"...Not to piracy as the big suits at DRM want to make you think."

Again with the delusion. The cognitive dissonance on this issue is astounding. It also leads me to believe people can convince themselves of anything if it is in their own self-interest. Explains a lot of human history.

Look, the music industry alone has declines 10-12% a year since Napster. Continuously. Now, I don't particularly like the RIAA. They fucked up, and their tactics are grotesque. Downloading a $15 CD should be a minor fine, not $80,000. That, however, does not make downloading music illegally right.

We haven't yet crossed the bandwidth threshold to see the same effect in movies, and we probably won't anytime soon with how far American keeps sinking in worldwide bandwidth rates, but you can expect the same there someday. It's definitely already affecting video rentals.

Now, I don't care if anyone does steal shit online. Go for it. It's human nature to want something for less, and we're all hypocrites when it comes to the law. (Read Freakonomics for mathematical proof). Just don't act like a hero for getting free shit. That's what pisses me off. You're not fucking Robin Hood.

"Oh, but CDs are too expensive. That's why I steal. Power to the people!"

I love how when people don't know where the money is going, they assume it's all going into someone's pockets at the top. A $15 CD?

$1.00 is going to the artist

$3.75 is going to the retailer

$3.75 is going to the distributor

$3.00 is going to the label

$0.75 is going to the mechanical royalty

& $2.50 is going to research and development (R&D)

Now, as for R&D - most bands CDs don't make their money back, and this covers their costs. Without this, labels can't afford to cover recording costs for new & unknown bands. Guess what is also the first to be cut when sales fall? Yep. This is part of the reason for the current dirge of music we have now.

Just... do whatever the hell you want to do. I don't care. Just don't pretend that sitting on your ass while your computer downloads the latest CD from some band that hasn't even made the radio yet that you're fighting the good fight. It's sad and pathetic self-delusion.

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talk all you want about declines in music/movie revenue - the simple fact is that the RIAA/MPAA etc have not once been able to show the real relationship between a downloaded CD and the loss of a CD sale...the entire entertainment industry is just at the beginning of a fundamental change in the way it delivers/sells it's products...

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