Kazaa the sharing network?

July 24, 2003 by anthony a

I have kazza media desktop that dosn't mean that i'm involved with sadam?

RIAA and File Swapping....possibly a different opinion

August 1, 2003 by joe Cavallaro
Ok...here goes...I'm about to make a lot of enemies here.  I agree that Kazaa needs to be shut down but I disagree with RIAA approach.  Most people don't look at both sides of the coin.  Music is intellectual property just like the code you write.  If someone takes, shares, steels your code and doesn't pay you for it how are you going to feel?  Now...I'm a musician as well as a Network Admin. so if someone is taking my property you bet your ass that I'm going to be pissed.  Now I've spent hundres of thousands of dollars on rehearsal time to write songs, recording studio time to record them, mastering, duplication, etc.  over my life time.  If I sell my cd's at shows and through my web site  (www.mindlessanity.com)  that money helps to pay for costs that were incured to make my product...in this case a CD.  Well...same goes for the artists that are on labels but what most people don't realize is that when you are a new band or a band that doesn't sell a ton of CD's you don't make any real money.  The reason for this is all the recoupable expenses that the record company puts in your contract...ie studio time, producer, engineer, mixing, promo, etc.  The artist most likely will see pennies per album sold and not getting any real part of the 18.99 that you pay for a cd.   Now...here's where I agree with the digital future of music...listen to the song all you want from the web...but...if you want that song for other uses...ie to burn to a cd you should pay for that song...or the whole album if you want.  Apple, MP3.com, and the many other sites that will pop up with this service is where the medium needs to go.  Now...I've on touched on this debate...but I hope I shared a little bit of the other side of things.  Please post your comments...post your opinions and I'll be sure to answer any questions. 

RE: RIAA and File Swapping....possibly a different opinion

August 4, 2003 by Fotis Manikis

Dear joe you are absolutely right about what u say.... BUT (there is always a but) the companies created and fed this situation. I remember buing vinyl records that had much more cost than a cd and I enjoyed bying them a lot. Then cds came out... How come when a cd itself costs less than 1/2 euros (in the worst case) u byu the cd at least 30-35 euros... this means 600-700% profit. Also sometimes u don't know what u are bying... Very few music shops lets u hear before u buy... I have bought many cds that finally ended in the trashes. I write also music and I'm not expecting people to steal people's money that way to get rich. I share the music I write. Why for e.g. Massive Attack let their LPs free at Internet before even publishing the songs? MUSIC IS ART, NOT A PRODUCT!!!! All people should enjoy music no matter what income they have. The only responsible for the situation are the companies that became greedy and decided that cds are the golden-egg-chicken. I have stopped bying music because I feel an idiot if I buy one with such prices. No , my friend it costs almost nothing to them... why should it cost a fortune to us?? I love music and all my friends do. I live in Athens and recently Massive Attack came to Lycabetus. The ticket was too expensive (because the organizers decided to go to Bali for vacations)... Most of the people were sitting outside of the theater in the rocks watching the concert. If the price was a little lower more people would have buy tickets and the organizers would still get their money back... But no, they all become greedy when it's for their pockets. Now the comany pays the price as they have asked from us to do. SHARE MUSIC... Let the companies understand the mistake they did. Music is not for sale or personal profit. fman@SEQUENCE

RE: Kazaa the sharing network?

August 4, 2003 by joe Cavallaro

I agree that the record companies have gouged prices but your attempts at hurting the record company are also hurting the artists.  As far as Music being ART and not PRODUCT...my friend that mentality died a lont time ago.  Music is also a lot of hard work.  Why shouldn't the artist be rewarded for his/her hard work?  and...it costs a ton of money to produce and record it.  Yeah..I know you can do your own recording that sounds good but the truth of it remains that your little Tascam 4 track doesn't compare to a professional studio recording. 

Oh...one other thing...I have no idea how much 30-35 Euros is in American $. 

You ask, "why should it cost a fortune to us??" I don't feel it should if you read my entire previous post I agree with the digital age of music where you can listen to the song all you want...hell...listen to the whole album and if you like a song or songs then pay for just those songs.  As far as SHARE MUSIC...sharing something that is not legally yours is still stealing.  As for music not being for sale or personal profit...says who?  All art is for sale...the monetary reward is part of why people get into the arts.  Yes,  it has a lot to do with personal expression of one's ideas and feelings but the truth is everyone wants to get paid. 

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