OK, this is an interesting topic, and I think we may get a lively debate going here…
Piracy, where do you stand on it?Please note that this applies equally to games, movies, music, etc. so if you say "Pirating games is wrong!" because you're a game developer, but then download music, you're a big fat hypocrite.My stance is that it is freedom of information. I believe that you have a right to access information without having to pay some sort of fee, and this includes forms of entertainment.But how then, do the producers of information make money?Simple. Movies make money by showing in theaters. Music artists make money by performing live. Both will also profit by selling merchandise. These are extremely profitable ventures, and indeed, music artists for instance rarely make a dime off of record sales anyway, all of that money goes to the RIAA, unless you're huge like Metallica or something.Furthermore, some individuals who are not past pirating will buy legitimate copies anyway, because they simply want to have an 'official' copy. I download games, but I buy legitimate copies of Pokemon games because that's my thing. I just want a legit copy for no other reason than wanting a legit copy.Piracy is not some huge threat to the industries. There will ALWAYS be people available to purchase official copies or merchandise, or go to live viewings and performances. And in the case of small game developers or independent music artists, people are much more likely to shell out the cash as a sign of support for such groups.Piracy stops with accessing information, however. The freedom to access information does not and should not allow you to profit off of other people's ideas by selling their information as your own. The producers of information still 'own' that information and they own the right to make money off of it.
Polystyrene: If the record labels do highly immoral things, wouldn't it be morally wrong to financially empower them by buying music legally? Thus making piracy the moral alternative? Or would there then be no moral way to get music except by independent artists?
Also, the artists don't have much of a choice. Their primary goal is, to my understanding, usually not profit, but to reach as many people as possible (although the two concepts go hand in hand for the most part), and that can only really be done through record labels.YARR, HARR, FIDDLE DE DEE,BEING A PIRATE IS ALRIGHT TO BE!DO WHAT YOU WANT 'CAUSE A PIRATE IS FREE,YOU ARE A PIRATE!
I'd guess that that last point is very wrong, Polystydegdhssrt… Can I call you PMan please? ._.
Anyway I'd guess that last point is very probably wrong, I'm sure there are some dickholes out there withholding paychecks (or at least attempting to do so) over some petty moral judgment they have no right to make.I pirate almost everything. I've never bought music in my life (but I did buy a ticket to live music this one time (nobody fucking plays in New Zealand)) and I haven't rented or bought movies in years (but I see them in theaters all the time). Some games have to be bought legitimately for online multiplayer and others will be anyway just because some people aren't pirates, and while piracy is on the rise the gaming industry is too. Maybe one day piracy will reach critical mass and the recording industry will collapse and artists will have no option but to release their work for free. I look forward to that day if it ever occurs.
I never meant that not paying them for their work is right. I just don't feel bad that they have less money to buy drugs. And yes I use some of my money to buy gas and other things that I need. They do not need drugs and that is why I do not feel bad.
PMan: I support the artists by going to live shows an buying merch (t-shirts mostly). Of course I'm a metal head so it's probably easier for me to support my favorite artists in that regard than if I liked electronic music, as you pointed out. But I'm not an electronic music fan, so I'm not doing any harm there. I'd rather go to a hundred concerts than give a single dime to the RIAA.