|
 3d Retreat Forums
 3d Retreat News
 Napster: What is the Big Deal?
|
 UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone! |
next newest topic | next oldest topic |
| Author | Topic: Napster: What is the Big Deal? | ||
|
snicker 3d Retreat      Posts: 897 |
On the main page of www.3dretreat.com, Wingy has posted his editorial inquirying on how the community feels about Napster. Read his editorial and post your comments!       
| ||
|
Shroomhd 3d Retreat 
Posts: 206 |
Free music is good, screwing over rich people is also good. So napster uses the technicality that no copyrighted material is ever on it's servers, rich people use tax code holes all the time. ------------------ 
| ||
|
Wingy 3d Retreat
Posts: 21 |
I think that since the music is copyrighted that people have no right to distribute it without the permission of the copyright holder. I just hope that the music companies can look at the statistics and realize that Napster helps them, and let it go on. ------------------ /me snickers at Pappy for putting Reynolds-Wrap all over Maxwell Edison.
| ||
|
snicker 3d Retreat Posts: 897 |
Does Napster help the music companies? How? ------------------
| ||
|
Drunk Moderator
Posts: 348 |
Napster for me, gives me a preview an album or a band i haven't heard off. If a m8 said hey get this album, i would be worried about spending upto £15 for it then finding out its pants, or i didn't like the style of music, at most i will download 2 songs from an album to see if i like it, if i do i go out and buy it, if not i won't. ------------------
| ||
|
Wingy 3d Retreat
Posts: 21 |
Snicker, Studies have shown that since the 'boom' of Napster, record sales have increased. In fact right now, they are higher then they have ever been. I think Napster certainly helps music companies. ------------------ /me snickers at Pappy for putting Reynolds-Wrap all over Maxwell Edison.
| ||
|
snicker 3d Retreat Posts: 897 |
But how can you be sure that the increase in sales has to do directly with Napster? How do you know it just isn't a coincidence that music sales are more popular due to other thing. I just don't see anything concrete that says the music sales have increased because of Napster. The music industry may just be getting more popular...am I missing something? ------------------
| ||
|
Green Private 
Posts: 24 |
True. There are, unfortunately, no hard connections between increases in CD sales to Napster (or other) d/l sites. Personally, I think it is to the artists' favor. But I'm not the one who's work is being sent out for free. If I own an Offspring CD, it is legal for me to copy it onto a cassette for my own use. That is how the law is interpreted. I am making no $$ off of it and am not distributing it. And that is the real issue ... distribution. The music may not be on their servers, but they are the key factor in helping to distribute it. Even if it isn't for money (though the ad draw to the site makes thta questionable), it should not be legal. As much as I like the idea of what Napster does, they unfortunately permit (for the most part) the distribution of copyrighted materials w/o the author's approval. If preventing this isn't supported, whats to stop one group (or rather record company) from setting up a site to allow all visitors to download their competitor's full record for free? As for the question "is it good for the group (the sales going up thingy)?" Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Offspring is certainly trying to use it to their advantage, especially w/ their release of Original Prankster for free online. But that was their call on what is good for them. I hope they succeed, but at least THEY made the choice, not some web site company that doesn't stand to lose anything if the record sales tank for lack of demand. What the hell is different between Napster and me opening up my computer to allow anyone to d/l rogue spear or any other game I have?
| ||
|
Rage 3d Retreat
Posts: 7 |
All I can say about this matter is that Napster is just a fourm for finding information. Its what you are looking for, and what you do with it. Thats what make YOUR actions illegal. ------------------
| ||
|
Wingy 3d Retreat
Posts: 21 |
I'm interested, if anybody knows, what other things may have effected record sales when napster came into being? ------------------ /me snickers at Pappy for putting Reynolds-Wrap all over Maxwell Edison.
