How Do YOU Feel About File-Sharing Music/Video

[Robert****]

First of all, this is a bit of a hot topic, so let's be civil here.

I am interested to hear your thoughts this whole illegal music downloading/sharing scenario we are experiencing.

There's some people who argue that it's a good way to sample before you buy, and that it in fact helps sell more as a result. Really? As a whole, I personally doubt that. There's a lot of bums who like to get stuff for free, and never intend to buy what they "sampled".

Some people argue that the record companies are so large and wealthy and can afford that some people steal what they are selling. That might be true to some degree, but there are many small record companies trying to run a business selling music they love. If they fail, the artists themselves may fail too. Very few artists are great business people, and they often need skilled people in the areas of promotion and selling what they create.

My feeling is that we may end up with a society where everyone think it's normal to go to a torrent site and start downloading whatever you want. There's some logic in trying before you buy, if you do buy something in the end. I just wonder what the real ratio is, in reality. Download 1000 songs and buy how many? 5? or 50?

Personally, I think that if the creators ultimately benefit financially from the theft, then all is good. Perhaps more people will come to a band's tour gigs, or go see the special 3D screening of a cool movie (Avatar). It might cut off some middle men, and perhaps that's a good thing too, I don't know.

However, if the artists aren't getting paid for their hard work, well then that means no food on the table for them, and perhaps in the end we won't have certain artists around anymore. Perhaps there will just be artists like Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus around to "sample". That would suck.

I have certainly "sampled" music too sometimes. I try not to, and instead I check out music on youtube instead. If youtube allows it, it should be okay. I don't sample movies though; that takes too long to download - I'll rather just buy a DVD for 10 bucks somewhere. I also legally download (and pay for) a lot of music from iTunes. It's very convenient.

How do you feel about the subject? It's an ethical issue for sure, and I think it's important to discuss, especially with younger people. "Everybody does it", is a poor argument, but I have heard teenagers say that many times. As a parent, I find this topic can be a bit difficult to talk to teenagers about.