Filesharing.

Quote:

Fans have no choice except to fileshare if they want good new music, as the shops are threadbare. You could get the Pavement back catalogue and marvel at that, or a British Sea Power album, but you won't find them in stores.

Neiltay.

I saw a quote on the Void, but it is really not true, I think. - Lots of music shops do not have so many records, sometimes, but everyone can order nearly *everything* on play and amazon and amazon marketplace, and also lots of band and record label websites, and lots of other sites too. I have never been not able to find a CD I really wanted.
(i bought all my Pavement CDs in HMV, and also i bought a British Sea Power CD in Asda ).

Please does anyone fileshare at-all?
I really like making mixy CDs because I want to pass all the things I like to my friends, but it does not feel like filesharing. I do not feel really sneaky and guilty. I am really worried I am really wrong and bad. I have paid for all the songs and albums I use for mix CDs.

What does everyelse think?

I can't remember who said it (it may have been Kevin Smith talking about people downloading films, but the point is the same), downloading is good. Prime example, The Doc sent me a mix cd last week. One of the songs on it was by PJ Harvey. I liked it, so I downloaded a few of her albums.

Now, I didn't pay for the albums, but chances are, the next cd she brings out, I might buy it. If she's playing a gig near me, I might go. Might even buy a t-shirt at it.

A lot of shops stock all the big mainstream stuff, and they sell like hotcakes. But I can't think of any music store near me which might have more than one PJ Harvey album. And it'd probably be thrown in the wrong section. So if I liked the song The Doc sent, and wanted to get her album, there's a chance I may never find it. Then when her next album comes out or she's playing a gig near me, I won't know if I like her songs, so I won't go. Ultimately, the artist loses more money.

Artists like Britney and Beyonce etc, will always make a sh*tload of money on albums alone, but for more obscure acts or acts which haven't quite made it yet, people going to their gigs is their bread and butter. But at the prices some cds are at, people who've never heard of them probably won't take a chance and buy their album. Whereas they might download it, grow to like them, maybe tell a few friends about them etc..

Obviously, filesharing is illegal. And I understand that. But there are so many bands who I like now, that I never would have heard of before if I hadn't downloaded their songs.


With regards to your mix-cds, I think technically, its illegal, but again, the person you give the cd to might like one of the songs, and buy that bands next album. So I think its justified

I've started to download a lot now, though I'll only go for 320kpbs rips when they're available.

There are a few reasons for this -
Virgin Megastores is no more
HMV drastically reducing their instore CD range
Local record stores generally being too pricey
Me being skint
Me going to more gigs now ahead of buying albums.


If I meet an artist at a gig and I don't own a physical copy of their album, I'll usually ask them for a couple of CD's in exchange for 10/15 quid. More often than not, they'll oblige and see all the money.

Quote: Winston Zeddemore, Sept 2009

Quote: Rayanne Graff, Sept 2009

Quote: Paddy Irishman, Sept 2009

Quote: Winston Zeddemore, Sept 2009

I await Sammy Tsang's input with bated breath...

Me too, although the same can be said for every thread.

Why, what was his opinion on filesharing? I can barely remember anything about him

i don't know if Sammy ever said anything about filesharing, but i'd think that he'd be in favour of it as i remember that it used to say in his profile that 100 % of the population agree with the statement that the police should be looking for m*rderers and r*pists and not prosecuting for piracy. At least, it was something like that; can't remember it word for word.

He did, he argued that it was legal as nothing was being stolen.

As long as no-one one fileshared in public threads on VR, or threatens to kneecap people - I stay out of trouble with the law and I am happy.


I download all my music, apart from a few artists that I love and own the back catalogs to. Like others, I go to gigs of artists that I discovered through downloading. I think that's the way the industry has got to go, filesharing is out there, it will always happen, and the industry has to change to make money out of people.

I have a grand total of four downloaded albums.

1.) Taxi Girl's Seppuku. I've got it on Vinyl, but the CD is incredibly rare, and despite checking ebay and second-hand CD sites every week, I've never even seen it, otherwise I'd buy it in a shot.

2.) The Rattles' The Witch. I can't even get the vinyl for this one, let alone the CD.

3.) & 4.) Unofficial Muse and Radiohead B-Sides collections. Whilst the Radiohead ones are now 'easily' available on the recent re-releases of their albums, no such luck for Muse yet, aside from the ten on the Hullabaloo album.

Personally, I have no problem with anyone who downloads a few songs or an album as a taster, then goes out and buys them. People with gigabytes of music who then complain they can't find the albums, because their local shops don't stock them, do my head in. If you can get to the internet to download the songs, you can go to play.com, or use a little effort to search rare-records sites.

Quote: Alec, Oct 2009

People with gigabytes of music who then complain they can't find the albums, because their local shops don't stock them, do my head in. If you can get to the internet to download the songs, you can go to play.com, or use a little effort to search rare-records sites.

In a way I agree. Butm I have no credit card. Which means for me to buy albums from play.com or Amazon or something, I have to go into town and buy one of those prepay credit card voucher things. This isn't too much of a hindrence, but lets say I put €50 on the voucher, I would then have to spend that €50 within 2 months. So if I wasn't planning on doing that, thats wasted money, which I would be charged to redeem, or I'd end up buying something I didn't want. Or if I saw something I wanted, but hadn't put enough on the voucher, I'd have to buy another voucher and transfer funds, both of which I'd also be charged on.

Or I could borrow someone elses credit card, but then there's the hassle of going to them and getting the card off them every time I wanted to buy an album.


Its not always as black and white as "if you can't find the album, buy it online"

Quote: Sgt. James Doakes, Oct 2009

Quote: Barry Duffman, Oct 2009

Quote: Sgt. James Doakes, Oct 2009

Quote: Barry Duffman, Oct 2009

Quote: Alec, Oct 2009

People with gigabytes of music who then complain they can't find the albums, because their local shops don't stock them, do my head in. If you can get to the internet to download the songs, you can go to play.com, or use a little effort to search rare-records sites.

In a way I agree. Butm I have no credit card. Which means for me to buy albums from play.com or Amazon or something, I have to go into town and buy one of those prepay credit card voucher things. This isn't too much of a hindrence, but lets say I put €50 on the voucher, I would then have to spend that €50 within 2 months. So if I wasn't planning on doing that, thats wasted money, which I would be charged to redeem, or I'd end up buying something I didn't want. Or if I saw something I wanted, but hadn't put enough on the voucher, I'd have to buy another voucher and transfer funds, both of which I'd also be charged on.

Or I could borrow someone elses credit card, but then there's the hassle of going to them and getting the card off them every time I wanted to buy an album.


Its not always as black and white as "if you can't find the album, buy it online"

Do you not have a debit card though?

I do, but it doesn't work with a lot of things. I know it doesn't work with Amazon anyway. Not sure if it works with play.com or whatever

I'm assuming then, it's a Visa Electron?

The prepay one or my debit card? The prepay one is a Visa 3v card. My debit card is a Maestro (Mastercard) Laser card.