So my friend thinks that internet piracy not only doesn't harm the music industry, but helps it

[Nemu]

I'm probably just a cynic but I just don't trust people to follow the "I'll pirate a few songs and if I like what I hear I'll invest in them" when they could get the whole hog for free.

I am a cynic, but that's precisely how I work.

After investing tens of thousands of dollars over the years on my CD/album collection (4,000 CDs/albums and counting...), I have grown EXTREMELY weary from shelling out money for a crap album, simple as that. I don't trust most reviewers anymore because they are typically NOT unbiased, no more than DJs are or MTV was (back in the day when they actually PLAYED videos--and played the ones by artists who paid them more).

I absolutely will go and pirate music, but by the same token I will absolutely go out and buy CDs/LPs by my favorite artists and from new artists once I've downloaded their music and determined if the review I'd read/recommendation I got would be worth the money spent on the physical item.

And with as many shows as I go to see, I'm pretty confident that out of the hundreds I spend each night (gotta buy a couple of shirts and/or a hoodie), a HUGE portion of it is going directly to the industry.



Plus I pay for Pandora, dangit, even tho the industry has dipped it's paws into that, bbecause I still love the site. ><

 

[-Orgasmatron-]

Some people in this thread need to do abit of research on the subject, piracy is not good for upcoming artists, honestly.

His arguments are valid.
Piracy does help the industry and anyone who says it ruins it are colossal morons.

It really doesn't help the industry, it just means that it's harder for artists to pay off their debts, which then causes record companies to go out of buisness and record companies, as I said previously, whether you like them or not, are incredibly helpful to artists.

I don't know if you're in a band, I am, and I know me and the other three airheads in my band couldn't book a world tour by ourselves. We also couldn't afford the best gear, studios and producers to record an album.

Why do you think piracy does help the industry? I mean CD and single sales alone say it's damaging it.

 

[Gaderael]

Id like to point out th yes, maybe they will make sales in concerts and gigs, but the idea of concerts and gigs (for smaller bands anyway) is 2 get there name out there and they make no money from it. The money comes from CD sales.

You got that backwards. Musicians making squat from CD sales, if they're with a big label. They make most of their money from merchandise and concerts.

 

[Fellwarden]

I do not have an insignificant amount of music on my harddrives. However, solely because I download music, I also buy a lot of music. Quite recently I used over $300 on music, and currently own 2 discographies and I'm still collecting. I would not buy any music if I didn't download so I knew what I was buying.