Illegal file sharing; what can be done?

[The Curmudgeon]

With the news that there are now Super Serious, No Really We Mean It This Time talks in place regarding the illegal file sharing of music (in the UK at least, don't the US already charge you if they catch you?), I thought I'd share this post with you. It's a pretty decent, non-preachy read.

www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&p=7136&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Now, while people prattle on about how music is "too expensive" and if "they lowered the cost of CDs I would buy them", I always come back with the fact that music has never BEEN cheaper than it is now. In the UK, top ten albums can go for as little as £7.99 now (in fact, just today I saw the album by UK pop starlet Little Boots, still in the top 10, for just £5) When you consider a pack of cigarettes now costs more than £5.00, something people buy EVERY fucking day, the cost of a lovingly crafted, expensively produced piece of music that will last forever doesn't seem so out of the question.

Yet we have bred a generation of people who just will not pay for it, and are happy to basically own NO music other than the mp3's on their computer. As awesome as Charlie Brooker is, he's talking out his ass if he thinks people who simply steal music "bloody love it", because I've talked to people who have downloaded albums and they can't even name the fucking thing.

The Beatles made the news this week because they re-released every album, remastered, for the first time ever, and four of those albums charted in the top 10. So it seems there ARE still millions of people willing to pay for real, physical copies of music, it's just a shame it's music they probably already own.

So, bonus content for people buying the real thing or penalties for people stealing it? What would YOU do?

[InvisibleWolfMan]

I usually download tracks from long OOP albums (over half that never made it past vinyl) or something that I'm tempted to actually fork over some cash but don't necessarily want to "buy blind." On rare occasions if I come across something that's in .mp3 format that I have but haven't formatted myself then I may do it to save myself the trouble. I love every bit of my collection and although it's meant the loss of money that could've been put to "better use" (tm: Wolfy's wife) I have a high value on it.

I think that honestly making music accessible to everyone would help greatly. I've got some great ideas myself, but due to my short time on I can't get into depth further at the moment than to say that instead of blaming file sharers they should focus on making it rewarding for the buyer. There's ways to do it without pouring much more money into what has already been done.

[trashcanman]

Nothing can be done. The technology is out and nothing short of corporate terrorism coupled with government fascism is going to do anything about it. I don't see the harm in kids downloading shit they aren't going to listen to and therefore weren't going to pay for anyways. It's just data. Nothing more. What needs to be done is the big music corporations have to go out of business. They could easily be pricing albums at $5 or less, but the fact is they spend so much money on payola, advertising, appearing on talk shows, music videos, and all the bullshit that these "artists" have to got quadruple platinum EVERY SINGLE TIME to justify it all. That means only artists on the success level of Jay-Z, Kanye West, Hannah Montana, and U2 are getting any attention at all. If this whole corporate aspect dies and radio stations could play music they actually liked instead of what the companies are paying them to and people had more options, then independent labels could take over and music as an art form would spring back to life. No more American Idol, no more pop-country, no more shitty hip-hop. Remember MUSIC? The kind that meant something? We could have it back. All we have to do is tear this motherfucker down. The kids who are illegally downloading are mostly just doing it to shit music anyways. The real fans will always shell out to support the artists they love when they can. The only ones who suffer from file-sharing are the ones who deserve to perish.

[mackshere]

The gov't can, and has gone after illegal downloaders. I read recently one college guy was forced to pay like 70 grand, which that dude just claimed bankruptcy. But if you are just occasionally downloading some songs, you are probably alright.

[trashcanman]

Whenever they do go after somebody it makes the news which it so say it's just winning the lottery in reverse. 10 million motherfuckers download illegal music and they just pick some random kid and ruin his life as if the other 9,999,999 are all going to just stop because of that. To make it stick, they're going to have to go after it harder then they're going after drugs which is just stupid considering the amount of time and money they'd have to invest on something so stupid and paltry.