Downloading music legally?

[Warewolf50]

Hmm... I was wondering, is it legal to copy say a friend's CD? Not to upload to the internet and for mass sharing, but like if my friend copied a CD and gave it to me? Is all that legal? I was under the impression that that was, but mass sharing was not. Just wondering.

Acording to my video teacher who took some calsses on this stuff during college this is legal. He says the law is that sharing of stuff like music is legal within a comunity.

[Trigger_Happy]

No, I believe the law is something like, "Don't copy this or you'll be liable for a $250,000 fine." That's obviously not the real wording, but the facts are simple; it's not legal. What earthly business would give you license to copy their product for a friend instead of buying two? They're in it for the money, so you might as well assume they won't distribute it like a charity.

I've spent hundreds on CD's and see no problem with the prices, system, or anything else. Here's my rough draft of the industry:

Band makes crappy demo at their expense

Industry hears demo and decides to sign the band

Industry gives band tens of thousands of dollars to make a quality CD and the band agrees to make a small cut off each album sold.

If album sells big time, the band gets rich and the industry gets mega-rich.

If the album doesn't sell, the industry loses the investment and the band gets dumped, but loses no money.

If the band becomes a truly hot commodity they can go to a higher paying label.
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Okay, so the industry offers the money, the band CHOOSES to take it knowing they'll only make a small cut, and the consumers pay the price asked or CHOOSE not to buy it. Nobody's getting ripped off here. The industry makes money through a series of risky gambles. The bands win or lose based purely on talent (talent that has market appeal if you want to be specific). The consumers, as with any product, control the price of the product by choosing not to buy if the price is too high, or buying if the price suits them.

Now some confused kids are going to see this and say. "Yeah, well, that's just what I'm doing...not paying the high prices. Well, that's not the way it works. That like shoplifting everything you own in order to "combat" high prices. You're only pushing them higher. If you refuse to pay, you also refuse to own. Stealing is not a 'tool' of the consumers in an economic sophism. It's simply not an option.


Okay, scenario #2. (A label called "I-Own" or somthing like that does this.)

Band spens tens of thousands of dollars making a quality album

Band chooses to sign a contract with the industry agreeing to pay them to promote the album (get it in stores) for a small cut off each album sold.

If the album sells big time, the industry gets rich and the band gets richer.

Not big, and the band loses all while the industry gets nothing.
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All we're doing here is turning the tables. If you have a ton of money, you can sign the label and not have the label sign you. Is this better? Yes...if you're confident enough that your talented. Mercy Me is one of the richest bands around these days. They're not huge, but they chose to put their butts on the line and make their CD with their own money. Talent paid off, and they're richer than bigger bands.

[ScatterPlot]

I agree completely with your logic, it's just that I thought it was legal to do it within friends. I'm not saying mass market, but people were copying stuff to cassette for a long time and nobody got upset. Remember, I would not do illegal stuff even if I just thought I should be able to. I'm also not using the argument "Well everyone else is, so why shouldn't I be able to". That's not right. I was just wanting to know what the law said.