Latest study - file sharing has no impact on CD sales
 

Surprise surprise! Well not really since files that I have listened have always made me go out and buy the CD so that i can have the source, but maybe I am a rare apple?

Anyway, the point is, this study shows that file sharing has absolutely no effect on CD sales. Something i already knew, and my friends already know, but the RIAA doesn't or is not willing to admit. The RIAA also has two big issues - one is they are control freaks, and the other is they need an excuse for declining CD sales instead of blaming the crappy managed music they keep releasing. What happened to real artists anyway? I think the control freaks stamped them out.

Here is the abstract:
To read the full study, go here:
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf...59?cookieSet=1

-S

Couldn't have put it better.

Indeed. Well said.

I only ever download stuff that I've already purchased (invariably several times i.e bought it on vinyl, cassette, CD, video, ad naseum), this is simply to save me the trouble of making an MP3 by digging the thing out.

But to be honest, even if the music 'industry' - note I said industry not artistry - was being damaged by downloading, then it would bloody well serve them right for taking the p*ss for years on pricing and the constant peddling of dross, while making very little effort to nurture real talent.

These days you get manufactured acts appearing out of nowhere - which their marketing departments instantly hail as 'geniuses' - only to find that they've run out of steam by the time they get to their 'difficult' second album. And if you go and see such acts live, you invariably find that they couldn't hold a tune even if it had handles welded to it.

And I again wish to plug Professor Lessig's work for those really interested in these issues :know:

http://www.free-culture.cc/freecontent/

The Rolling Stones were manufactured to be the Anti-Beatles.

Say what?:doh:

How do you figure that? :-?

I feel somewhat vindicated.:lol:
:up:

it comes down to the riaa thinking people actually want too buy the 'music' they download when in reality people download just becuase its there.

a guy i work with has about 3gigs of tracks, he barely even listens to music and certainly wouldnt have bouight even a couple of tracks hes got.

its like going into a supermarket to get some beer and having a bite on some free cheese samples, you werent going to buy cheese anyway so your actions have had no impact on the sales of stilton.

if like the band (muse, system of a down etc.) i buy the cd.

Small bands starting up it would, from over here bands just a yr or two into their singing career are always on the radio putting up annoucements to kiwis that pirating their music is not helping them. NZ got a bad rating for pirating music. Recently on a talkback radio they put up a no holds barred tell all whether you pirate music or not. out of the 44000 that rang up over the week, 94% said they do it without a second thought.:o

And thats just NZ! Their must be millions around the globe doing it.

I watched on this vid about the Police Raid of torrents - Piratebay site, i think was in sweden, every day or week can't remeber but wouldn't be surprised if its a day, there are something like 12million users who hit that site. The guys brought a house and practically had the whole place setup with servers. :rotfl:

It works the other way with me. Because I'm too lazy to go buy a CD and because I don't want to pay to have it shipped to me I feel tempted to download songs if I already have at least one CD from the artist/band.

Piracy isn't new though. Back in the day people couldn't download music, nope, they recorded it off the radio in cassette tapes. It was just more expensive and much more difficult to distribute it that way.

I think the music industry really doesn't like that people can sample music. Before they used to have to buy it to find out it was crap. I mean, I'm sure it does hurt sales... But come on, it's like that South Park episode where because of music piracy Metallica can't afford their golden shark tank.

PD

Why does it matter that filesharing has no impact on CD sales? It's still illegal, so don't do it.

None of the arguments about record companies over-charging or producing bad music is an excuse for breaking the law. Like an album? Buy it. Don't like an album? Don't buy it.

The very idea of taking some sort of moral stand against the big, bad record companies by refusing to buy their products but then going and downloading them illegally seems ludicrous to me.

I personally always try before I buy. I'm not going to buy an album on the basis of one decent track which is currently getting airplay. I rarely keep a shared/downloaded album if I don't like it.

If it is not good enough to buy, it's not good enough to be on my HDD.

FYI the same goes for games/software & books.:yep:

Laws are not a priori good.

Law, at the best of times, are mere words on paper that attempt to crudely analog the contemporary ethics of society. At worst, they are words on paper put in by the rich and powerful to suit their own needs. Current copyright laws with their near-infinite expiry dates, IMO, are really more about the latter.

If, as many suspect, file sharing does little harm, or even is a net benefit to the big companies, then the ethical justification of the law disappears.

Every company believes that people will buy their products if only they couldn't just download it for free. This is hardly the case. That's as unreasonable as a one-way lover who believes if only she got her target's girlfriend out of the way, she can get her target.

As a follower of utilitarian ethics, I believe copyright laws should be the absolute minimum that will satisfy the utilitatarian purpose of securing a reasonable (not blatant) profit for creators so they will be motivated to create for the greater good of society, and it should be balanced against the free flow of information.

