just curious what peoples opinions are on downloading or buying music...which do you do?

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If a band has an original product they their album will sell...

not a hard concept

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both, i got no problem with dl songs to check bands out. hell most record labels and official band websites will have 1 or 2 you can download. i just dont download whole albums. every once in a while i might have afreind burn me a cd. but if i really dig it i usually go out and buy it

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most of the cd's i have are borrowed from friends, or ordered mp3 cd's from russia which contain a bands whole collection of albums. if i cant find it, i'll try downloading it, if i cant do that, i'll but it. I'll definetely buy an album if its from one of my favourite bands, like Vader.

I'll check them out by downloading some songs. Like 5-6 songs. If I like them, then I'll try to buy one of their CDs given I have money.

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I do the same as CANNIBALCORPSE. Unless I cant find any of their cd's i just keep downloading them when my connection is kicking ass, which is a rarity. I don't really care, as long as I get to hear them.

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I dont have a problem with downloading music to check out bands or just to have a couple of a bands songs, but i do have a problem with people who download whole albums and are too cheap to go out and support the band.

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i download whole albums sometimes, however i also buy, the downloads i get are either bands that cost too much to import or are too difficult to even find in US. i'll also download if i'm unsure about an album or the band name or tracks sound cool. if i really like it i'll end up going and getting or ordering the original cd.

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Like CX machine, I sometimes download whole albums, and If there's a chance of me buying it down here I generally get it. Whisper Supremacy is an example. Every now and then I order Cd's of the net, but its a bit of a hassle. Its very hard to find a lot of the shit i listen to where I live.

But yes, when people download constantly and never buy the albums, it pisses me off.

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Downloading, then buying...thats the way.

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i download songs all the time.

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Right now, my CD collection is 75% burned and 25% original.
I burn to try a band or if I don't feel the album is worth spending $$$ on it.
I'm not a cheapskate, but I don't have lots of money and I want value for what I pay.

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I've got over 400 albums stored on my computer. That given, I've also got a CD collection edging towards the 1000 mark. Mostly the stuff I download are rare demos, promos, bootlegs, etc. I sometimes download pre-releases and all that crap too.

I do believe that there is already a thread very similar to this.

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I dont have a fast enough connection to download songs , but if i did i'd probly download albums instead of buying them unless there bands i love

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My general opinion is that people who just download a band's entire catalogue with no thought of the work and effort put into the product and with no thought of going out and buying the actual product are douchewads.

i download to take a quick listen to the band, and if i like it, i buy the album.

i only buy albums i really enjoy.

all others i download and burn.

i support bands by going to see them live.

I dl alot of things to see if I like it. If I really like it I buy it. If I think it's good but not that special, I just dl it. I don't have much cash lying around and I'm trying to save up for a new guitar.

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I download lots of mp3s and movies from record labels and bands' websites. Then if I like a band I'll go out and buy a CD. In the rare case that I get to download an entire album, I'll listen to it a lot and then if I don't get tired of it, to be honest I go out and buy other albums from that band. The one I downloaded would probably be the last one I'd go out and buy. Of course if I get sick of an album I don't go out and buy another from the same band, but who cares because I've stopped listening to it anyway.

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Im a huge supporter of the free data movement. I even have a swearshirt that says "I steal music off the internet" I dont buy music at all. I havnt bought a CD in over a year...Due mainly to the fact most bands i listen to have to be imported for way too much cash.

On the flipside, I go to alot of shows...and they directly profit off shows, shirts and merchandise alot more then they do cds.

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I generally will download songs only if I am considering buying the album it is on ( to see if i really want the album) or if the song is rare.

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I buy if it's really good CD, but since I got broadband I tend to download albums. I have a negative amount of money at the moment, so buying stuff is not going to happen.

I download a track or a clip to hear what it's like but then go out and get the album.

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Ah right. You're one of the kids that cry when their HD fails, irreversibly wiping your "CD" collection from the face of the earth. Fucking buy CDs, man, they aren't that expensive.

Yeah but dude, why pay when you dont have to, its like giving a homeless guy 10 pound when you dont have to

But if you really really like the CD, i'd go out and buy it.

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You should buy CDs. I have a very limited cash flow, so I download a lot of shit just so I can have it, but when I get the money I always try and buy the CDs themselves. I mean, think about it this way:

Most of the metal bands we love are made up of individuals who have to work a second job in a kitchen or wherever just so they can survive and make music. This is true a lot of the way down the line; Nevermore were still working as chefs before their new contract, and John Bush from Anthrax was still working a day job a few years ago. Why should we take even the pennies from them? I'd love to find a way to get music without paying, but why fuck over your heroes?

