, I'm on a college campus, and as with most, we're provided with a LAN for our internet connection. Meanwhile, back at the rant, these girls keep on talking back and forth about why they think they can't download songs, including the presence of firewalls, anti-virus software, spyware, et cetera et cetera et cetera. I wanted to tell them that the reason they can't download is because our school has an agreement with Sony (or someone, hell if I know who), and software in place to restrict the use of programs such as Morpheus, Kazaa, Napster, you name it. If it's there to steal music, it's suffered a hamstringing.
I for one applaud this. I'm a big fan of copyright laws, and I think they're in place for a reason. I've been through all the arguments, and I still think what I thought before: The people making this music deserve the money they're getting. If they sucked, they wouldn't be popular. If no one listened to them, they'd fade away. That the artists continue to put out new material is a testament to their skills, whether it's marketing, talent, or god-knows-what. If they have millions of dollars, it's because they earned it. It's called capitalism, folks. Maybe you're pissed that they have more money than you, and you think they've earned enough. "Stop earning money," you say, "because I feel like resenting you and calling you a sellout!" So a CD costs fifteen, eighteen bucks. Yeah, it's kind of expensive on a college student's budget. But the fact of the matter is that you really don't need to buy everything that comes out. If you like a song, request it on the radio. That's free. Go see if the artist's website allows you to give it a listen. A good portion do that nowadays. Go buy the goddamn single. It'll run you four, five dollars, and likely have a pretty spiffy B-Side. Or else buy the album, if you really like the music. I've made a few impulse buys based on one or two songs, and ended up loving the whole album. It can happen.
"But I don't want to pay for music! The record companies just want to screw us out of our money!" No, no they don't. They want to provide a service. They pay the cost of hiring the band, pay for the tours, pay for the advertising, pay for the production of the CD, pay for the recording time, pay for the expenses associated with promoting a tour/band/group/what-have-you. See all the uses of that word 'pay'? They gotta get their money back somewhere. And you know where? That's right, CD sales. Stop worrying about how much or little it costs to produce the physical CD. The difference between that and what you pay is called profit. Also realize that you're not buying CDs straight from Atlantic for fifteen bucks. You're buying it from Media Play, Wal-Mart, Camelot, or wherever. And they bought it from someone else. Each step of the way, the price goes up a little so that each business can continue to stay in business. It's what they do.
I really don't know where I'm going with this, other than to vent. If you're not going to pay for music, don't expect sympathy from me. It's called theft. It's illegal. It's wrong.
Yay for rants; I'll see you next time, when our special guests will be Dustin Diamond and Jaleel White.
Why is it that people view mp3s as a god-given right? This is getting out of hand. I was just at dinner, eating by myself. There are two girls at the table next to me, complaining about how they can't download any songs, that Kazaa doesn't work for them, and that Morpheus must be running into problems with the school's firewall. For those of you that don't know, I'm on a college campus, and as with most, we're provided with a LAN for our internet connection. Meanwhile, back at the rant, these girls keep on talking back and forth about why they think they can't download songs, including the presence of firewalls, anti-virus software, spyware, et cetera et cetera et cetera. I wanted to tell them that the reason they can't download is because our school has an agreement with Sony (or someone, hell if I know who), and software in place to restrict the use of programs such as Morpheus, Kazaa, Napster, you name it. If it's there to steal music, it's suffered a hamstringing.
I for one applaud this. I'm a big fan of copyright laws, and I think they're in place for a reason. I've been through all the arguments, and I still think what I thought before: The people making this music deserve the money they're getting. If they sucked, they wouldn't be popular. If no one listened to them, they'd fade away. That the artists continue to put out new material is a testament to their skills, whether it's marketing, talent, or god-knows-what. If they have millions of dollars, it's because they earned it. It's called capitalism, folks. Maybe you're pissed that they have more money than you, and you think they've earned enough. "Stop earning money," you say, "because I feel like resenting you and calling you a sellout!" So a CD costs fifteen, eighteen bucks. Yeah, it's kind of expensive on a college student's budget. But the fact of the matter is that you really don't need to buy everything that comes out. If you like a song, request it on the radio. That's free. Go see if the artist's website allows you to give it a listen. A good portion do that nowadays. Go buy the goddamn single. It'll run you four, five dollars, and likely have a pretty spiffy B-Side. Or else buy the album, if you really like the music. I've made a few impulse buys based on one or two songs, and ended up loving the whole album. It can happen.
"But I don't want to pay for music! The record companies just want to screw us out of our money!" No, no they don't. They want to provide a service. They pay the cost of hiring the band, pay for the tours, pay for the advertising, pay for the production of the CD, pay for the recording time, pay for the expenses associated with promoting a tour/band/group/what-have-you. See all the uses of that word 'pay'? They gotta get their money back somewhere. And you know where? That's right, CD sales. Stop worrying about how much or little it costs to produce the physical CD. The difference between that and what you pay is called profit. Also realize that you're not buying CDs straight from Atlantic for fifteen bucks. You're buying it from Media Play, Wal-Mart, Camelot, or wherever. And they bought it from someone else. Each step of the way, the price goes up a little so that each business can continue to stay in business. It's what they do.
I really don't know where I'm going with this, other than to vent. If you're not going to pay for music, don't expect sympathy from me. It's called theft. It's illegal. It's wrong.
Yay for rants; I'll see you next time, when our special guests will be Dustin Diamond and Jaleel White.