First off: Kazaa users aren’t a fraction of the pirates the Record companies are.
Think about it. What is the definition of piracy? If you ask WikiPedia.org, it’s “The use of copyrighted material without the express consent or, usually, written permission from the copyright holder.” But if you ask Courtney Love, it’s “When you steal another person’s work with no intentions of paying for it.”
If we go by Courtney Love’s standard, isn’t that what the record companies mostly DO? They get filthy stinkin’ rich, and pays maybe 0.1% of the revenues to their artists. Now, don’t get me wrong. I feel that if you like an artist, you should support them. You should buy their products if you can. But there isn’t really much to support. From those $20 you pay for that CD, the artist maybe get 2 cents. The rest is put in the record-companies pockets.
I can personally say that without mp3s, without Kazaa, I’d never have discovered the bands I’m listening to today. Artists and bands such as Nightwish, Shaman and Chris Hüelsbeck never get exposed in record companies. Radio stations doesn’t play them; It’s a risky affair at best. If you want something underground instead of all the mainstream crap that’s in the ether today, your only choice is to go to the internet and the various online radio stations out there.
I’d say part of this entire mess is because only a few artists playing about the same music gets aired today, both on radio stations and television channels such as MTV. Not everyone wants that music, thus the record companies have created a void that only a media-rich distribution channel such as the Internet can fill. And filled it, it has.
So who gains? (Underground) Artists gains on it; They reach out to more people by having their music circulating on Kazaa. The end user gains on it, having more music to listen to, thus developing a particular taste and doesn’t waste as much money on CDs they do not wish to have.
Does the record companies lose then? Well; Not really. The only thing they lose are potential profits. There was a recent study that suggested that the record industry would employ 8000 more people if piracy were cut with 75% - But that’s assuming that all the pirated copies were actually sold instead. That’s not going to happen.
Also, look at programs such as Photoshop and 3D Studio Max; I don’t think any person at home legally has these programs. I don’t know about you, but $2000 is just too much to pay for any single program, no matter how good that program is. I could’ve gotten a new computer for those money.
Yet, it’s actually in those companies favor that they get pirated by private persons; Just think about it. All of a sudden your work has to buy Photoshop. Because that’s what you’re used to, and it’d be cheaper than re-educating you to use something else.
Having mp3 copies of the music circulating the web creates free advertising more than anything else. 'Nuff said.
