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tech crunch article comparing music services

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nudone:
So, if I'm understanding you right, you wouldn't have any problem if AllOfMP3.com were free? In other words if people weren't "paying criminals" but just taking stuff from them for free? :D

- Oshyan
-JavaJones (June 10, 2006, 03:36 PM)
--- End quote ---

correct.

whilst allofmp3.com isn't illegal in Russia (because of the digital media technicality it appears) there are obviously changes taking place - pressures from outside the country appear to be working - this seems obvious to me that allofmp3.com have conceded that they were/are a bit naughty in the way they do business.

what javajones said about legality just being government endorsement can be applied here - but it seems completely irrelevant to me. if allofmp3.com were a UK based service that had the full backing of the law but used a technicality to avoid paying the correct royalties to artists i'd still consider their business unfair/immoral.

let's just see what happens around september time. if allofmp3.com's prices go up then i think it will be fair to assume the royalties will be going to the right people and that they weren't before.

here's another link for what its worth: http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/press/20060601.html

can i just ask everyone if they are actually bothered whether the artists they are downloading from allofmp3.com get paid royalties or not?

if the general response is "no, we aren't bothered we're just glad that it's a cheap service and we really don't care who receives the money" then i have absolutely no argument here.

JavaJones:
I am 100% bothered when artists don't recieve royalties. That is precisely why I don't like supporting record companies. :D Supporting them just *perpetuates* the ugly situation we have now. I mean talk about legalized immorality - the way copyright law works has basically allowed these giant record company monopolies to control almost all for-sale musical expression for decades, and they pay the artists a pittance. It is truly ridiculous.

I think the missing piece of the puzzle here is that you think if they were doing things legally then artists would be getting royalties and all would be well. OK, they *would* be getting royalties, but such a small amount compared to the total cost that it's insulting. So I will gladly agree that what AllOfMp3.com is doing may be immoral and potentially soon illegal, but I think that being the case you simply can't ignore the immorality of the record industry itself.

- Oshyan

nudone:
i agree. and i would assume that most people on this forum will to. we've felt compelled to donate to the software authors around here because it was personal and we can be assured that the donation is going to the right place.

i would love to see a method of donating or paying directly to an artist or band to show how much i appreciate what they are doing. it isn't news to say that their are plenty of musicians already doing this - it's what the internet is perfect for.

i hope we do see a time when the individual or small collective can compete with how the dominant corporations run the industry - i thought it would have happened by now but as it hasn't i obviously have no idea how complicated the music industry is.

maybe it is artificially complicated so that the organisations can continue to exist. maybe people are too lazy to seek out artists unless they are force fed to them by the music industry - in which case the industry deserves what it charges.

Carol Haynes:
To lighten the mood slightly ...

I mentioned going to see Janis Ian recently in concert. Not only is she a mainstream artist of 35 years standing but she is totally anti record companies (do a search on here to find and read her article if you haven't read it).

A really neat and refreshing idea at her concert was that all the notices outside the concert hall saying bags will be searched, no cameras and no recording euqipment had been beautifully covered up with a notice saying record what you like and take photos too. The only comment she made from on stage was a request that people avoided photography in the quieter songs for the sake of the rest of the audience. Rock on Janis ...

JavaJones:
That's awesome. I love artists like that. :)

People have the right to feel however they want but I honestly think that a lot of artists have just been caught up in the corporate RIAA way of doing things and they can't even imagine another way, let alone that any alternate way might actually be *better* - better for them, their fans, for just about everyone except the record companies. What would Lars Ulrich have to say if the record companies died, they were forced to go into independent distribution, and they made *more* money?

It's not nice to change people just because you disagree but I do think a lot of people are just misinformed or flat out bribed. This shouldn't come as a surprise though considering how much of the rest of the world works this way.

- Oshyan

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