Comment

Comment by Db0 on January 13, 2010 at 11:40am

and that Db0 is still completely full of himself

Say what now?

Comment by Ben on January 13, 2010 at 9:02am

I think it's like anarchists getting together to sing Kumbaya...

Comment by Sitakali on November 17, 2009 at 12:41am

In the society we live in today, we have created a system where we relinquish any form of individual responsibility by making moral matters up to the law. Humans are perfectly capable of being decent without the law, but the societal structure has to support it.

Comment by Sitakali on November 17, 2009 at 12:40am

Just so you know, the music industry is thriving more than ever, despite piracy. This is because a lot of pirated music wouldn't be bought anyway; I know I sure wouldn't. If I want an entire album, I will buy it, and so will most people. If I want one single song and don't want to pay a ridiculous $2 for it, I download it.

Comment by John C on November 10, 2009 at 8:01pm

Hi folks! Socialist ideals through non-coercive means. Is that the idea here?

Comment by Structure Theory on November 9, 2009 at 7:02am

I never said piracy was in the moral clear... I just wanted to point out that your argument regarding police and fear of repercussions was flawed. I don't think people download music because they feel they've got less chance of getting caught.... I think they download music because they consider it morally superior to stealing a physical product. It's pretty plain to see that it's dreadfully easy to get caught downloading music.

I'm also a musician, and I've decided that when I release my first album, I'm uploading it to the torrent sites and leaking it on soulseek myself... I'm going to include a link to a website that has a donate button. I'm also going to spend quite a bit of time marketing the album online. It's going to be a 100% free "donationware" release. I'm thinking that providing various goodies on the site, like multitracks, an "audiophile" version high quality flac release of the album, and various other stuffs, may entice people to stay long enough to click the donate button. The way I see it, I might as well use piracy as a tool rather than let it defeat me before I start. People like free music because it lets them try before they buy.... so I might as well let people do that, and pay if they like it enough.

Do I think some people are greedy bastards, and will never pay? Yes. However, I consider them listening to my album to be a bit of payback anyway, because every new fan may help another fan find my music.... and not everyone is a greedy bastard that doesn't want to pay.

Comment by Edward Teach on November 6, 2009 at 10:10am

True, no physical product and no reproduction cost. Still, the music itself is a product, albiet not a physical one. And, every downloaded album could have been a potential album sale.

Sucky time to be in the music business! My son and I are both musicians and song writers. The motivation for spending money to produce an album has gone down the tubes for me. Why buy what you can get for free?

If I invented a new kind of revolutionary telephone, but did not produce the new phone, should I get any compensation from the phones that are produced by someone else?

Comment by Structure Theory on November 6, 2009 at 9:34am

That said, I personally think police are a good thing... I just think we need to stop making shit that doesn't harm anyone else illegal. Stupid laws are stupid. The "nanny state" that anti-socialists talk of all the time.... that "nanny state" is inherent in anti-drug legislation.... it's inherent in the move to ban gay marriage.... it's inherent in the movement to ban abortion.

If you want liberty, it has to be across the board... not just financial.

Comment by Structure Theory on November 6, 2009 at 9:30am

//Folks illegally download music//
Because there's no physicality to the product. You're jumping the gun when you presume it's because of law enforcement. When you steal something physical, something that cost money to make a physical copy of, and cost money to ship, you're actually making the producer of that product take a monetary loss by stealing the product.... just like damaged goods are a loss. You're removing that physical copy of the product from the market, thus removing any chance of it being sold to anyone.

When you make a digital copy of a digital product, however, you're not stealing a physical product... therefore you're not costing the producer anything. For that copy you downloaded, there was no physical replication costs... there was no shipping costs... there was no retail costs. In fact, the original copy of the media was most likely purchased.

Furthermore, there's just as much risk of getting caught downloading as there is shoplifting... if not more. There's a permanent digital trail of evidence left behind with everything you download... a trail that's significantly more damning than the evidence left behind from most shoplifting experiences. Shoplifters just need to avoid cameras and people... downloaders need to use proxies and encrypt their entire hard drives to get away without hard evidence against them.

Comment by Edward Teach on November 6, 2009 at 6:09am

I know this isn't a libertarian ideal, but the presence of law enforcement dramatically decreases illegal behaviors. Psych research shows that people tend to bend or break the rules when they feel there is not much chance of getting caught. Folks illegally download music who would never steal a CD from a store.

It only makes sense that industry, managed by people, requires oversight to insure proper behavior.

The anti-corporation thing is more libertarian. It would insure that "individuals" are held responsible for their behaviors, rather than some vague, legal entity. Also, I think product quality and customer service would improve dramatically, because there would at least be someone at the top who gives a damn ;-)

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