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Working on my own projects, I've been starting to feel like: well, how can I expect people to pay for the things that I create if I'm never willing to do the sa

by gaelian 16y ago

Working on my own projects, I've been starting to feel like: well, how can I expect people to pay for the things that I create if I'm never willing to do the same for them? I've also come to the realisation that sometimes time is more valuable than money. How many people here know the experience of hitting a torrent site (or sites) to - let's say - find a song. Finding a good quality bitrate, how many seeds does it have? It's not a dodgy file? OK, yep cool. I used to have more time than I knew what to do with in my younger years. Those days are well behind me and now, more and more I'm finding that my time is the most important resource I have.

eswat 16y ago
Agreed on both points. The reason I don’t pirate much (more on that later) is because I value my time and the time other creators put into their work. Even if said work may be shitty, that doesn’t give me the right to steal it. A creator stealing the work of others—especially one that have the means of paying for it—is sleazy IMHO. That being said, I still sometimes obtain music immorally if I cannot find a copy online that I can pay for. It’s such a pain in the ass. Usually a good torrent will still be far from having the quality of a legal release: the cover art might be low res, the track names might have the track numbers in them, there will be a torrent scene slogan in the comments section of each track (or even the genre) and such. All these have to be remedied before an album fits in with my library. Even if I don’t torrent many albums, it will all add up eventually and I’d much rather have iTunes, CDBaby or whoever take care of these matters for me.
- _delirium 16y ago
  It's probably due to the genres I listen to, but I usually have the opposite convenience issue. There are a few very good forums and mp3-blogs that track those genres, which have well-written posts introducing an artist or album, including some streamable samples, and then linking to a .zip or .rar download. Very easy to browse and get an idea for what's what, and they explain things like what I might like if I liked a related album. I also get to know the tastes of a few posters, and how they relate to mine. Meanwhile, actually buying the CDs often involves mail-order from other countries, overpaying for out-of-print vinyl on eBay (which doesn't go to the musician anyway), and the official sources are terribly organized/presented: rarely any streaming samples, poor descriptions of what the album actually sounds like, etc. Even when I do buy CDs, I would never have found out they existed if it weren't for the much more convenient mp3-blog/forum scene that actually brought them to my attention, reviewed them, and presented them in an attractive format. I do try to give money to bands I like in one way or another, but I see it as more like donating to thank them for producing stuff I like, and encouraging them / supporting them to produce more in the future. Sometimes I literally donate, if they have a PayPal or something like that; other times I'll buy a CD, a vinyl record, or a shirt or something.

by gaelian 16y ago

eswat 16y ago

Agreed on both points. The reason I don’t pirate much (more on that later) is because I value my time and the time other creators put into their work. Even if said work may be shitty, that doesn’t give me the right to steal it. A creator stealing the work of others—especially one that have the means of paying for it—is sleazy IMHO. That being said, I still sometimes obtain music immorally if I cannot find a copy online that I can pay for. It’s such a pain in the ass. Usually a good torrent will still be far from having the quality of a legal release: the cover art might be low res, the track names might have the track numbers in them, there will be a torrent scene slogan in the comments section of each track (or even the genre) and such. All these have to be remedied before an album fits in with my library. Even if I don’t torrent many albums, it will all add up eventually and I’d much rather have iTunes, CDBaby or whoever take care of these matters for me.

_delirium 16y ago
It's probably due to the genres I listen to, but I usually have the opposite convenience issue. There are a few very good forums and mp3-blogs that track those genres, which have well-written posts introducing an artist or album, including some streamable samples, and then linking to a .zip or .rar download. Very easy to browse and get an idea for what's what, and they explain things like what I might like if I liked a related album. I also get to know the tastes of a few posters, and how they relate to mine. Meanwhile, actually buying the CDs often involves mail-order from other countries, overpaying for out-of-print vinyl on eBay (which doesn't go to the musician anyway), and the official sources are terribly organized/presented: rarely any streaming samples, poor descriptions of what the album actually sounds like, etc. Even when I do buy CDs, I would never have found out they existed if it weren't for the much more convenient mp3-blog/forum scene that actually brought them to my attention, reviewed them, and presented them in an attractive format. I do try to give money to bands I like in one way or another, but I see it as more like donating to thank them for producing stuff I like, and encouraging them / supporting them to produce more in the future. Sometimes I literally donate, if they have a PayPal or something like that; other times I'll buy a CD, a vinyl record, or a shirt or something.