ran across this interesting video on YouTube,
some great thoughts on the matter (video title is ofc clickbait, but worth the watch imo)

 

that piracy is illegal doesnt make it wrong.

that piracy is possible doesnt make it right.


that you dont buy your copy will not bankrupt the author.

but if noone buys it, the product will be gone sooner than you think and want.


piracy sometimes ignores the explained wish of another creative person - and sometimes of a huge company.

so sometimes you pirate a piece of software from somebody who is as poor as you, and sometimes you are performing an act of class fight against the industry, who before often stole the code and the right to distribute it themselves.


if you dont even have enough money for a proper computer, nobody will loose revenue if you dont pay for his software.

but if you have hardware for USD 100,000 you simply dont have a rational excuse, as little as there is no excuse for robbery or rape (it is possible to just rob or rape, so why should you ask if you want something?)


in france and germany it is a crime to change code you dont own.

in canada not even remote computer sabotage is illegal (and they also needed quite a while to catch up with DMCA policy)


it is impossible to lump all the different situations and circumstances together.

it is your job to find your own, personal way through all the contradictions.

while you search, dont become influenced too much with the radical positions from the one or other side. §1 is in order: there is no right or wrong.


p.s.:
and to those who think that piracy is political because you undermine the priciple that you have to pay for everything:

it isn´t. because when you steal, you still accept commercialisation of goods.

if you wouldnt, you would be fighting for free water and food for everyone on this planet and not only for you personal plug-in collection.

 

The video is actually really interesting although they spoke about the addiction of cracking plugins than just using cracked plugins and I disagree with some points, For example, I think that if you are planning to make $0 from the music that you produce, why do you need to buy plugins for that? Like me who gives my productions for free, why would I buy them? since I'm doing it for fun and just enjoy it.


Buying plugins is like investing, you invest in that plugin so that your production's quality can be better, and if you sell that product or you finish that mix then you have made a profit, so if I'm buying a plugin and making 0 profit out of it (my choice of course) why should I buy it?

 

A very good watch, and definitely something I am (well, have been and trying to not be!) guilty of.

 

I think using cracked plugins is not a problem, it's about why you use them.
It's ok to use cracked stuff to see whether you get along with it over time or not. If the stuff convinced you of being worth it, just buy it.
If not, it's not worth buying to you.
Over time you should buy the stuff you like to support the developers who are the ones to offer you the possibility of being creative using their software.

 

Videos like this will always be seen from the side of controversial at least for me you don't talk about it because it is obvious it is simple if you tend to make money using the soft then buy it or after you make some why not supporting the manufacturer there are exception like rebelling against certain type of drm or manufacturer weird business practices other than that it is simple buy the software that deserves your hard earned $ people aren't that evil of course there will be some with earth size bag of money and will use piracy those people doesn't deserve any kind of respect Edit: videos like these may be ordered and sponsored by the dmca gang also piracy can protect you from products like that Ai intelligent reverb or whatever the one with the big knobs and huge space between them

 

Last edited by a moderator: Feb 3, 2021

I understand this mindset, but it's in my opinion very wrong,
if I'd apply the same for studio monitors or headphones - you just buy them because you need them, no matter if you earn 0 from using them, similarly you get a computer and even pay for electricity along your production process,
I understand it's hard to justify purchase of non-physical entity (at least for me, it's still a weird act to do) but if you would actually make it your main workhorse (for ex. some "always-go-to" EQ, reverb or whatever) why not buy it, why not appreciate developer's work, why not invest in the developer to make something new?

I'm not judging anyone of course,
one moment in the video I really enjoyed is when they mention people who download the new fancy stuff bundles have been equally trolled/addicted like people who actually bought the bundles - because in the end neither will use them for very long

 

If you just messing around creating meme songs or mastering you personal music collection piracy is handy yes there are very good free soft and plugs that can do the job even better than the paid ones but once you hear how the paid ones sounds you gonna want that on your for fun music projects also for educational purposes

 

Some people save a year to buy a computer, then a year to buy some monitors, audio interface, microphone. That's before even getting software two years is gone. Or you could just get the cracked software and just get started!
They are either going to stick with it or move onto something else and the sooner they find out the better.
In the vid they talk about people getting things and not learning them but I don't think that's the case as people are getting the things that people are using in tutorials so they can follow along and learn them and that also helps people figure out what they won't be needing.
I'm glad I didn't buy Soothe.

