I don't pirate directly off the 'net anymore just because I don't care to be sued by organizations with bottomless pockets. Personally, I'm of the opinion that culture should belong to everyone, so if record labels can't figure out how to join the digital age in a way that's good for consumers, themselves, and the artists, then they shouldn't be surprised when work by their artists is pirated.
Your other friend is also right about how most artists make their money live and get practically nothing from sales. But it's even worse than that for artists. Read this article about how the RIAA had a staffer change a law in the dead of night before it was approved, changing how music copyright worked forever:
If there was one thing that caused me to believe that the major record labels do not, in fact, give a crap about artists as anything other than a commodity, it was this. This is why I don't buy music anymore. Just thinking about it makes me mad again. Just imagine if this happened to another form of art; say, a publishing company did it for written works.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-02-21 02:11 am (UTC)Your other friend is also right about how most artists make their money live and get practically nothing from sales. But it's even worse than that for artists. Read this article about how the RIAA had a staffer change a law in the dead of night before it was approved, changing how music copyright worked forever:
http://weeklywire.com/ww/08-28-00/austin_music_feature.html
If there was one thing that caused me to believe that the major record labels do not, in fact, give a crap about artists as anything other than a commodity, it was this. This is why I don't buy music anymore. Just thinking about it makes me mad again. Just imagine if this happened to another form of art; say, a publishing company did it for written works.