For example, instead of lasting 50 years after the creator dies, a copyright might last for only 1-2 years after release. There will still be plenty of people who would want the latest thing and thus the creators should still get a healthy profit, but after that, it is up for free distribution.

The point you raise there is an interesting one. I don't think it justifies the illegal downloading of music but there is something to be said for music companies providing some form of try-before-you-buy system. For example, the big music shops in my city have points where you can scan the barcode of the CD and listen to the tracks in the shop. One of the independent music shops will let you return a CD if you don't like it.

I should probably confess at this point that I was heavily into music downloading during my first two or three years at university. I wasn't really into music when I arrived but the exposure to what was available online meant that I discovered new music I didn't know existed before. In my case, if it hadn't been for filesharing, I would probably still have just the 5 or 6 CDs I had while I was at college. Eventually I reasoned that even though filesharing increased my music buying, it wasn't justification enough for breaking the law, so I deleted it all.

No, but they are laws, good or bad.

Why does it matter why laws are in existence? Unless they require the abandoning of fundamental moral principles there is no reason for them to be disobeyed. I can understand your beliefs about copyright laws but that's just not the way things work at the moment. I don't really see any justification for breaking laws just because you disagree with them.

We are clearly starting in opposite directions. You are going from a law should be followed a priori. I'm going from the side where a law has to constantly justify its existence.

In moral principles, as a rule, freedom is good and certainly the default state. Every law constitutes a restriction of that freedom, so there had better be a very good ethical reason proportionate (or better) to its restriction for it to exist (generally for the utilitarian good of a working society). The moment the reason disappears, or we find it it never existed, dump it. If it still exists, it deserves to be ignored.

Now justify your position, please.

Very well written :up:

By the way, you forgot one little detail on copyright law - Companies themselves have become living entities in the eyes of the law, so the copyrights now will never expire for an eternity. Public domain? What public domain? :p It doesn't exist any longer. Along with this comes the downfall with creativity and of others who seek to better already existing products, since the copyrights will be held for the rest of time.

Our system is very broken.

I wonder how long the US will continue to exist with laws such as this? The way I see it, the US was at its pinnicle between the 1950's and 1960's. Now, just like the roman empire, the long slide has started. I wonder if it will still be a power to recon with in 25 years? Doubt it if things continue the way they are.

Just my 2 cents. Copyright law is just one problem of many however.

-S

Yes, that is my position.

Laws are made by those elected (or appointed) in authority over us and it is the duty of citizens to obey those laws. It does not matter to me why a law was passed, or my own personal opinion of the law. I would only disobey a law if I found it morally objectionable to obey it. Even then I would not protest but accept the consequences of being a law-breaker.

The problem I see with your position is that it makes laws subjective. What if I found certain laws morally unjustified (note that this is different from being morally objectionable)...is it then acceptable for me to disobey them, even though I might find myself in the minority? What if I were a communist who believed that property is theft? Would I be justified in taking things from others because I believed that there could be no crime of 'stealing' if nobody could own property?

Laws are absolute and do not require moral justification for the simple reason that morals differ from person to person, therefore there cannot exist a legal system based on personal morality.

1) Even if you can justify the elected officials because at least society picked them, how do you justify the appointed official.
2) If it is the duty of citizens to obey laws, then it is the duty of the lawmakers to constantly reassess the benefits, costs, and ethics of all laws, and certainly it is not their duty to increasingly pamper to the needs and desires of the corporations.

IMO, there is no such thing as a absolutely non-morally objectionable law. That's because laws involve restriction of freedom, which is generally considered morally objectionable, and impose penalties that involve even more restrictions of freedoms.

Of course, well-written laws bring their own advantages. An acceptable (what most might consider "non-morally objectionable") law is one where the advantages measurably exceed the cost in freedom (for example, the law against murder brings enormous security to society).

Therefore, if a law's unjustified or even inadequately justified, it is already morally objectionable.

It is hard to be certain of the best reply when you do not specify the difference. I will proceed henceforth by assuming:
"Morally unjustifed" = "you perceive that the law's advantage is inadequate to compensate for the loss of freedom"
"Morally objectionable" = "you perceive a disadvantage in the law, beyond the loss of freedom it entails"

Please suggest necessary corrections.

Actually, in that specific case, you should add in the extra factors of the discomfit and dislocation suddenly removing possessions from a person or family would cause. True communists might not have individual property, but they do still have, by necessity, individual possessions. And it does cause substantial inconvenience for them to be taken, and possibly genuine pain.

More generally, in an ethical sense, it may well be considered moral a to take a certain amount from the rich in the society, and even give that to the poor. This collective sense of ethics by society created social welfare and progressive taxation. In taking away a large chunk of income from the rich, clearly their freedom is restricted. Yet advantages accrue in giving the poor a chance to live (you can also restate this as saying that their freedom of action improves), and most people would consider that a substantial plus.

Yet a law that does not adhere to ethics is nothing more than a tyrannical statement. The importance is in the collective, not the personal.