It’s that time again. 2 cents.
I seriously don’t know why I’m writhing this. I guess I feel sorry for the riaa. I feel sorry for the thousands of hours it must take to find a good artist, hone them, make them into an idol, just to be stolen on the net by fileshares.
It takes a lot to find good music. It takes a lot to find good free music, but it’s out there. Artists want you to get their stuff. At one time when I wanted to be a rock star … I remember talking to fellow musicians. If you don’t give away your music, it’ll never get heard. I still feel that way. You can have the best song ever written and if people don’t hear it, it’s nothing. Music for the most part to me has been free. I’ve listened to it on the radio without paying for anything. I’ve recorded it off the radio with cassettes without paying for it. I’ve even… as a minor 15+ years ago dubbed tapes.
At 1 time I could call up a DJ, and say please play this, and he would. The good ol days.
Of course music was controlled back then. It wasn’t like you could get your hands on several million songs that were free off the net. It wasn’t like it is today. I’m not talking about getting on a p2p program either. I’m talking about music mining on the net. Searching for artists that aren’t affiliated with the riaa, that are not ‘signed’ and want you to download their music.
Now … enter the dilemma.
Every anti-riaa message I hear is that the music is over priced. I’ll have to agree $1 a song is too much. Yet $1 is a small price to pay when dealing with a $250,000 fine.
So don’t support the system. Find a music site that allows you to download music. They are all over the place. No $250,000 fine, or 5 years in prison. No nasty subpoenas threatening to take away your birthday if you don’t give them $X.