[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Pirate Bay Sale Signals the Death of an Era here

[unicron7]

The slow death of consumer freedom. I wonder what they will do next to screw over the common man? How about limiting how many times you can install software you have BOUGHT on your computer... oh wait..they already have!!

[JranZu]

I'd hardly say it signals the Death of an Era. Before Pirate Bay was famous SuperNova was around and well over 10 million members. Now that the bay is moving on (good for the owners making some cash) some other site (like mininova or torrentspy) will take it's place.

File sharing is older than the internet. It's been around from at least the 1980, it's not going anywhere.

[clitoralhoodlum]

I am not going to purchase any more music until I can pay the artists directly. I won't give another penny to the RIAA or the BIG Five Music Crime Family.

[ESAXONSTEPHANIE]

bottom line is that it is illegal and one could get busted for file-sharing. I support my artist the proper way, stealing music from an artist you enjoy is just unethical. Slow death of consumer freedom? Big Mafia? By stealing music you are discouraging new artist to share thier passion with the world.

[Pooleside2]

Whatever the arguments for and against file sharing, it's not true that unsigned bands have the ability to promote themselves on par with the majors. Get real.
And without the radio play and television appearances, interviews and high-profile reviews, it is unlikely that an unsigned band can "break" into the public awareness on the scale required for the old sort of sucess.
Unit sales are a dead-end street for the unsigned. There isn't enough money in it without the constant exposure that big money can buy. So let's stop pretending that it matters.
Listener sponsorships are an answer to the unit sales trap.
www.somewhereoutwest.com

[zsisua]

The way these corps have behaved toward the social movement we should fight even harder to not give them a penny! Find the independents and give them a dime.
Michael, you make a ridiculous argument anyway. No one illegally downloads the music that is given away for free. Are you stupid or just been using those drugs too long?
Those tv online stations are only available in the US, btw. Notice Pirate Bay was Swedish. Don't you see a hypocrisy by using this argument? And low cost by whose budget? The prices are in US Dollars, which translates to four times the cost in Poland. There are no Polish prices for access from Poland. The cost is ten times what it would be in the Ukraine. There are no Ukrainian prices for access from the Ukraine.
Are you beginning to see why piracy is rampant, especially in these other parts of the world?
Wake up and smell the coffee! Go take an economics course before making such a fool of yourself as you did in your article above.

[ZetaZeta]

I buy music only from Armada Music and High Contrast Records.
No American labels for me.

[patrickalexson]

Its competition. Illegal file sharing has helped the world bring down the prices of data content such as music, applications, movies, etc.
Personally, I wont pay for music with DRM. If its free, ill usually take it. Its human nature.
Until we can find a way to pay the original content creators, without it being soaked up by corporations, I see no reason to change our habits.

[ESAXONSTEPHANIE]

LOL @ zsisua. Do you find it helpful to attack people by calling them drug users? As far as economics, I believe you are talking simple Macro when your reference (poorly) the conversion rate. So you are now talking the effect of the international IS curve, ignoring the LM and discrediting all you have said before. I would delete your comment before more people laugh at you.

[thun64]

One thing a lot of people seem to overlook is that, most downloaded music would never have been purchased in the first place. I don't think it changes how wrong/right it is, it's just something to keep in mind.
I'm sure many of us know people with a large collection of downloaded music - would that person really have spent the money to buy all of that if they couldn't get it for free? - no way.
I don't know what this makes it - but the artist and record label both should understand that that many people would never have listened to, liked, and/or talked about a particular CD if it wasn't free (or at least cheaper).

[thun64]

d

[TrustAvidity]

I agree with thun64. A download is NOT equivalent to a loss of sale. Do downloads hurt sales? Yes, but 50 downloads in no way means 50 lost sales. Another thing is torrents and piracy are not synonyms. I use them to get TV shows but it is not piracy because I subscribe to the television service that pays for them. I can DVR/TIVO them and transfer them to my computer but torrents are simpler and don't involve fast forwarding the commercials. As for music, I support artists by going to their shows and buying their cds there because then they actually get the money. The RIAA is pathetic in their attempts at suing someone for $80,000 for a single song. That's ludicrous and equivalent to extortion in my opinion. The song should have been purchased so do the right thing and charge them the F'ing dollar for the song. Perhaps a bit more for "making available" but nowhere near the absurd amounts they go for "for the artists" who don't see a dime of it.

[zelrik]

Those corporations dont know yet about real backfires. They'll soon get a taste for it. It already started. Then they'll understand that they shouldnt piss off their customers. They should know that it is the population that decide if a company goes bankrupt or not.

