News: the illegal downloading debate continues

14 pages of response has got to count for something, if nothing it proves that people are passionate about the subject. I know talking guitar players how upset they ar ewhen they find there CD on some torrent web site... in a more lighted moment:



Read and join in the debate on the petrucci forum

Just an example of the discussion posted by the forum controller Paul Warren:
Originally Posted by heykids: The point is that without first downloading that album, none of the other things may have been purchased. Of course it's best to buy everything--I don't think anyone would argue with that. But at your store, would you rather have someone pay for 40 shirts and 30 packs of strings and really take 41 shirts and 31 packs of strings, or buy nothing at all? Surely you would still make a nice profit from the situation.

I work on a boat. Our opportunity cost for taking one more passenger is very low, just like selling one more CD. Kids who are 2 years old or under get on for free. I've had PLENTY of kids who are obviously 3 or 4 where the parent laughs and says "oh, he's 2!" Is that wrong of them? Sure. They're not paying as much as they should. But we would rather have them do that and still pay for an adult ticket than not get on at all. And if they have a good time, they come back next year, the kid is magically 5 years old, and they pay for his ticket.

You're assuming they would have not heard of them and then not bought anything else. But what about Playlist? What about myspace? What about all of the other legal ways to listen? The downloading argument just crashes when people are avoiding legal avenues. Regarding the strings and t-shirts, sure you'd still make a profit. But it would be smaller and it would NOT be right for them to take more than you agreed to sell them. Consent has to come from the owner of the product. Not the consumer.

I understand your boat analogy, but guess what? That's YOUR RIGHT. It is your right to accept somebody on the boat for free who should have paid. Just as it is the artist's right to charge a price for his album. If the artist says "sure, you can ride on my boat for free", then I've got no problem with it. I give t-shirts and lessons away all of the time. But I don't let people TAKE them from me without consent. That is a huge distinction.
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