(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); First off, let me state that I agree that SOPA and PIPA are both completely ridiculous, but piracy is still killing the economy. Those that actually respect the musicians that make the music you listen to are the ones that keep the music out there. These musicians get paid less and less as piracy becomes more popular and easier to use. Do you really think that if piracy doesn't get any better, these musicians and movie producers are going to continue making their stuff? I know that I wouldn't if it's not worth it. The only real way musicians make money now is by having concerts. But that just means that the music publishers aren't getting as much money. So what happens when all the publishers go out of business? Look at E.M.I. Records for example. They have people like Deadmau5, Coldplay, Daft Punk, Katy Perry, The Kooks, etc. All of these artists are doing amazingly well, yet E.M.I was recently sold and split due to bankruptcy. The way everyone gets upset when they try to get free stuff upsets me. It really shows how lazy the world has become. You want 7 songs? Go get a job, work an hour and quit. Go stand behind a cash register at McDonalds. That can't be so hard, can it? I work Friday nights as a DJ and manage to make enough money to buy all my songs, my equipment, gas money, and pay for other luxuries too. I'm 15. If I can do it, I'm pretty sure you can.


Now I understand that some people just download the odd song or so every now or then, which is alright I guess, but then there are those people that download thousands of songs and movies. My friend has over 4,000 songs that are illegally downloaded. When I ask him why he does it he says "Because it's easy" after telling him that it kills the economy he says "Well it's not just me and I'm not making that big of an impact." Well if you think this, let me tell you a few things. He is stealing over $5,160(if each song is $1.29) from a company. Now, lets say that you know 10 people like my friend. That's $51,600 being stolen.


Now when people say that it's "Not just me" I get really pissed off. Of course it's not just you, but you are not helping at all. You really want to stop SOPA and PIPA? Stop abusing piracy. It's alright to do it every once in a while. You can't find the movie on netflix and don't have the car, you can download that one movie. You're on your way to a party and want to download a song quickly, you can download that one song. Arguments for SOPA is that it will improve the economy, arguments against SOPA is that piracy actually helps the economy.

No. I'm NOT going to spend $1 for a ****en song. And you're an idiot for spending money on music so all the royalties can to go to the major labels. The artists make money off airtime and concerts, if they can't make money off digital media sales and can't stay afloat, then too bad. You won't see me writing a thread about it.

I agree with you, I mean what happened to supporting the devs? SOPA is a joke but piracy is a bit extreme now. Forget the musicians, those investing in the industry are hit hard by piracy

I pirate, I pirate loads in fact my iTunes library has 9971 songs 8500 of those are most likely pirated thing is though most of the music I've pirated is not available on itunes store is to ****ing expensive to import. Pirating movies I couldn't really give a **** about most of the movies I have pirated recently have been shit I'm glad I didn't waste money buying it on disk pirating games I don't do that because my pc wouldn't be able to play them because it's not good enough but if I could I would look at saints row 3 that game deserves to be pirated with the amount of cut content that was made into dlc that's not how you make a game that's how you piss of the buyers.

You said it yourself. iTunes put their prices UP. Not down, but up. You see where this is going? Record companies get most of the money from CD/Download sales. Artists get their money from working hard on the songs, then worker harder on tour. Why do I want to give money to the people who sit in an office and get about 90% of someone elses hard work money?

DVD's cost £12 here in the UK, usually. Blu Rays cost about £16. I might watch the movie once if it's shit, or maybe a few times more if it's good, and more if I love it. Cinema prices are expensive as shit. Almost the price of a DVD at £9. Then you have food/drink which can be about £15 in total, just to watch 1 film ONCE. Putting prices up doesn't solve anything. Maybe doing a trial run of lower prices might make more sales. Like when there are sales on in shops, everybody rushes to get them because they're cheap. Why not do that with music? Give it a test run for a while, see if the sales go UP. **** how much profit they make. If they were serious about music and not money, they wouldn't care if the profits dropped 10% in the trial period, but if they're making SOME profit, why should the care how much if the sales are going UP?

They won't do that though. They like their money, and THAT is why the economy is shit. Not because we don't buy their stuff, but because they like their money too much to give a damn about the actual Artists.

