|
| quote: | Originally posted by Psionic
I hate those assholes. They specifically target people who can't afford their incredible lawsuits (i.e. broke college students) and then "settle" outside of court for a few thousand while everyone else gets off scot free. Fuckin' vultures |
To be honest, it seems they focus on broke college students who use outdated versions of Kazaa to download the latest Rihanna songs.
In a sense, we're safe.
Should I think downloading music for free be illegal? I'm not too sure honestly. I mean, the legal downloading of music doesn't accumulate much (if any) money for the artists, but doesn't it accumulate money for the record labels whom release the artist's material? Shouldn't the record label be compensated for the release? If free music downloading were made entirely legal, what would happen to record labels as we know them?
There will always be a market for tangible product (like vinyls, cds, etc.), but would that market be strong enough to survive if free music downloading were made entirely legal? I doubt it.
I am opposed to the stringent policing RIAA has induced. And overall, I am for the legality of it as it seems there's no real way to police it with any viable end in sight (just like a war on drugs), it also seems to bind human creativity on adapting what was made before. Case and point - the Amen Break.
Proliferation of ideas can, and will continue, but the cost and affect of it all is yet to be determined. All I know is that fining cover bands that play for free and the bars that host them is certainly over-stepping a somewhat diluted boundary. How long until after a night at a karaoke you receive a bill in the mail from the RIAA fining you for belting out Celine Dion while one of their operatives was in the vicinity?
|