Gee.. For THOUSANDS of years, artists managed to survive the same way the rest of us did.
Then, magically, they got to work for awhile, then get paid forever.
Now they are not the only ones... Walt Disney has been collecting on those same old 1930's ideas for many decades..
As far as I am concerned. the shift to "intellectual property" is bogus.
This DOES concern these musical claims of eternal ownership.
They are overinflated, and if the recording companies have not managed to "kill by starvation" (cheating them, point blank) all the artists they represent, then a few (million) downloads will not either.
Like you hear all the time in the news how the Rolling Stones are living in a homeless shelter 'cuz they ain't making any money... You didn't hear that??? golly.
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There is a great divide between these opinions expressed here.
You think the person who managed to make something interesting has an eternal right to it's exclusive use.
I think they do not. Whatever cultural input from the world helped shape them ALSO deserves some payback.
No-one created any idea fully formed from a total vacuum.
I do not download, or copy things I do not own. However, I agree that the people who DO, have the right to do so if it is for personal use.
i know folks who have 20,000 ripped off songs in their harddrive.
They listen to a dozen of them.
I certainly don't care if they have the rest sitting there.
And if you and the RIAA are dying because they have stolen your tunes... I think you need to find a new way to make a living.
(Also, personally, I believe that the only ones crying about this all either worry about thier own so called "intellectual property", or are stooges for the R.I.A.A.)