 

you win this round

 

imo using cracked plugins give me anxiety because there is too many options to choose from and I never put the effort to learn each plugin so I end up making no music , But when I buy Stuff I research it well and I know exactly what it does and read the manual and reviews and know for a fact I will need it

 

what the guy in the video (which i did not watch, but read its description) fails to see is that the question he rises about "do you really need that" also applies to people with tons of legit software or people who horde eurorack modules or guitars.

 

again, guilty of that, especially guitars, or anything with a plug, and I don’t know if it’s an age thing that is making me change my ways, but I do think it’s hard to NOT be a kid in a sweet shop at times. Making a conscious decision to not download everything and work with what you have, learn the stock tools in the DAW, well it’s made a difference to me and I can see an improvement in both my creativity and technical knowledge.

 

Where do I get that Clamidya plugin?

 

Just don't use any protection and you will get it soon enough.

 

You know I think Im going to build a house but since I dont plan on making any money off construction, I think Home Depot should just give me all the materials I need to build that house for free!

 

In this video there are 2 very different topics:

• 1 - compulsively collecting plugins will not make my music a better creative product
• 2 - Using warez is a bad thing

Point 1 is interesting and I completely agree. I think the same also apply for the new gear (keyboards, pedals, guitars, midi controllers, etc.): having a warehouse full of instruments won’t make me a better producer

We should discuss point 2: ok, surely warez are illegal, but if someone feels the desire to try the new entries on virtual instruments / effects without having to destroy their bank account I don't feel like condemning it. I hate trial version (no save, limited features, account to be created with my personal data), I hate ilok and other amenities (like apps calling home and spying into my hdd).

As someone once said: "Try before you buy"
I want to test every new product, I’d like to know if what they want to sell me is really good or not. Let's face it: most of the apps / plugins that come out on the market are junk. As far as I'm concerned, almost all of the warez that I download remains in my computer for a very short time and then ends up in the garbage, I see warez as a filter against marketing aggression.
The products that I trust and use on a daily basis are all legit, I am pleased that the people who have built a useful tool get my money. This concept is also valid for music: all the artists I respect deserve my money, so I buy their albums legitimately

Clamidya VST rocks!

 

Here's my question.
Steve Aoki (when doing a collab with Linkin Park) used Sylenth 1 v2 of team VTX I believe. Everybody knew this. But no one sued Steve.
How big was Steve then musically?
Well, pretty established with his work on progress Neon Cave studio.

Many well established people do use piracy till date.

Even I am sure, the guys, making the videos do use warez because I know some people who, to the outside world, act, as if they are saints when it comes to using warez but they, themselves use warez plugin because they know, how would anybody know that they use warez?

In every 789Ten videos, the DJ/Producers are quite popular and they still use warez.

Only when, poor and non-established people use warez, the whole world start bashing.
But when big shot guys use warez, nobody fucking cares.

This kind of Mindset is really bad IMO.

Using Warez is bad. I agree.
But it is equally bad for all people, no matter how rich or successful or established they are.

Also, I think, all plugins should be approved by AES (Audio Engineering Society). At least, then, the number of Snake Oil and bullshit plugins will cease to exist. (Approved as in proper approval with proper citations).

 

Using cracked plugins is bad ... For developers ... But I will always thanks to crack teams for , the things they share , because in this way I can test a plugin before I buy it ... Many plugins after test I discover to be really bad .... Thank yuo again R2R , VR , Syndicate and everybody else ...

 

Yea let's put some money together maybe a 1000 a person, so we can buy The Sister Site.
That way we can do the right thing and close it down.
We'll all have more time to concentrate on our music.
I can always bounce between two cassette recorders.
The guy is right when you didn't have a million takes the first take was always hot.