Originally posted by Blue Lion
So, people don't like the the prices, so they steal it, and you blame the people who sell the songs.
I think it's about time they started smacking some of these kids around, if they were stealing anything else everyone would be all over it. If they were stealing CDs out of stores it'd be different?
No, thats not the point of the pricing complaint. The pricing complaint is that the companies who do the marketing are essentially gouging customers by charging large amounts of money more than it costs them to make it. At present, the record companies are probably making 90% profit...and since they all sit in a nice little cartel they set prices however they want.
The biggest problem...almost nothing goes to the artist. As it has been pointed out, we've got artists living the luxury life...and there are a few of those people around. For everyone of those there is a thousand other artists not recognized (ever tried dealing with these companies, I have friends who have and its not a fun experience), who scrape out a living on the bottom of the barrel, many who disappear forever their talent unheard by the rest of the world....people who have ever right and every bit as much talent as our multimilliondollar celebs do or more.
Its not a matter of the end consumer being asked to pay
, its a matter of the end consumer being forced to pay
more than they should have to and the artist getting virtually nothing out of it.
Stealing should never be condoned...but it is symtomatic of a larger problem. If you've got widespread stealing and crime sprees in the city streets, you know you have social problems. If you have widespread stealing of music online, you know that there is a problem.
People are willing to pay their money...but they would prefer to do it in a tight budget and get their monies worth. And to the point that reducing prices won't eliminate piracy...the answer is of course it will not. Piracy will ALWAYS be an element in human society...but it will be reduced, hindered, and relegated to a small group of people instead of the widespread masses.
Finally...yes I blame the people who sell the songs. They set the prices, they do the marketing research, they know exactly how much money they bring in and they aren't doing badly by it either. What they are upset about is the fact that a new medium (just like previous times in history - read about the telegraph, the telephone, and the introduction of the newspaper into european society) is destroying the old order just like the printing press destroyed the old order of the scripture writing monks.
Its happened before, it will happen again. Eventually history will record the gradual reduction and disappearance of the big record companies replaced by small online outlets for music.