[strmmr]

Music and film have essentially become a non-excludable, non-rivalrous public good - where consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce availability of the good for consumption by others; and that no one can be effectively excluded from using the good, eg. air, street lamps, free-to-air television, national defense.
Generally, within the school of Economics, the supply of a public good left to private firms will inevitably lead to market failue. That is, production of the good will cease due to lack of monetary incentives - since it is available for free, no (rational, wealth-maximising) individual would choose to pay for it, and hence, the lack of revenues for private firms. Though the term 'public good' does not necessarily imply provision by the government, in the majority of cases it is necessary, as illustrated by the rationale above. Hence, the supply of a public good is usually nationalised, funded for solely by tax revenues (eg. education, clean air, law enforcement, etc.).
In my opinion, the music industry is going about the wrong way - suing grannies and toddlers for every penny, imposing their burdens on ISPs, and selling songs/films loaded with a bunch of restrictive rights is akin to stuffing toothpaste back in the tube. They have to face the hard fact that the genie is well and truly out of the lamp, and is doing 180 down the highway, in the wrong direction no less. A decisive move is required soon to overtake the 'pirates' and for once be in the driving seat of their own industry.
I suggest nationalising the distribution of music. (close mouth and read on). Legalising file-sharing, and incorporating a 'music tax' to fund it would be a large step forward. Now, for arguments sake, let's say the world is only comprised of country X, with a population of 10 people, each paying an annual music tax of $10. There are 10 artistes peddling their albums competitively (Mr/Ms 1 to 10), all vying for the lion's share of the market. Now let's say artistes 1 to 9 sold only one album each, while Mr 10 sold 91 albums. His revenue will be tagged to his market share, and in this case, 91% = $91. This system would still provide the incentive for healthy competition among artistes, and will also monetize the P2P file-sharing culture. Into the finer details (I'm winging it now): Individuals may get their first x albums free, after which they may purchase more for a price. The music tax could also be varied along the age, income, and household continuum, to ensure a 'fair' structure based on predicted consumption, and adequate accommodation for it.
Granted, it may take unprecendented global co-operation, dozens of legislations, and a unanimous vote for it to even smell its first greenback, but I think it's worth a try. Ok so go easy on me - this just popped into my head over fries and a cheeseburger at lunch. But i'd just hate to see a consumer vs. distributor war, and the creative juices / incentive for artistes take a beating for it.

And finally, as a retort to those anti-piracy campaigns targeting our conscience with their "you wouldn't steal a car / bike / blah blah blah", Yes, I would! On the condition that all I had to do was touch the car, and thirty seconds later I owned the car. While the person who originally owned the car got to keep an identical copy of the car in the same condition.

[strmmr]

ps. I wish global gaming factory all the best. I really do want to see a legit alternative to the ease, efficiency, and availability of torrents.
But odds seem to be stacked against them with Napster failing to turn profitable after being in a similar situation. But maybe they were ahead of their time?
CARPE DIEM

[Pooleside2]

I think rights holders (artists or record companies) CAN beat free and eat free's lunch. They have a lot of things free doesn't have, mainly a connection to the artist, but also extensive catalogue, consistant file quality, and if done correctly, superior convenience.

But (boo-hoo) they'd have to actually give the music away (with minimal friction, ie, advertising, sign-up hassles, etc). Like they haven't been giving it away for years.

Who ever buys music that they haven't already heard? It's called radio, and the majors not only dominate it, they fall over themselves trying to give their songs away on it. In fact, they pay a lot of money to give their songs away on radio, truth be known.

So, in exchange for a valid e-mail addy or mobile number, listeners get music for free, instead of anonymously listening to it on the radio. Hmmm. How can I monetize millions of valid e-mail addresses and cell numbers? Beats the heck out of me!

OK, so now you've got grateful fans of your music. I guess you have a band site, right? Well, there's a door there, and you can't get in that door unless you buy a band subscription- or sponsorship, as I call it. What's inside the door?

I can't possibly imagine what sort of exclusive, time-sensitive content you could create for your fans! I can't imagine what sort of ticket discounts, early purchasing opportunities, live streams, t-shirts, yadda yadda yadda you could offer..

It's a bit like the monkey with its fist firmly clenched around the nuts in the jar. It can't pull its little paw out again, but it won't let go of those (song file) nuts!

http:// www.somewhereoutwest.com

[deepen03]

even with piratebay going down, there are so many other sites. i can even name a few like mininova.org isohunt, torrentportal, there are so many other illegal torrent sites. this is nothing.

[deepen03]

i use limewire to get all my songs, and mininova to get all my software and music albums all the time. whatever, if piratebay went down, i can still download all my files from other sites. lmao.

[bbvammy]

I can't list all the sites thats similar to PB or better.

Good luck to RIAA.

Take your time to sue each single one of them.

Do you want to start with Google or Bing? ........ ]:)