Very thought provoking article. Bottom line, if you benefit in some way from creating music, be it financially, by affiliation or otherwise, support those whose tools you use.

 

with all due respect, i don't need you to tell me or remind me of this...

 

home taping is killing music, iteration #762

 

I read the article and realized a peculiar irony. In an era where people expect music for free, are the only people not getting paid the actual musicians ? I mean obviously in this case the devs ain't getting paid. But how do they think musicians make a living out of their tools ?

Not to mention the HUGE differential between the haves and have-nots. The developers must have their business plans based around the elite of the music industry because they are the only people making money. More often than not through their branded headphones, clothing line and perfume range.

 

Well we'll never know if the email was an invention or for real. The way I have always seen warez users is as extra users. Users that the dev never factored into their sales expectations anyway. Most warez users would never have bought it anyway. So there is no loss of revenue is there. Most are just playing. Many just download, install, have a look and uninstall. A small minorty will make some money using warez, I think it's a tiny few of all the warez users. It clearly pisses off devs who would have otherwise made extra money from these extra users, that's all it is. After some years at it, I now buy the VSTs and libraries I use for the serious work and play with the rest. The day I get record comany interest I will be buying everything I use.

 

Feeling guilty MrLyannMusic? I'm flattered that you think this post was meant just as a reminder for you alone. Very interesting fraifikmushi. Seriously thought provoking DoubleSharp. Very true Thankful. I always enjoy the conversations that stem from these topics Like mac V PC this will probably never die or be resolved.

 

That letter / Email looks fake to me.
Kanye is that you ???

 

If you go out and have a good time dancing to the music that the live band is playing, and you don't throw dollar bills in the bucket marked "TIPS" at the edge of the stage, then you should be cornholed by a troop of gorillas. If you rip audio from a crappy YouTube video or download a low-bitrate MP3 from Soundcloud via a browser plug-in or JDownloader so that you'll have music to play at your party, rather than purchasing it (as high-bitrate or full-quality audio files) from the creator(s) of the music/audio recordings, you should be devoured, flesh and bone, by a pack of hyenas. If you simply derive hours of private iPod-style listening pleasure from someone's music which you had effectively milked through the fence or sucked through the wall, rather than compensating its creator(s) monetarily, you should be pecked to death by a thousand chickens.

Or something like that. Even though I myself have to let the public have hours' worth of my music for free, by said less-than-licit means, in order to interest them in MAYBE deigning to purchase it in better quality, not to mention to the rest of the music I have released.

What's the "stolen credit card" bit in the article about – is that supposed to be an euphemism for "warez?" That is so fucking bogus. The article's bullshit.

Musicians should price their music according to an hourly rate times how many hours it had taken them to create it. That would put the "value" of recorded music intoliteral, tangilble terms. It took me 40 hours to produce five tracks - so, for the whole set, someone should pay the equivalent of how much they earn for a 40-hour workweek. Or should it be an arbitrarily fixed rate – say, $15 per hour of my labor-time? Or should that $600 be divvied-up among buyers, a single expense shared among them?

Yeah, if you earn money from your music, you're morally obliged to pay for the software/plug-ins you use. You're also morally obliged to pay for it if you use it at all. But where's the "moral obligation" to the listening/non-buying public to pay for the music they love so much? When people start paying for music, musicians will start paying for software.

Until then, if you like my music, just come into my room at any time of the night, pull down my pajama bottoms, and have your way with me, because I just want you to love me.

 

this. i'm almost 60 years old. the odds of me suddenly becoming a money-making recording artist are about one in a bazillion. i don't perform live. my recordings are never sold anywhere. i don't have t-shirts & posters (do they still sell posters?) i download something play with it for a while til i get bored, and then chances are very good that i never touch it again. i would never dream of paying $300 for a sample library that i was just going to play with for a couple hours. no developer has ever lost a single penny by me downloading warez.

 

Certainly, since music industry workers are the ones who can actually afford most of the stuff. The rest of us really don't have $500 lying around to buy Omnisphere. Most of us have to seriously think about spending even $20 before we do so.

That's nothing for active commercial studios and successful working producers and musicians.

Us regular guys weren't the ones buying stuff before software. It was the very few successful of us that didn't just end up selling it off because of life if we did. Those same guys are now using a lot of the free software now. Those other, more successful guys are still out there, buying this stuff.

