The forum · September 2003 – July 2004 › GENERAL

Lawsuit Against Music Downloaders

Started by OneLoneMan · 8 posts · 78 views · this thread in the Internet Archive

OneLoneMan14 Nov 2003, 00:50
I heard the news today that the music industry (Sony?) is filing a lawsuit against 40 BrightHouse (RoadRunner) users here in the US (Florida?). They obtained the 40 IP addresses from BrightHouse but Brighthouse said that if the law suites fail then they would not provide the industry with other IP addresses.

I have mixed feelings about this. If I were in the biz I'd want people to buy my music but I wouldn't try and sue the customer! I really think that the music industry makes a big enough profit on the music they sell. I also feel that most people will buy the CD's that want (I do) after hearing some of the music from artists. But I can't see buying a $15.00 to $20.00 CD for one song especially when I can download it for free.

I had once proposed that vendors (these can be storefronts or e-stores) have a set up where customers could preview thousands to tens of thousands of songs by different artists from every genera. Once previewed the customer could then pick the songs that they wanted (up to 80 minutes) and have them burned to a CD that they then paid for. The cost would depend on the cost of each song and should be less (about 1/2) the cost of a pressed CD by a single artist. The artists as well as the industry would still make plenty of money as would the vendor and the customer would get a high quality custom made product.

I only wish that I had the capital and the contacts to set up the first store or e-store. I’d be rich in less that a year!

:music:
Alle14 Nov 2003, 01:05
E-stores like that already exist - iTunes by Macintosh is one of the most successfull so far with over one million tracksales the first day... Windows Media is planing on the very same, I'm affiliated with a company in France that're about to launch their version - digitaldeejay.com and trust me, there are more :)

As for your theory on try before you buy - it's been my motto all the way... And yes, it works well for us.

Best,

Alex
t[]c lover16 Nov 2003, 02:09
This is sad...they think they can scare people into buying music. An industry cannot rule with an iron fist...no talent, no money. simple. the forum artists may deserve money, but not them. frankly, they suck.
OneLoneMan16 Nov 2003, 05:47
Alle

The idea I had was geared more towards older tracks rather than new tracks, but it would work both ways. It is not so much a listen before you buy deal but one where the customer can build up their own copulation CD’s.

I was unable to buy all the music I wanted as a kid and what I did have was on vinyl (a media I do not care for). As I have gotten older I have tried to back buy all the music that I missed as I was growing up and in later years. The trouble is I had to buy entire CD's in order to get one song. Often I did not know the name of the song I was after. Also I ordered a lot through CD clubs and they never listed all the songs on a CD so I ended up with CD's I did not really want. Plus there are many artists out there who have produced many great songs that I would like but they are not all on one CD and buying all the CD's would cost a small fortune.

When I first learned of Trance and Techno music there wasn't a lot of it around to buy. Not having a lot of extra cash I could not (and can not) spend a lot of money on CD's of the genera in order to find some good music. Downloading was and is a way for me to get the Trance and Techno music I like so well as well as a lot of the old Rock'n'Roll I grew up on. The trouble with this method is that the quality of some of the music from peer to peer downloading is not the best to say the least.

My idea is to have a stockpile of CD quality music available on a system that customers could access. This could either be through an interface at a walk-in store or through the Internet or both. A customer could browse the selections and if so desired listen to either the entire song or a sample. The customer would select only the songs desired which would then be burned onto a CD through an automated process.

The customer could even design the CD label or choose from a selection of labels that would be directly applied to the CD. A CD case insert could also be made. All the necessary data about the songs such as title and artist would be applied to the label as well as copyright info. If necessary the information could be carried over/duplicated on the inside of the CD case label.

The cost of the CD would be determined by the adding the cost of each song, which would probably vary from artist to artist or from record company to record company plus the cost of the label and case. The total cost should be less than the cost of a standard CD in order to make the process more attractive. Older songs could cost less and newer songs could cost more.

The format would be standard .cda format for a total of an 80-minute CD. CD's could also be made in mp3 format but the length would have to be limited (perhaps to 2 hours give or take a few minutes) in order to keep the cost of the CD to a reasonable level.

I really believe that such a service would work and be viable. But setting up such a service would take some major cash as well as connections to the music industry. If I had both I would not just be talking about it I would be doing it.

:music:
OneLoneMan16 Nov 2003, 05:59
tc lover wrote:This is sad...they think they can scare people into buying music. An industry cannot rule with an iron fist...no talent, no money. simple. the forum artists may deserve money, but not them. frankly, they suck.

I think you are correct t[]c lover. I think that the music industry should back off and sit on their piles of cash and let us continue to download music peer to peer. I have found that much peer to peer music has been altered volume wise and is a little less quality that what I have been able to download from artist's sites such as mp3.com and others who offer free downloads. The music from these sites is top quality. So file-sharing music doesn't always give the best quality sound to the downloader. Also the tags are often messed up or incorrect. Because of this I'm not willing to pay for peer to peer downloads. I might be willing to do so if the music quality can be guaranteed.

PS. I had to alter you handle in order for the quote to properly display your handle.
Alle16 Nov 2003, 20:32
OneOldMan: The service you speak of already exist in some portions of your suggestion... The thing that can't be customized right now is the actual CD Cover - but I'm sure that'll happend as well.

iTunes offer this as well as other e-tailers.

My current thoughts are to send our CD's to CD Baby so that they further distribute our songs to various e-tailers. But we'll also set up an option with free downloads.

Not yet sure how to get all this work done but I'll get there :)

OLM, I'm very glad for the input!

Best,

Alex
OneLoneMan16 Nov 2003, 23:43
Late with a good idea once again! :(
t[]c lover17 Nov 2003, 23:41
Hehe you were always cool, OLM... B) :music: