I've heard alot about piracy lately. Mainly people that are against it, also a good amount of people that are for it. The main type of media that is pirated today is music. Should there be more implications placed to prevent piracy? Should the punishment be more harsh? My answers to these questions are No, and again, No.
Its the record companies that are taking all the money from the bands that actually make the music. The bands hardly see any of it. I know of a few bands that have converted to recording their own music just because of this reason. With that said, I dont believe that piracy is hurting the bands more than it's hurting the record companies. And with THAT said, this is why I continue to pirate music because I dont believe in record companies one bit. In-fact, pirating music has lead me to discovering more bands. Ive been going to more concerts because of this. Going to concerts, I believe, gives the band more of an oportunity to make the money they should.
What are some other ways for bands to make money? They could sell more merchandise, more live shows, fund raisers, and a few other things.
Will piracy EVER be stopped completely? No, it will not. It may be slowed for a short period of time, but it will never be stopped 100%. Its so damned easy to get music and other things these days. No matter what implications they put on illegal file sharing, people will still do it. Its just like drugs. They make them harder to get, but all it takes is for someone to find a loop hole, then exploit that said loop hole. Thats how easy it is.
Whats your view?
I believe that piracy in any sense is wrong. It's stealing. It brings up the Robin Hood situation. Stealing from the bad guys is good, right? It's still stealing. Obviously it's not the same as Robin Hood. But the principle is there. He's still stealing. But he's stealing from the rich thieves! But it's still stealing.
In the Batman (and every other vigilante/superhero) universe, the cops want to arrest Batman because he's breaking the law. But he's breaking the law to help people and stop crime! He's a hero! But he's breaking the law.
Does that mean he shouldn't do it? Of course not. Should he be punished for it? Have fun catching him!
My opinion? I can't really put it into words. I do it, I'll admit, but I think that it's better to buy the music/movies/whatever than to steal it. I mean, what I like about iTunes is that you can buy individual songs. What I don't like is the selection of music. So piracy in order to get hard to get music is acceptable? Not entirely, but it's a means to an end. if I could have bought it, I would have.
I honestly don't think that made a lot of sense, but it's almost two o'clock in the morning and I wanted to just get this all off my chest. So there.
There's really no difference between music "piracy" and burning a copy of a cd for your friend. The only difference is that it's done over the internet. And it is likes drugs, people want it and it's illegal for bullshit reasons.