Plus, everybody should know how much cool shit's in the packaging that isn't available for download. I can remember pouring over Thanks lists and whatnot to see which bands knew and liked each other and getting a feel for the personality of the musicians, and I still do. CDs are worth the purchase. I wish I had the cash to just buy them.

Also, I gave 20 pounds to a bum in Edinburgh. Bums need liquor too.

well actually here they are pretty darn expensive They noramally cost new about $35 and after a year or so about $25

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Man, that is expensive. I get my cds for like $10 where I live.

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What I like to do is send 5$ to a band if I've downloaded an entire album or more from them. I think they would rather have that than a very meager percentage of a record sold, which often runs at around 70-80 cents a record. At least, I know I would.

I agree with every single word of this. Download, and if you like it, get the real copy too. I love having the real thing, even if only 70-80 cents goes to the band , every little bit helps.

I better repeat this part, WHY FUCK OVER YOUR HEROES???

And Manowar, CD's are usually $25-35 (AUS dollars, do you mean Euro?) here too. That's not that expensive, it gives me a good feeling knowing i'm supporting the scene.

Oh yeah, I'm a chef, when do I get a contract?

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Don't get me wrong, I love having the real thing. When I graduate and get a decent job I will buy CDs, but until then I have just enough to pay the bills...

I was talking american dollars, how much american dollars are one australian?

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Well then if its American $$$ that's pretty expensive. And you're only about 13 manowar so I'd let you off the hook a bit for not buying CD's.

1 Australian dollar gets you around 70-75 American cents.

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most of the music on my laptop has been downloaded, theres a few albums here and there that i've just needed to buy (Gruesome Stuff Relish - Teenage Giallo Grind for example), but im still in school, so untill i get a job there isnt much i can buy with $30 a month, considering that i always end up borrowing money...which really sucks when your 20 cents short on a bus ticket.

I have nothing wrong with people downloading music. It is a great way to find bands. If a band is worth listening to then I'll buy their CD(s). I've actually bought more CDs in recent years due to download then I have in the past.

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I'm all for free music, but I try to get CDs as much as I can because I don't have an MP3 player or an Ipod to store anything on them....and I have dial-up, so it'd take a while to get music... but once I move out, I'll get a new apple laptop, DSL, and an Ipod mini.

So all-in-all, free music is da bomb!

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The bands might not get much money out of a record sale, but the sale itself helps elevate the band. The more record sales, the more promotion they get and stuff like that. I don't download at all. I have someone send me a song if I want to check out a new band, or else I go by the opinions of people I respect when I want new music.

m not against downloading, but i dont really appreciate people who ONLY download. For one i think purchasing albums give the artists due credit. Then of coarse, if you dont like an album enough to buy it, only to listen to it occasionally, downloading is useful there. I think if you truly like a cd, it should be purchased. I think its worth it anyway: booklet, case, authentic disc.

a while back i asked Thornset, of Nazgul, to send me a cdr of their album "de expugnatione elfmuth" becuase i knew it was out of print and could not get the album through him. 5 weeks after recieving the cdr i saw the real thing on ebay and purchased it instantly.

i think there are 3 other instances in which i did this exact thing. and i informed the band, they were outspokenly greatful.

i rip songs, movies, programs and games. fuck buying shit.
unless i cant find some songs i buy the CD, same with movies

It's metal to go in a shop and buy the CDs.
That's my opinion.

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I'll agree with Sodomaniac on that note. I used to download music, but I have since been converting everything to real copies. Personally I am a perfectionist and I hate any little glitches, beeps, or poor quality in my music. I also enjoy having the impressive collection of CDs (325 and counting). Finally, once you go beyond the mainstream stuff it is hard to find crap on line.

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I like to listen before I buy it. I don't have money to throw around to buy a CD with only one song that I like on it.

i don't care, but i don't do it generally. i hear a couple of sample tracks from windows media player guide, then go buy the album. bands i've bought from it include nightwish, cradle of filth, finntroll, cattle decapitation.
i hear it, and usually end up liking a band i orginally hated (CoF.) i'm not saying it won't happen with dimmu borgir and six feet under, but who knows.

If everyone was like you the Metal scene wouldn't even exist.

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look at his name, tim. do you really think it matters that he downloads korn and slipknot?

You sir, are a fucking lowlife. Run a magnet over your hard drive.

