Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
I agree, but unfortunately most of the artists that I like listening to are on big labels and those megacorp places are the ones that sell the music I want to buy. Small indy labels are great, but only if you like small indy bands. I have a fair number of indy CDs, but most of the music I buy nowadays are from mainstream media exposure - readio, TV, Internet, etc.
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For cases such as these the first thought coming to my mind is to advocate for your beliefs on the matter, letting both dollars and words speak your case. Specifically, my suggestion would be that you send a money order for the retail value (whether as seen on Amazon or in a store, whichever you feel is suitable on a case-by-case basis) to the distributor/label wrapped up in a simple letter, outlining your reasons for a) downloading the album named in the letter via a P2P network, and b) (which follows on a)), explaining that since you already have the music, and since they already have your money, there is no need for the CD and packaging. Result:
- Record company might get a small clue from this whack with the clue stick.
- You get a high quality DRM-free copy of the music you want, as popular titles are almost always widely available on the P2P sites.
- The environment suffers to the tune of one CD plus packaging less, including the fuel needed to ship it to your doorstep, whether by courier, mail, or your own trip to the record store.
Everybody wins. The artist gets their $0.90/CD. The record company gets their $15 profit. Oh, but the packaging/distribution firms lose out, so not quite everybody... the $3 - $4 cost per CD kit including promotional expenses, radio station pay-offs, etc., are saved by the record company, so they get to laugh just that much harder on the way to the bank to deposit your money order. And Canada Post gets their $0.70 or whatever it is for a money order fee, so the postal service, long complaining of how couriers and the internets have cut into their bottom line, have one less thing to complain about.
Is this an adequate case made for 'stealing' your music of choice? Basically what I just described is a simple method of forcing the MegaCorps of the world to wake up and join the twenty-first century, to leverage your powers as a consumer in alerting them to your preferences in music distribution. Their old way stinks. The packaging is still available if you want it; just go to a store and buy the thing if you really want to have that stuff. But for most of us, digital is digital, no matter if it's burned for us onto a CD of approximately 10 - 20 year life expectancy or distributed as a torrent file. Either way, honest people have the power to make this change happen, without becoming thieves.
For my part, I buy independently produced stuff for the most part, though there's the odd thing I have on vinyl which is just to poppy to rip with AudioGrabber, so I buy the CDs as I find them, if available in that format. I also get a lot of CDs handed to my by clients and friends, almost all of whom are recording artists, and almost all of those being people who understand a CD as a form of promotional material used in spreading the word about their live performances. My jazz collection is getting quite fat.