solution for stopping music piracy

[johnnymier]

I was browsing the web when I came across http://www.riaa.org/Music-Rules-2.cfm I never thought sharing mp3 was illegal in the US. I always thought of it like making and trading tapes 15 years ago, only that now technology has made this easier and massive, but I still think it is the same concept, therfore shouldn't be illegal (it's obvious that is not debatable but its just an opinion). Record labels are the big losers here and they want to make us think that its artists who lose the most here, there are many cases in which bands have been helped by sharing their songs.


what can big record labels do? I think the answer is quite simple: lower cd prices. Instead of
coming up with useless copy protection, which can be cracked or with which
many cd's don't work on every player, big labels should just price cd's
around US$ 5-7.
The perfect example that this will work is what Pearl Jam did: they
realeased every live album of their 2000 tour, and priced every double cd
at around US$ 12, which is cheap for a double, with that they beat the
bootleggers. The same thing can be applied to the whole industry. I still
buy cd's for the better quality of sound and for the lyrics, liner notes,
etc. But there are many people who are not real music lovers and don't
care about the quality, so they just dowload massively, therefore if any
given cd is priced around US$ 5-7, I am sure that everyone will go back to
buying cd's, even cd's in which people only like one or two songs, will be
purchased.
File sharing and cd burning are technologies that were embraced massively
mainly in response to crazy cd prices, for example in Mexico, where I
live, cd prices skyrocket, a cheap cd here is like US$ 20. The music
industry cannot stop the flow of technology, it can only accept the fact
that they now have competition, they have a huge disadvantage because
their comptetition is free, but then again the big advantage of a record
label is that they offer the quality product because many downloads are
of extremely poor quality. So if you offer quality sound at a lower price
people are gonna buy it! Volume of sales would compensate for the lowering
of prices. Maybe record executives think I am completely wrong, but if
they lower their prices they can bet that at least my record collection is
gonna grow a lot.


I would like to hear anyone's thoughts on this matter.

[phishphreek]

I think that is a good idea, but am simply fed up with the RIAA trying to ruin it all for the consumer. They don't think of the consumers when they make decisions... only themselves and possibly the ar****... but they look out for the artists as much as us consumers.

I have simply stopped buying CDs. I don't download mp3s either. I'd say that bout 80% of the music they put out now adays is CRAP! Why the hell am I going to pay $18 for one cd of which I only like one song that the radio plays 20x a day?! I can just stream radio and capture it that way. I don't have to download mp3s. And... no I don't think this is piracy.
I do use p2p networks to distribute music from my friends band.

I have taken ALL our CDs and ripped them to my server HD. From there, I share everything within my house to all computers in my house. Its just like going into the next room and borrowing a cd that my brother had... xcept now I don't dig through them. I can then ouput to any entertainment center/sterio that the computer is hooked up to. I have a surround house setup. then everyone has their PCs plugged into other sterios too... brings a whole new meaning to rocking the house!

[techtech]

pesonally, I believe the RIAA is a bunch of whining babies, all the p2p file sharing does @ least for me, is exposes me to music I would have not have bothered listening to before. Besides, CD sales have gone up. see the story here (granted it's from 2000, but the trend has not died down)

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,35848,00.html

I support the music industry and buy a CD when a band releases something that's not crap. I hate the fact you have to pay 17.99 for a cd that has MAYBE 2 good songs. Besides, look it's cheaper to manufacture cd's then it is to make tapes. So why is it that tapes sell for $5-9, and CD's are $17-23 the quality is not worth the price increase. The Record industry was crying about sales when tape recorders hit the market, saying anyone can record off the radio, or from tape to tape, and it would ruin them. Well, I don't see the artist's starving yet. I think a mutual middle would be good. I would pay for a p2p service that worked with the RIAA so that artists did get paid for what people listen to, and I didn't get ripped off having to buy a cd that has nothing but crap on it, and only one song I liked. Maybe, it will cause musicians to put out something they have to work on, not somthing they just made up while stoned, drunk, or fighting with their dry cleaners.

[jxrry59]

If I was to break a law today it would be a copyright law, but I don't. Having given my disclaimer I have to agree with you. I buy cd's of groups I like but I listen to a lot of individual songs because I would never pay the 17 bucks for the wholw cd. I would buy a lot of music if cd's were priced reasonably-and, yeah, I bought the peral jam cd

[bootieofdarknes]

I agree with Tech, if it was'nt for P2P filesharing programs like Kazaa, I would of never been exposed to the world of music that I listen to now. I normally download a few songs from an artist, then go out and buy his or her's full album just to have in my collection. RIAA need to quite all this. We are in a total digital age, we can get what we want, whenever we want, and corperate America needs to wake up and realize that.