| ||
|
liltxsboy Private
Posts: 11 |
Heres my take.. Once music becomes X years old, it should be able to be freely distributed. What X equals is up in the air (My personal guess is 10-20 years). That lets the artists 'milk' their songs pretty much for all its worth, yet it gives music kind of people to obtain an appreciate it. I have collected close to a thousand songs thanks to napster, mainly old country (50-70s) and bluegrass. Of course, my resolving measure is somewhat protective of what I enjoy listening to however, I really think it makes sense. Quite frankly I think a 'new' singer should be paid for his work in royalties and his songs should not be able to be gotten for free, yet I feel George Jones or Hank Williams or Chuck Berry.. there songs should be free and distributed freely paying only for mediums being supplied upon. ------------------ 
| ||
|
liltxsboy Private
Posts: 11 |
I forgot to mention.. Someone suing Napster for royalties due to the alleged illegal activities of their memebers is about as gay as a presidential candadiate imposing lawsuits on states for mishaps in voting... ------------------
| ||
|
snicker 3d Retreat Posts: 897 |
Liltxsboy: Do you think that authors should have to give their books away free of charge after X amount years? ------------------
| ||
|
Wingy 3d Retreat
Posts: 21 |
For an author to give books away for free, he has to pay all kinda of money for publshing and such. For music artists, napster takes care of charges like that. If the author wants to put their book on the net, then it's a different story.
| ||
|
liltxsboy Private
Posts: 11 |
Yes. The only money that should be sought is to replinish the medium which they are distrbuted upon and a fee for putting together and marketing that medium. I am not saying KMART should offer FREE CD's of 20 yr old artists, but when I can buy blank CD's and Jewel cases for less than a buck, surely they can and a couple dollars for their hassles.. 4-6 bucks for a CD is ok and if you notice, most old cds are priced this way, and I think books could follow as well. The internet in a way is considered an almost free way of distribution, so sure text of older books should be able to be distributed as free or at least a small fee justified by ISP costs, etc. And MP3's could have similiar costs, and I would not argue and would pay a monthly fee to access music. Hope that made sense, gotta go to school! ------------------
| ||
|
dune 3d Retreat Posts: 188 |
I'm going to have to agree with Drunk's first comment. Publicly distributed music has offered to me a view of artists and genres of music I would have NEVER discovered otherwise. Almost all of my CD purchases over the past few years can be directly tied to my MP3 collection. Mostly because the MP3 copy I have sounds bad or had skips, or because I wanted the rest of the CD without having to hunt it down. I don't know of any studies that have been done on this, which is why there is no "proof" of a link, but in the end it doesn't matter. They're really just after money. ------------------
| ||
|
Saint Newbie 
Posts: 1 |
Snicker said: But how can you be sure that the increase in sales has to do directly with Napster? How do you know it just isn't a coincidence that music sales are more popular due to other thing. I just don't see anything concrete that says the music sales have increased because of Napster. The music industry may just be getting more popular...am I missing something? It proves though that Napster hasn't hurt the music industry like RIAA says it has. ------------------
| ||
|
snicker 3d Retreat Posts: 897 |
Good point Saint. I don't think Napster has had a major impact yet I really think it could. As more and more people are getting online, downloading music is going to become even more popular. I believe it can continue at a rate to where it DOES affect music sales though. Regardless of what rulings come down about downloading music free, artists HAVE to make money some how. Being a music artist or an author makes very little money the majority of times. It is very hard to get "Big Time". So ultimately, do you really want music to be totally free? Should we really expect artists to spend long hours in the recording studio perfecting their trade only to have it turned around and made available for free to anyone without giving them a profit? How does an artist feed his family in that business model? Think about your personal profession. Liltxsboy: you fix up and sale cars. Compare that to the recording of an album. You want music to be cheaper or freely available but how would you feel if the masses found a loophole that after you spent your time and money fixing up a car they could get it for free? Of course the cost of making a cd and a jewel case is a lot less than the $15 we spend on music but we aren't buying cd's to repay the cost of making cd's. We are paying to finance the bands in many other ways so that they continue to make music. Simply breaking even doesn't cut it. No one in their profession wants to just break even. Hopefully some sort of compromise can be found between downloading music and making a profit but I have no clue what it is. I just feel one thing is true, some laws/guidelines have to be established because online music is just going to keep growing. Eventually it will be large enough to where it does impact retail music sales. ------------------
| ||
|
Wingy 3d Retreat
Posts: 21 |
But Snicker, $15??? That seems to me like the artist gets $4-$5 per CD. If a CD sells 1,000,000 copies, the artist still makes $4-$5 Million. It seems to me they are getting a little more then necessary to do what they love. Also, alot of artists do concerts, which also brings in plenty of dough. So really, why should we not be able to get the music for a much lower price? ------------------ There's only one thing that can make the internet better, and that's more of those banners that let you punch the monkey.
