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I just want everyones view on this really. I have been downloading music since 1999, first from the notorious Napster and now off Audioglaxy and WinMX. I've recently had to research a lot of information into the whole free music/Napster lawsuit debate and found out some of the artists which are for and against the policy of sharing music over the net -

FOR:

Greenday
Dave Matthews Band
Fred Durst
Radiohead
Madonna
Courtney Love
Moby
U2
B.B King
Offspring
Foo Fighters
Ben Folds Five
Prince
Fatboy Slim
David Bowie
Beastie Boys

AGAINST:

Garbage
Dave Stewart
Metallica
The Corrs
Alanis Morissette
Elton John
Eminem
Paul McCartney

Are the 'against' artists just out for the greed or do they really have a prinicipal to back up why they oppose?

As David Grohl of the Foo Fighters says, ''It's the same as someone turning on the F*****g radio,it's the same as putting a cassette in a cassette desk... I don't think it's a crime.''
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Or to futher Mr. Grohl's point, what about me loaning my album to someone so they could "Tape" it!  It's just ridiculous....I see nothing wrong with it, copying music has been going on for years. Maybe you couldn't record the songs off the radio without the annoying DJ talking over the beginning & end of the songs but I know that stations used to play entire Lp's at certain times and advertise such slogans as  We Never talk over the Rock And Roll...think I'll go put my newest "Weezer" cd onto cassette tape now...talk to you later ;)

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I think file sharing is great and I think it's stupid that some musicians don't support it. God forbid, we deprive them of a million dollars. They might not be able to pay their bills. By the way, Linkin Park also supports it. As one bandmember said, "We support free music. So go ahead! Download that sh*t!"
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Thanks Jessica - another band to add to the list for media studies! :)

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Thanks Jessica - another band to add to the list for media studies! :)


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You're welcome. I was just looking around their website, and I noticed that they supported it. By the way, congratulations to Chester Bennington of Linkin Park and his wife, Samantha. They had a baby boy on April 19.

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I can see why Record Execs. would be upset about MP3 sharing.  I imagine CD sales have been on a constant decline since the introduction of Napster, but, who cares?  They've been cheating us out of TONS of money for years, it's time we took matters into our own hands.  I'll NEVER go back to buying CDs in stores...never, never, never.

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Record sales have been on the decrease for the past few years, and yes, record companies are blaming Napster and the net in general. That's why the big, big lawsuit against Shaun Fenning. They say that the public are obtaining millions of 'free' music and by having this, people will stop buying singles/albums. They also claim that the money they earn from record sales will go into promoting and developing new artists, but they cannot do this through lack of funds from the free music ( even though these people earn billions and billions!).

The record industry is a £32 billion industry. They can afford to loose money - after all, they have been practically stealing it from us over the years we have been buying music.

In my opinion, the drastic decrease in sales numbers comes from the fact that 80% of new music is crap! 90% of music I download is older, as that's what interests me. It's a fact that the people who buy music are mostly under 18, so new music is mostly aimed at them. That's why all the boy bands and bubble-gum pop. Ok, now and again, such artists *can* have a *good* song, but most of it is plain awful. That's why no-one buys music, beacuse most of the music that's out there is just not worth buying, to put it bluntly.

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I am TOTALLY for MP3 sharing - of course, I'm just your average, everyday citizen - not a big record label.  

I love it for selfish/frugal reasons:

1.  You can pick and choose the songs you want instead of wasting money on the whole CD when you only like one song

2.  CD prices are exorbitant

3.  If you hear a song you love on the radio, you can go straight to the computer and download it - no waiting in line, no rude salespeople to deal with

4.  Did I say CD prices are exorbitant?

I can see why Record Execs. would be upset about MP3 sharing.  I imagine CD sales have been on a constant decline since the introduction of Napster, but, who cares?  They've been cheating us out of TONS of money for years, it's time we took matters into our own hands.  I'll NEVER go back to buying CDs in stores...never, never, never.

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One word: Word!

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David Bowie supports file sharing? It was sure hard to find some of his material to download. It was filtered. What does that mean? Maybe his record labels are against it? >:(

I'm all for Mp3 sharing. It's absolutely marvelous!  :)
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Yes, I believe he is all for it, but many artists music are blocked to some degree even if they feel that way, because of the record company.

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Yes, I believe he is all for it, but many artists music are blocked to some degree even if they feel that way, because of the record company.
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I figured.

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I like MP3 sharing, and personally it really annoys me when this bizzilionaire musicians complain about it.  You aren't going to make me believe that they are losing all that much.  And if they do, maybe they should look into how much crap they fill their albums with normally, and why some people only want a song or two. Be glad they want that! o!  ;)
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