It seems the US government is all up in Hollywoods bum hole to care about it's citizens. They've already Started SOPA by taking down MEGAUPLOAD. That has some illegal content on mixed with Legal, legitimate content and it got taken down. Not just in the US but the world. THAT is what SOPA is doing, not just blocking it in one country like China and NK do, no no, America have to do the whole world.

I couldn't give a shit about the CEO's that make millions/billions a year from someone elses hardwork while I'm stuck at home looking for a job. I have more important shit to think about like finding a job and earning some money than thinking about CEO's/Artists/Actors who have shit loads of money. They don't think about me and people in my situation, why should I think about them and whether they will be able to afford another £500 000 Car tomorrow? Answer me that, please.

I agree piracy is pretty bad but these bills are rediculous. It will piss everyone off, not just people who pirate. And whoever says that they shouldn't give a crap about musicians not getting money off their albums, you try making good music and see what it feels like. Okay fair enough music shouldn't be about money but it shouldn't be this way.

Also if you're only going to watch the movie once, why not go borrow it instead of pirating it?

I agree with the OP, you should not abuse the advantages of piracy.

I totally agree with you. Imagine being the CEO or the owner of a company and everyone downloads shit and does not buy it. But then again there are more people who buy it then download it. Itunes store makes over 1billion in profits a year.

I support bands that deserve it.
Notice I say BANDS?

Look at artists like katy perry,justin bieber,lady gaga and every other mainstream artist out there, one person who auto tunes a voice to a beat, which was most likely not even made by them, gets a tonne of media coverage and charges ridiculous amounts to see them in concert, do they DESERVE any album sales? No they don't.

BANDS who work their asses off, who practice for years to learn their instrument, the naturally gifted singers, the amazing writing abilities they have, and who spend YEARS playing small gigs in youth centers and small clubs, paying for studio time, equipment, transport,food etc out of THEIR OWN POCKETS are the people who deserve my money, and who get it.
I am a huge supporter in local music, I go to lots of small gigs, $10-25 MAX to see some really great bands play, have a great time is well worth my money, I buy a shirt and an album if I like the band, there is so much potential out there it's ridiculous they still play these tiny shows.

So yes, I download a lot of music, but it's not because I'm too lazy, it's because they don't deserve my hard earned money. I download movies if I can't afford them/can't find them instore or if they just don't sound like a great spend of my money, if there's a good movie I hear about I will buy it, but generally torrenting or grabbing it off a mate is the way I go, if Netflix was in Australia I'd use that but nope, we don't have it

And to lowering prices, that would be great, movies in Australia are $25 for a new release dvd and $30-35 for a new release blu ray, albums are fair at $20 for a LP and 5-15 for an EP (depending on the number of songs) the only thing is, these bands pay a lot of money to record, a LOT, mainly those in Australia who travel to America or Europe, it definitely ain't cheap to record.


Tl;dr version:
Buy an album if it's a legit artist, don't give money to mainstream artists who have money pouring out of their ass as it is.

They have to put prices up. The more everyone pirates, the less they make. So by actually going out to the movies or buying it or even just renting it and getting your friends to do the same, you'll end up lowing the prices again. It's not easy what these people in these offices do, just so you know. Running a business is not easy at all. These business workers work just as hard as the artists, just to get the person noticed. Whether it's figuring out your budget, which requires a great deal of math, or hiring the right people, or coming up with new ways to promote this product. It's not easy work. It's not like these millionaires are getting rich by doing a job like being a cashier at some McDonalds.

As for the whole "SOPA" thing starting, it hasn't. That's the music industries suing the site, which is legal, and the government taking it down for investigation, which is another legal thing. And yes, there is content on it from all around the world, but it's all hosted here in the USA. What they're trying to do is show everyone that they still have power even if SOPA doesn't pass, which is alright. The Government should be able to take down sites that hold piracy. I know it's almost impossible to regulate what gets uploaded to your site, so instead of sueing the file host like megaupload, they should just go after those that upload it.

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I'm fine with you not wanting to support mainstream artists, but buy paying for the album instead of the concert, you're actually supporting the music industry. Most of the money from album purchases goes to the industry so they can pay for the artists and their advertisements and so they can pay for scouts. Have you noticed that there have been less and less new bands? That's because the scouts were the first ones to get laid off.

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That's because for every $1.29, itunes keeps probably about a dollar. Leaving the industries with only 29 cents for each song.