Metal Reviews

Even though I buy all my music I have more than 24 illegally downloaded tracks.

what if this actually happened to buyers? who had just downloaded samples.. i've got a collection of about 900 records..and i have downloaded samples for most of them...damn, that would be awful

I suppose it's a personal thing...

Four years after it began, the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) campaign to intimidate music fans by randomly singling out individuals for lawsuits has, for the first time, made it to a jury trial. Despite the RIAA's previous claim that defendants have no right to a jury trial, Jammie Thomas had her day in court in front of a jury sworn to examine the evidence in a fair, impartial manner. The verdict is now in: Thomas was found guilty, and will be liable for $220,000 in penalties — $9250 per song.

But Capitol Records v. Thomas is the exception that proves the rule: 99.9% of those who are sued by the recording industry for file sharing will never get a day in court. Facing well-heeled recording industry lawyers, most targets of the music industry’s wrath conclude that it’s cheaper to settle than to fight. That’s why the RIAA campaign has resulted in little more than out-of-court settlements and default judgments (along with a few cases dismissed for lack of evidence and, in the case of the wrongly accused Tanya Anderson, a rare court ordering the RIAA to pay her legal fees).

In the Duluth, MN court where the case was heard, some interesting facts have emerged, among them Sony-BMG’s head of litigation Jennifer Pariser suggestion under questioning that the lawsuits are losing money for the RIAA. Whether she’s right or not — we’ve long suspected that these lawsuits are at least breaking even, and the RIAA refuses to say — millions of dollars have been spent on these suits, and millions have been paid to the RIAA, with no sign that a penny of that money has gone into the pockets of artists.

Also revealing was Pariser’s assertion that ripping CDs for personal use was stealing. “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself,” she said, “I suppose we can say he stole a song, ” adding that making a single copy is just "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy.’” That’s an ironic statement coming from an employee of a company that has “Sony” in its name. After all, Sony’s Betamax VCR was at the center of the 1984 case that established that individuals have a right of to make copies of TV programs for personal use.

But despite today's verdict, tens of millions of Americans will continue sharing billions of songs, just as they have since Napster let the P2P genie out of the bottle nearly 8 years ago. Every lawsuit makes the recording industry look more and more like King Canute, vainly trying to hold back the tide. As for EFF, we continue to believe there is a better way forward.

You know how many albums I've bought that I wasn't into at first, only to give them another chance down the road and think it's awesome? Countless! When you pay for something, you put the time in to give it a chance. When you steal something, you've got no attachment to it. You've lost nothing. Spending your hard-earned money on something will make you appreciate it more.

You disagree only because it's your defense against your penchant for downloading.

I love you.

I think it's worth pointing out again that it's the mindset of downloaders that I deplore rather than the fact that the record industry is 'losing' money. Who cares? I can even see good reason for downloading if you live in a fascistic country and can't buy it - westerners really have no excuse. Pick and choose, learn what quality is, for goodness' sake.

Brahm, of course it's not an iron-clad principle, and I'm not necessarily attacking the people at this site. You have to admit, though, that the general ease of access to free music online has robbed it of the little remaining mystery that buying it and carrying it home can give.

And why are people so impatient? So, there's an album that's just out that I want, but not enough to pay full price for. Why not wait a while until it's found cheaper, let the excitement build? Sure, you might be just as disappointed as if you'd downloaded it, but having paid for it automatically puts it in a different catagory than if you downloaded it. Downloading takes the excitement, the tension, the life from the whole music thang. If you're not in it for the full experience, then sure, download it, but I think you're missing out on that special something.

I have wasted far too much money on far too many albums I don't like to not download before buying.

Pick and choose, learn what quality is, for goodness' sake.

So, there's an album that's just out that I want, but not enough to pay full price for. Why not wait a while until it's found cheaper, let the excitement build?

I don't know what the deal is where you live, but unless your band is called Iron Maiden, Megadeth or Metallica, your albums are never going to be cheaper then the day they come out- oh, sure, there might be a sale on the album at some point in the next twenty five years, but its not likely that you're going to find it on sale anywhere, particularly with the majority of metal titles.

You and I just seem to have different attitudes towards music. I love to have the liner notes and hold an album in my hand- but not the same extent as I do for books, say. I don't see why buying something puts you in a different category, or how the life of music is suddenly taken away if you download an album. Before this downloading thing began, did anyone ever say that listening to an album at a friend's house took the life out of it?

And sure, the fact that there is more music out to get there makes that one really good album slightly less special. When you're able to listen to 10 really good albums a year instead of one or two, those two probably won't have the same place in your mind. But I view this as an incredibly positive thing. Gone are the days when it was incredibly difficult to find anything new, other than by going to shitloads of live shows or having a friend reccomend a band. Through downloading, I've discovered hundreds of fantastic bands I would never have otherwise. Its allowed underground bands to get some recognition- I look at the metal sections in CD stores these days and find bands like Holy Terror and Sabbat, bands which would never have made it in 8 years ago when there was no opportunity for new fans to hear their songs. I'd say that downloading has very positive effects both for fans of music and the metal scene in general. Now, you obviously get something special out of buying your music- more power to you. But I don't think that one approach is any more right than the other, just like its okay for someone to get something completely amazing out of listening to a Judas Priest album (ie: me) and for others to hear Painkiller and dislike it.

enslaved how can download sheep

""The Norwegian party Venstre (socialist liberal) has proposed that all illegal file sharing should be legalized. They haven’t put much thought behind the populist proposal and the rationale is basically that since the music is there people should be allowed to consume it freely...

So, in response to this the Norwegian metal band ENSLAVED took a cab out to the Venstre party leader’s farm (he happens to be a sheep farmer) and "downloaded a sheep" with the same kind of motivation: free roaming sheep are available and should be consumed! The sheep was then brought back to the Norwegian parliament, quite an effective statement."

enslaved how can download sheep

""The Norwegian party Venstre (socialist liberal) has proposed that all illegal file sharing should be legalized. They haven’t put much thought behind the populist proposal and the rationale is basically that since the music is there people should be allowed to consume it freely...

So, in response to this the Norwegian metal band ENSLAVED took a cab out to the Venstre party leader’s farm (he happens to be a sheep farmer) and "downloaded a sheep" with the same kind of motivation: free roaming sheep are available and should be consumed! The sheep was then brought back to the Norwegian parliament, quite an effective statement."

Enslaved are now my new favorite band