| ||
|
SPooKY Newbie
Posts: 0 |
Actually, artists usually get only about $.25 to $1 per album, depending on how big(read  rofitable) they are. The real money comes from touring, in which the artists gets pure profit from ticket sales, merchandise, etc. (This was in a recent issue of RollingStone, I wanna say July or August 2000). Now say I downloaded Joe. Q. Musician's album off Napster. He misses out on my dollar. But I like the music so much that I go see him in concert. Thats'$40 for a ticket, $20 for a t-shirt, $5 for a beer, etc. Now did he really lose anything? That's a pretty far out statement I know, but it happens. ALso, free music can also help turn on listeners to a particular artist. For instance, I downloaded the entire Union Underground CD from Napster. After seeing them live opening for Marilyn Manson, I immediately bought their album. Not only did they get an album sale from me, but they also got the $10 from the merchandise. Another good thing about Napster is that you can bypass the middleman for music that the artists aren't even here to defend. Example: I download a lot of Queen mp3s. DO you think Freddie Mercury really gives a shit? No, he;s dead and gone. Why should I buy some CD so that some godawful record company exec gets an extra mint on his pillow. No way. As for Metallica, they were sell outs way before Napster. Napster just brought it into the open. Anyone with any intelligence concerning music realized Metallica hadn't written an original song since their first album. Hooray for napster, Hooray for the Digital Revolution, hooray for buzzwords like Digital Revolution and Hooray. ------------------ "Kung-Fu This Bitch!" -Freddy Kreuger
| ||
|
Warthog Sergeant 
Posts: 74 |
Even if Napster (and other progs like it) is taken away, there will still be websites with mp3s and other "illegal" trading. But I doubt Napster will ever go. It might change a little, but it's not going anywhere. They just signed a deal with some major business which will pay for all the legal bills and help keep it afloat. I just hope they don't start charging  Warthog ------------------
| ||
|
liltxsboy Private
Posts: 11 |
Snicker, that is totally different. We dont keep getting money on a car for years down the road. I am at school and I figured out how to copy napster downloaded songs to a zip disk. I can download at 50-80 k/s. I love this! I pull 2-3 at home..hehe ------------------
| ||
|
Scooby 3d Retreat
Posts: 95 |
I think SPooKY hit on it. Actually, $.03 per CD sold is considered a phenominal deal in the publishing business. The Publisher gets all the money in that game. The artists get all their revenue from road trips and concerts. Those are successfull because people hear and like their music. In the past, this has happened because of the publicity from the recor publishers. Napster has caused a revolution in this market and those who are getting rich from this part of the indusrty are doing their best to keep their part of the money train. The revolution will happen with or without napster. It is destin to happen with the new and emerging technologies. The only question is when. Napster is the first battle. It may loose. It will definately not be the last. ------------------
|
All times are CST (US) | next newest topic | next oldest topic |
  |
|
3d Retreat © 2000
Powered by Infopop www.infopop.com © 2000
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47
posted 11-07-2000 06:22 PM
posted 11-08-2000 10:30 PM
posted 11-09-2000 06:23 PM
posted 11-13-2000 03:23 PM