Buy OWB and you support the major labels (?)

[patrick]

I agree... These threads are a good thing onn these types of forums (band forums). Underworld will probably listen and at least think about it. In this case we are fairly sure they are not signed to a RIAA label and using a connected label for distribution.

Anyways, I believe that buying music from RIAA labels is a bad thing. It continues the conglomorate, but more importantly when we don't buy music on them, and the artists know it, they will be more likely to sign up or make their own record label, which is great.

[stimpee]

Originally Posted by Jan

Japanese OWB --> Traffic Inc. --> maybe fine?

I think maybe Traffic isnt a member of the RIAJ, no. At least according to a page at the RIAJ website.

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

Originally Posted by BeautifulBurnout

And when was the last time that someone got off with a fine for being convicted of armed robbery? Or when was the last time someone was sentenced to 10 years incarceration for downloading music? Get real.

But this is still the law. The point is that the RIAA is just kind of pulling these numbers out of their asses to intimidate poor college students into settling. None of us have said that we "have" to get the music for free. In fact we are always discussing the best ways to support the band. That's why I bought all the RiverRuns and will probably buy them all in the future, but if they release a disc on a major I'm much less inclined to want to buy it. I guess it's all kind of my principles, the links that Jan came up with pretty much explains why. It's not "justification" - I'm happy paying money for a recording, but if the money goes toward suing students like me, I'm much less so. Hence why I hardly do it anymore.

[gaborez]

i will always buy music i love by a band i love, whatever label it's released on and whatever the format. any fan who wouldn't buy music from a band cos of the label they're on is missing something upstairs. i'm in it for the music and no label can change that. if labels choose to sue thieving students then so what? i dont care. all labels (including indie ones) and bands will suffer from people mass-stealing their music.

dont take this post as me saying i'm pro-major labels or anything. i love the homegrown/organic nature of indie labels and bands like underworld and do my best to support them. but foremost i love good music however it's distributed, as long as i'm not stealing from the artist

[patrick]

I think the main thing is that it seems that the major-labels are not acting in most artists interests anymore, and are not satisfying a growing demand at all... Why support this business model? This is how capitalism is supposed to work, so if you believe something is not right, then you put your money where your mouth is (so away from the bad major-labels)...

I think it's the opposite to missing something upstairs personally... Critically thinking, and making tough decisions for something you believe in is important. Regarding them sueing people: there is something wrong when something is illegal that a huge percentage of people do in society.

[jose m]

freedom for tooting and all that ! i'm not on a campaign to defeat all evil in the world but if i was i wouldn't start by not buying a cd.

[sloff]

First let me say by agreeing with the point made I'm not advocating stealing music.
However I do think that RIAA is out of their collective minds. Try and address a problem fairly and people will see that and come around. They need to stop crying like a kid who had his jumbo lollipop taken away and adapt.
For those of you finger pointing about the moral high ground here I'm willing to bet some of us have out of print Underworld material (ie singles/remixes) that were shared by someone, copyright applies to that.
I'm also willing to bet that if the labels would allow some of that to be released digitally at a fair price that we as fan's would buy it especially if it were released in full quality without DRM.

[mmm skyscraper]

Originally Posted by sloff

For those of you finger pointing about the moral high ground here I'm willing to bet some of us have out of print Underworld material (ie singles/remixes) that were shared by someone, copyright applies to that.

I bought Spikee/Dogman Go Woof on cd off ebay. How much of the money that I sent to the seller went to the label or to Underworld? None. So what's the difference between buying it and downloading it?

In this case ATO/PIAS does not own the copyright of the music, so the band itself would have to sue you over that. And I doubt ATO/PIAS is making enough money off each cd to use it to sue people over other coopyright cases.

The stupid thing about these lawsuits is that the RIAA spends a lot on these cases to see very little in return. If you want a huge laugh you should go to their website and read why piracy is bad.

Labels would be better off investing in playback equipment than spending time on lawsuits.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Originally Posted by jose m

freedom for tooting and all that ! i'm not on a campaign to defeat all evil in the world but if i was i wouldn't start by not buying a cd.

Agreed.

Not taking the moral high ground, either, but the fact is, despite all the whining they do, boycotting a record label isn't going to put them out of business. As I said earlier, all they will do is take the A & R money that would have gone into discovering quirky new talent and use it to plug the holes in the rest of it meaning more and more dross. I am not saying "omg you should never download", but I am saying that it is probably misguided to think that you not buying their product is going to mean jack shit to them in the long term.

[hippy dave]

has anyone posted this article on here yet? must-read for everyone

edit: thought i'd better check the first post again just in case, and yes it's right there... d'oh. sorry - read it tho!