for the past couple of months, i've replaced good, ol' fashioned limewire with the sheer awesomeness that is bittorrents. for the uninitiated, this allows me to download bigger things such as full games, movies, tv shows, and whole albums intact and at breakneck speed. the newest version of limewire finally has support for torrents, but is it just me, or did it also become as buggy and slow as well? either way, i haven't started up limewire for a while now.
now, because it is now possible to download whole discographies without sweating your brow, because it is now easier to download all of that artist's brand-new album, what kind of threat does this pose to the music industry? bigger loss of money, that's what. i will admit that i've already resorted to downloading complete new releases on torrent (save for the eagles' new album, which i shelled out my precious money for). and i'm guessing so have many other people.
but have we really figured out why? why we choose to do it all free, preferring to wait for the download instead of paying for the real thing? especially here, in the philippines?
to anyone who's ever bought any cd save for blanks in their entire life (especially here), the answer is obvious: it just costs way too much.
case in point: eagles new cd ran for P515. good deal, considering that it's a double disc. that's around $11. while full albums run for $15-20 in the states, it's not right to compare, because of inflation. yeah, if you're american or a balikbayan, you'd rather buy these stuff here, but what of us natives? yeah, it just costs way too much.
better solution? re-introduce and popularize the system of releasing singles and EPs. yep. it works wonders - it's cheaper, more accessible to casual fans of the artist, and brings usually more material than an ordinary album would. while not to say that singles are virtually nonexistent in the philippines (the remake of santana's why don't you and i with alex band instead of chad kroeger was released here, and for P250 i think, so that'd be around $6), it's an age-old system that would totally cut down on unnecessary downloads, and it would help the record industry, both local and international. now if you really want to make it appealing, put out singles in flash drives! kanye is doing it, we should too.
another good strategy is to open up an itunes store for the philippines. the folks at apple are real geniuses for coming up with the itunes store. it's a wonderful place on the internet, especially for those who love love music. with the itunes store and a credit card (something also needs to be done about this; teenagers make up a big part of the downloading demographic) you can download that hot new single tearing up the radio really cheap and guilt-free. hell, if you can't bring over the itunes store, i challenge someone in the record industry to make a philippine equivalent. just don't be too tacky with it.
so the next time you see a news piece about the RIAA, and if they're condemning illegal downloads, don't feel that guilty. it's not your fault music is expensive. it is your fault, however, if you do choose not to pay the artist by resorting to illegal downloads.
now, because it is now possible to download whole discographies without sweating your brow, because it is now easier to download all of that artist's brand-new album, what kind of threat does this pose to the music industry? bigger loss of money, that's what. i will admit that i've already resorted to downloading complete new releases on torrent (save for the eagles' new album, which i shelled out my precious money for). and i'm guessing so have many other people.
but have we really figured out why? why we choose to do it all free, preferring to wait for the download instead of paying for the real thing? especially here, in the philippines?
to anyone who's ever bought any cd save for blanks in their entire life (especially here), the answer is obvious: it just costs way too much.
case in point: eagles new cd ran for P515. good deal, considering that it's a double disc. that's around $11. while full albums run for $15-20 in the states, it's not right to compare, because of inflation. yeah, if you're american or a balikbayan, you'd rather buy these stuff here, but what of us natives? yeah, it just costs way too much.
better solution? re-introduce and popularize the system of releasing singles and EPs. yep. it works wonders - it's cheaper, more accessible to casual fans of the artist, and brings usually more material than an ordinary album would. while not to say that singles are virtually nonexistent in the philippines (the remake of santana's why don't you and i with alex band instead of chad kroeger was released here, and for P250 i think, so that'd be around $6), it's an age-old system that would totally cut down on unnecessary downloads, and it would help the record industry, both local and international. now if you really want to make it appealing, put out singles in flash drives! kanye is doing it, we should too.
another good strategy is to open up an itunes store for the philippines. the folks at apple are real geniuses for coming up with the itunes store. it's a wonderful place on the internet, especially for those who love love music. with the itunes store and a credit card (something also needs to be done about this; teenagers make up a big part of the downloading demographic) you can download that hot new single tearing up the radio really cheap and guilt-free. hell, if you can't bring over the itunes store, i challenge someone in the record industry to make a philippine equivalent. just don't be too tacky with it.
so the next time you see a news piece about the RIAA, and if they're condemning illegal downloads, don't feel that guilty. it's not your fault music is expensive. it is your fault, however, if you do choose not to pay the artist by resorting to illegal downloads.
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