Why I Pay for Content (And Why That Makes Me Feel Like a Sucker)
Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 10:07AM
Another opinion in the should-I-or-shouldn't-I-download-content-without-paying-for-it discussion. This is from Gizmodo:
In 2001 I downloaded five songs by a now-defunct "folk rock duo" from the internet. The band was obscure, its albums not stocked at the small-town music stores nearby or the Walmart 25 minutes up Route 1. iTunes didn't exist yet. Amazon was still a bookstore. So I fired up LimeWire and snapped them up for free.
It was the last time I pirated something. And more and more, it feels like the last time I wasn't the punchline to a bad joke.
There are people who see piracy as a right and people who see it as a crime, and it's those people who suck up all the air in a debate that's never going to be resolved. I'm neither. I'm a person who pays for content because I want to support the people who created it, but who's increasingly frustrated by how hard content owners make it to just give them my money sometimes. That may put me in the minority, but I don't think I'm alone.
Reader Comments (2)
Hey Alan, here's a data point for you. I download a fair amount of music, mainly to test it out, see if I like it. As I become a fan, I buy. The latest Stars album, I bought directly from the band on their website. Boom, money goes mostly to the band. That's the model I support. Every other option has so many middlemen taking their cut the band gets nothing. Fans will buy (especially directly) from the bands they love. I hate what the music business has become and the tactics of the RIAA (and CRIA). Until I see a system that rewards artists more directly, I won't be supporting it. I will, however, reward bands that are doing it right.
This article summarizes my exact point in half of the arguments I have about paying for content. I turned my younger brother (who has a ton more disposable income then I do) into the person who will go to the show and get a physical copy of the CD (or vinyl) and maybe a t-shirt because I miss the days when being able to shell out my money still felt like I was supporting the band.