Native Instruments isn't out of business, and they haven't changed their protections schemes for years. They're probably shooting a commercial for their next product now. I think those guys understand something that others don't.

 

Last edited: Apr 3, 2016

Most likely not a fake, I was once in business, lol, I caught a guy red-handed and got quite similar explanation, maybe that's the same guy, lol... because it was equally dumbass explanation...
Is a guy from LA?
Man it f***ing sounds like the same guy... in that case card is not stolen, it's his card, because he would come up with such a plan to buy, get a refund and claim that he has stolen a card and hope that you will let it go.

 

I'm sure that all identity thieves are more than happy to reply to emails when they're caught red-handed. This article is practically the same article that developers talk their blogger friends into posting every six months or so. There are other threads here about it. They're probably actually still referencing that old stolen credit card that was used to purchase that old Uhe release, endlessly recycled into articles trying to get the internet to behave.

 

I have to agree with Mr. Fusion, in that I'm middle aged and just have fun at home playing music. I've never made a dime, and likely never will. So I don't lose much sleep on this issue. I should note that I do buy legit software that I like, mostly when I can afford it, and to support the developers. But I also understand there are many piss poor musicians who don't have two pennies to rub together, and it's laughably absurd to expect them to do the same, and chastise them when they don't.

Also fully agree with Double Sharp, in that there is a HUGE chasm between the haves and have-nots in music. It's even more pronounced than in the rest of society, where it's already a big problem. People at the tippy top make all the money, while thousands of others, many of whom are very talented musicians, hardly make a cent. Not that this rationalizes anything, more of a social commentary explaining some why things are the way they are, but it's a fact no reasonable person would refute.

 

This is just bullshit.Looks like a fake disney made story....and then the developer and the thief developed a friendly relationship and under the guidance of the developer the thief changed his mind and started working for free,handing out food for the homeless while still pursuing his dreams till he signed with Sony,happy ending.

 

I would also say that warez most of the time don't make people loose much money. I also see it as a opportunity for many people who couldn't have produced quality tracks or the music they wanted in the pre and early software area.

When I was a kid in the early nineties, like 11 or 12, I always wanted to make electronic music. I bought music production magazines and saw Instruments that cost thousands, I dreamed of an Atari and all the stuff you needed to make a track. Stuff my mother could have never bought me. Kids and adults today can much easier do all this, there is much free stuff, but I think that warez are a big part in this area as well. And I think it's good that everybody with Internet and a PC now has access to all the tools to make and record music with professional tools.

 

Yes, it is very thought provoking, but I won't share what I am really thinking. It would only serve to solidify your irrational argument.

 

Thanks stevitch, you gave us a good laugh here

 

I call music industry "dream stealers".
They try to make you want and buy something just because it is used by X or Y, because it is new and shinny...
At the end ?
Most ppl trying to convince you earn, at least, 10 times what you earn...if you earn something at all.
I see more and more starving artists, trying their best to buy this or that. Bullsh*t.

What do you expect with Spotify and such ? Less and less money for (already) starving musicians.
Music industry killed musicians by being greedy...and so, killed itself. I never seen such a plethora of clones, like a cancer.
The same way capitalism (in general) killed the "work" concept by firing ppl, and expecting them to buy products now created in another country or by robots.

It is the main contradiction :
wanting to sell more, BUT at the same time, paying ppl less and less, firing them...and expecting them to buy more.

Music industry is an industry like any other : it is dying from being greedy at first.
The 80's are over...you know ? And devs are probably in the same boat than musicians.

Devs want more money ? Then they need to fight against capitalism, not trying to intimidate potentials buyers like banksters.

 

I honestly don't care if people download my music. what i do care about is they buy a ticket to my shows and buy t-shirts and stickers and maybe my album at the shows. money made off record sales the artist sees pennies on the dollar. for smaller bands streaming is a good deal that 50 or 40 a week adds up and thats more people to come to my gigs and give me money directly. part of that goes in the fund for my recoding studio IE plug in i use a lot and are featured on songs i release The days of the fat guy with a Cigar coming to you after a gig with a contract telling you your gonna be a star are over ... but major labels are finding it hard to change there business model

 

I just read that letter on the ProTools website. It looks like it was written by one of you guys!!