News Illegal music downloads hit record levels in UK

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/08/01/illegal_music_downloads_hit_record_levels_in_uk/1

Amid an ever increasing amount of lawsuits in the US, UK citizens are downloading more unauthorised music then ever before.

 

lower prices = more purchases.
It's really simple guys, allofmp3.com proved this.. now follow suit.

kthxbye

 

Music... Its going to be public property (i guess it allready is). Times are changing. They must invent a new thing what people want to buy and cd's are not 'it' anymore. Today its I-Pod and you get the music for free with it. Instead of fighting the flow. They need to let go and go with it.

Recordcompanys should invest in big good concerts all over the globe and make money from that. Selling cd's is like giving away "copy me and spread the content" presents...

 

It's a tricky one this. Downloading media free from P2P sights has become so common place that it will be virtually impossible to stamp it out. With broadband speeds ever increasing, it's quicker than ever to download illegal content. The situation can only get worse for the music Industry.

 

Interesting choice of wording!

 

It isn't just music that is highly priced and is being downloaded...

 

My problem with most pay-for music downloads is that they're all in a losst format, which just doesn't make sense to me, especially considering that often there is virtually no price difference between the downloads and finding a good price on the CD.

 

Erm...just how many albums do allofmp3 actually create? Their "business model" is to steal from the producers and charge the consumers, win-win for them but it doesn't put new albums on the player.

Not really a viable business model for a healthy music industry, better described as "asset-stripping".

 

I agree. I don't want to pay for a download that is either laced with DRM, embedded personal info or lower format quality. When I buy a music, it's mine and I can use it however I see fit -- by that I mean on any audio device I own, be it cd, dvd, mp3, pc, ipod, etc. This of course does not give me the right to give it away for free.

 

But that wasnt his point was it? AllofMP3 was used to make a point about price, if its cheap it will sell, thus bringing people away from P2P and not as you put it a statement on good business ethics.

 

Unless someone does something about the ludicrous prices for electronica albums, then I see some music downloads merited. I just paid over 50 dollars for two downtempo albums last month (one disc apiece)...

 

Hmmm....

Article 1: More illegal downloads than ever!
Article 2: More legal downloads than ever!

Conclusion: More people consuming downloaded music.

To complete the set, we need an article to state that less CDs are being sold than ever, and a corresponding one stating that CD copying is also down.

For the record, I'd never purchased anything from allofmp3.com nor had I downloaded any illegal music via P2P. Until this week.

I bought Monster by The Automatic (Mp3) for my 3 yr old (she has some good taste) from Woolworths.com but following a rebuild, the DRM-crippled file no longer runs. Woollies refused to respond to my emails.

And on Sunday, some pikey little manc smashed the passenger window on my car and liberated my Tomtom, my daughters portable DVD (complete with Singing Kettle DVD) and my wallet of CDs.

So since Monday I've been downloading the stuff I'm missing (in a lossless format where possible) from various torrent sources. Technically illegal, but I have absolutely no qualms about it at all. On the one hand, I might be unlucky for having stuff stolen, but the bigger crime is the crippling of my legally downloaded music.

 

What he said

 

QFT

 

Allofmp3/MP3Sparks, despite their legal wobbles, does reveal what consumers want. Cheap downloads that are DRM free. Paying $15-20 for a CD with 2 decent tracks and no extras? DIAF on that one. I happily pay for the 2 decent tracks by themselves however...

 

I think the main problem is that there is nothing to make people want to buy music online...

In the past you could get music online illegally, but go to the shops to get better quality legal music with some nice packaging.

Nowadays, you're actually punished for buying the music, as it's lower quality and generally riddled with DRM.

When you're looking at something thats free and superior quality with no restrictions, vs a product that costs money, has lower quality and is also restricted, it's a no-brainer that people will generally take the first option

remove drm, bump up the quality and lower the price... online music would suddenly explode and most likely make more money.

 

"From a sample of more then 1,700 people, an astounding 43 percent of all respondents had downloaded unauthorised content"

No. 43% admitted to it.

 

Makes me wish that record companies were more like the smaller bands, who do it for the enjoyment of good music, not for profit.

Of course if that were the case they may come to the realisation that if their acts were any good they'd need to do very little in the way of promoton, as the music will speak for itself, and spend much less time "cleaning up" their tracks, effectively making them pretty pointless in their jobs. Scrap record companies!

 

pedant

Amount should be number.

/pedant

 

QFT, anyone that listens to more than the odd track and says they havn't downloaded some music thats... shall we say less than legal? is probably lying.