We all are guilty of "stealing" music. How many of you that say that you have NEVER done it have ever taped your favorite songs off of the radio to play later? How many times has your friend ever had a tape/CD that you liked and asked them to make you a copy? How many of you have borrowed a friend's CD to listen to at home? In ALL of those cases, you have possessed music that YOU have not paid for. Therefore, that makes you one of "us."
I have heard the stories about all the royalties, paybacks/loans/etc. because I have actively pursued a career in the music business. I know that a lot of things have changed since the invention of these music-sharing programs. The problem is that all of the people that are representing for the anti-downloading campaigns on MTV, etc. are multi-platinum status, Grammy winning, Bling-Bling wearing, MTV Cribs living, custom-made Bentley driving, Fendi/Gucci/Prada dressing, worldwide touring folk!!! Do you really want me to believe that you are starving?! You just sound money hungry to me. What I want to see is these
poor writers, producers, and artists that every talks about. Where are they? Why don't they get on TV and speak out?
To be perfectly honest, 90% of the songs that I have ever downloaded are songs that come from CDs that I have purchased or already own. Take for instance Nas (Miss Mocha must be drunk off that Henny because everyone knows that he is
MY future husband
) The songs that I have from him have been released on "The Lost Tapes," which I OWN. 50 Cent released his songs FOR bootlegging. When Nas's "I Am" made it to the streets before it was to be released, he messed over ALL the bootleggers, reworked the playlist for the CD, and made the demand for the REAL deal greater. Amerie had her entire CD on her website back in the day and that didn't stop people from buying the real CD. I can go on all day.
Instead of them attacking the people at the bottom of the chain, they need to figure of how in the hell the music gets to us in the first place. Some folks at the record companies are messing up. How is it that I can hear a song from a yet to be released CD when no singles are even played on the radio yet? Who are the people leaking the CDs? Once they figure that out, they need to check the issue at the top.