You guys have it hard....

**veilsideuk2004uk** · March 24th, 2004, 06:59 AM

Whats going on in the US guys? it sounds like your guys get suued for everything, cant people just get on with life, man it must suck over there! In the UK nobody has been done for filesharing, how would mp3 players and everything else be such a success? and they cant say that its damaging industry cuz the music and film industries had one of their best years ever last year 2003. I hope they dont start messing round in england and europe. Wish all of you guys good luck and if your annoyed with all these crappy companies stopping filesharing then leave your emotions about it below, cheers

peace out

VeilsideUk2004Uk

**nasrules** · March 24th, 2004, 08:13 AM

Don't kid yourself into thinking that file-sharing hasn't affected the music business - it has and their sales are significantly down. However, they've brought it upon themselves with over-inflated prices.

You seem to forget that many people have legal MP3s - ones which they ripped from CDs that they own (I have ripped more MP3s than I have downloaded). MP3 players don't just allow you to listen to downloaded songs, they also allow you to store huge amounts of music on a small unit (in the case of hard-drive players such as the iPod or the new generation of flash players).

Things are happening in the UK and Europe - I personally know a number of people who have received 'cease and desist' letters from their ISP after they have been contacted by members of the recording or film industries. Only recently, the EU toughened-up it's stance on file-sharing.

And, to top it all off, you ask whether companies shou-ld be allowed to sue you for file-sharing. Well, sharing copyrighted material is totally illegal - what more is there to say. Yes, maybe more emphasis should be put on sorting out the mess that many countries have created in this world (for example Israel's recent assassination of the leader of the palestinian group Hamas or the US and UK's invasion of Iraq), but at the end of the day, it's business, and business must go on.

**method** · March 24th, 2004, 09:33 AM

veilsideuk2004uk..

sorry to drop a bomb like this but plenty of people have been sent C&D threats here (in the UK). It may be true we've not been sued yet, but people have certainly received C&D threats and have been told by their ISP that they are in breach of the AUP (acceptable use policy).

Still.. I agree with your post to some degree.. I always wanted to live in the US when I was a kid.. since growing up and learning about politics there over the last 4 years or so.. and.. how they have a hard time maintaining civil liberties against corporate interests.. I've kinda had second thoughts. :(

**cheapprick** · March 24th, 2004, 03:09 PM

Welcome to ZP veilsideuk2004uk.

So.... AOL is available in the U.K. then?

(And I don't think you're trying to, but don't let your thread turn into U.S. bashing please)

**mrdingaling** · March 24th, 2004, 03:31 PM

I have a freind who recived an email from his ISP (Pipex) last week.
Although it was about his downloading copyrighted material, I would hardly call it a C&D, more like a "We've been informed you have downloaded copyrighted material, would you mind not doing it please, thanks" lol. No threat of cutting him off or anything.
Also, they threw out a ruling that would see casual downloders sued, as they have seen the results from what the RIAA are doing and don't fancy a mass backlash.

Nas, as for downloading affecting music sales, I don't believe that for a minute. If anything is affecting sales it's enormous amount of crap these record companies are throwing at us and trying to call it "music". It they all produced something worth buying people would buy it, simple as that (I bought Lost Prophets new album last week, first CD I've paid for in nearly a year).

It's the same with movies. You look at stuff like 2 fast 2 furious, why the hell would anyone pay to see utter crap like that. And what's that new one, looks like 2 fast 2 furious on motorbikes, talking about flogging a dead horse or what.

**Siskabush** · March 24th, 2004, 10:04 PM

OVer inflated prices for sub-standard music and no variety is going to kill your buisness, which relies on Talent, Variety, and fair prices.

But they are too blind to see that.
Ill just keep downloading the Trance music that they dont offer here.

**nasrules** · March 24th, 2004, 11:24 PM

Originally Posted by mrdingaling

Nas, as for downloading affecting music sales, I don't believe that for a minute. If anything is affecting sales it's enormous amount of crap these record companies are throwing at us and trying to call it "music". It they all produced something worth buying people would buy it, simple as that (I bought Lost Prophets new album last week, first CD I've paid for in nearly a year).

It's the same with movies. You look at stuff like 2 fast 2 furious, why the hell would anyone pay to see utter crap like that. And what's that new one, looks like 2 fast 2 furious on motorbikes, talking about flogging a dead horse or what.

Yes, I agree about 2 Fast 2 Furious and whatever this bike one's called (seen a trailer), but I don't wholly agree with your music point. Yes they're throwing crap out at the consumer, yes they're over-charging, but don't let yourself get caught up in the 'It's all a conspiracy' mind-frame. The simple answer is that although it may not be affecting music sales as much as the industry claims, it will be affecting sales. Personally, I buy more CDs than I did before I discovered P2P, and for every one I download I try to buy one. My view is that CDs should be £5 each - half the current cheapest selling-price.

**moneoa** · March 24th, 2004, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by method

they have a hard time maintaining civil liberties against corporate interests:(

Dont you know buddy that is the glory of the capitalist system.
Dont know what to buy? No worries there are whole boards of directors willing even eager to let you know what you should buy. Want to make your life easier?
Go and buy the cheap Wal-mart clothes made in honduras and enjoy the cheap electronics made in taiwan, if you dont know what to buy "NO WORRIES"
The same room of directors will also be willing to tell you what you NEED.
Including a bunch of tripe I betcha you never knew you needed...ahh yes
This is truly what the fore fathers gave thier lives and dedication for,
a bunch of annoying gap ads, levi commercials and lame cologne commercials with half naked men in surreal beach settings or nightclubs
doing crazy s#!t that has nothing to do with the damn cologne...but I digress

**method** · March 25th, 2004, 12:33 AM

"(And I don't think you're trying to, but don't let your thread turn into U.S. bashing please)"

Just to clarify.. I'm not trying to bash the US either.

I still love the US for a lot of reasons I just know if I lived there I'd be constantly irate at my own govt. (and it's not like I'm already pissed at my government here already!!).. so no.. I'm definetely not trying to push this into US-bashing. As well as many friends.. my boss is an American too and he's the best boss I've ever had!!

It's the shitty senators/politicians that value assholes like the RIAA too much that I'm against.. that's all. :)

Peace!!

**Malicious Intent** · March 25th, 2004, 01:54 AM

We may not be getting sued yet, but our laws are considerably stricter. Don't kid yourself that we are in some safe cacoon. It is only a matter of time. The industry seem to think that time is as soon as services like Napster2 and iTunes are released here.

**Afn** · March 25th, 2004, 05:32 AM

Originally Posted by Siskabush

OVer inflated prices for sub-standard music and no variety is going to kill your buisness, which relies on Talent, Variety, and fair prices.

But they are too blind to see that.
Ill just keep downloading .... that they dont offer here.

The internet and related content will make and makes recorded media obsolete. There is still some value in compact discs and dvd's, but over time, the vast wealth of material found on the net will marginalize most cd\dvd\next-gen dvd offerings.

My point is the variety found on the net will be superior to anything produced and sold on plastic.

**veilsideuk2004uk** · March 31st, 2004, 07:15 AM

A study of file-sharing's effects on music sales says online music trading appears to have had little part in the recent slide in CD sales.

For the study, released Monday, researchers at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina tracked music downloads over 17 weeks in 2002, matching data on file transfers with actual market performance of the songs and albums being downloaded. Even high levels of file-swapping seemed to translate into an effect on album sales that was "statistically indistinguishable from zero," they wrote.

"We find that file sharing has only had a limited effect on record sales," the study's authors wrote. "While downloads occur on a vast scale, most users are likely individuals who would not have bought the album even in the absence of file sharing."

The study, the most detailed economic modeling survey to use data obtained directly from file-sharing networks, is sure to rekindle debates over the effects of widely used software such as Kazaa or Morpheus on an ailing record business.

Thats all i wanna say, oh and for people saying this is a bad shout against americans, no it isn't i have family in america and there all very nice! lol

Thank you

**stewiegriffin** · March 31st, 2004, 08:04 AM

According to this article overall record sales in the UK are not laffing? Although its confrims that singles sales are down (everything to do with P2P of course, not that fact people have realised its not worth paying £4 for one song and some crappy remixes) it also shows that albums actually sold an increased number of units in 2003.

The sinlge format has been dead for a while and its not entirely the fault of P2P. Paid-for music still thrives, despite the artificially high prices imposed by the record monopolies on CDs.

**muffenme** · April 11th, 2004, 05:19 AM

:fire

I hate Money

:hole

**Brycen257** · April 12th, 2004, 12:43 AM

The record companies have no one but themselves to blame for any problems with music sales across the world the past few years . I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. As a number of others have already pointed out the record companies have been forcing cds on us at ridiculously overinflated prices for years . Does anyone here know what it actually costs to produce a CD ? I would bet it is less than 15-20 % of what they actually charge . And where does all that profit go? Certainly not to the artist who produced the music but rather to record company executives.

The record companies also insist on promoting stale, bland and boring copies of whatever was moderately successful at one point in time ad nauseum (anyone remember boy bands ?) They also dictate whats played on the radio. I don't live in a huge market (about 230,000) and all we get to hear on the radio here is some new music , much of which is bland premanufactured pop and lots of old retreads from the last 30 years (yuch !!!!!!)
Most of the artists I like or buy I have found out about through 1. Watching music videos 2. Internet exposure including file sharing and 3. The radio (less than 10 % of what I buy or listen to ). If file sharing results in the destruction of the current way of producing and selling music, so be it !!!! The system is long overdue for a major shake-up. :gj