Oh, and I don't like you.

I usually listen some samples or download mp3s before buying a CD, though if it is a new CD from a band from which I have already heard and liked I normally just go and buy it without getting any information from it.

Nowadays downloading mp3s is a great way to find new bands very quickly (as already mentioned), but the thing of just downloading mp3s and never buying a single CD is a quite complex thing.
Namely, some people who aren't really into music usually just wouldn't be bothered to 'waste' money into a CD if there is a possibility to get those songs free. But on the other hand, mostly these who are into music wants to put money into a CD, even by knowing that there is a possibility to get these stuff free. But the thing is that there are rather small amount of people nowadays who are well enough into music that it would lead them to buy CDs (mainstream/"it is trendy to buy stuff from this band" is a completely different thing, because it only helps band (for a while) who have reached a sertant level in popularism), and that is why this conversations are being discussed, generally record industry is no longer a big money, not all bands which are very good wont get much money, either because they are too underground, or because there happens too much of downloading the band's music without any benefit and the band's CDs wont sell.
There aren't really a possibility to encourage these people for buying CDs nowadays, the only thing that might start a some sort of conscience would be the knowledge that the bands, who make the all music are the ones who suffers mostly from this.

Pedestal? hahahahaha.

Of course I have stolen things. But that isn't the point, is it? The point is: he only buys stuff if he can't download it.

i dont give a shit what names you call me. you know you rip songs to so fuck off. and if you say you dont rip songs then ur a dumb fuck. free is always better then paying money in my book. plus im anti corporate if i had a band i dont give a shit to sell millions of copies and make bank and live in a mansion and shit like that.

You sound like one of those retro-rock fucks that lives all around me. Those cunt heads need to jump out of their fucking time warp and join everyone in the now. "I'm anti-corporate" whoopy-fucking-ding. Who gives a shit. I'm sure that means something to people over at your little retro-rock messageboard but I doubt it means anything here. Most of the quality metal bands out there aren't on big labels anyways so why go say that? Oh yeah...you probably listen to Korn, Deftones, and Slipknot making you a "badassmotherfuckingmetalhead." You went to ozzfest this last year you say? hmmmm most of the bands suck except for maybe some of the older acts on the main stage. Oh you like black sabbath? What songs do you like...oh Iron man. Ever heard any other fucking song besides that? Doubt it. Bum.bum.bumbumbum. fucking a. If you truly appreciate what the fuck a band is doing then go out there and support them. don't be some little shit stain in your mother's matress. Go buy the cd, go to the fucking concert, and go tell people about them you worthless piece of shit.

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Not a good thing to say to a Mod you fuckface, especially when you're a stupid newb. You obviously don't plan haging around here too much longer.

Of course we've all downloaded shit, but at least most of us make the effort to go and buy the Cd's at least sometimes. How the fuck are bands supposed to go on tours and release albums if they don't make any money dickhead??? You realise it actually costs them money to do such things don't you? You just sound like some stupid angsty nu-metal pre-teen. Fuck off, you're not wanted.

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I have downloaded, personally, one song - Wrought by Nile - from the internet and even so, this was only becasue I was asked if I could transcribe the solo. I've listened to songs that have been provided to me by people here (Nihilist, mainly) and have subsequently bought the records on which the songs appear.

Am I dumb for not downloading albums for free? Am I dumb for ripping off the bands who without record sales would not have gotten out of the rehearsal space that they originated in? Am I dumb for buying the official merchandise at gigs at greater personal expense?

No.

I, and like-minded people like me, are the reason that bands are even around so that you can enjoy your free music. Effectively you are stealing from each and every person who buys music and ploughs their hard earned cash back into an industry full of bands that are struggling just to put out records never mind tour. Many bands fail to even operate at a profit when they tour which is then confounded by selfish little pricks like you who brazenly steal from them and have the gaul to profess to be fans.

The metal community is tight-knit and you are either for the furtherment of it or against it. By stealing from bands you are an abhorrent hinderance to the scene that threatens it's very existence. You disgust me at every level imaginable; you disgust me even more than the fame-whores of popular rock music and you disgust me more than the trumped-up karoake contests that are passed off as modern musical entertainment.

You give me one good reason why the rest of us honest souls should subsidise you in your music aquisition and I will retract all of the above. I know you can't. People like you are strangling the life out of extreme music and the sooner you take your leach-like leanings and get out of the metal scene the better.

Cunt.

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I get shunned by my friends for downloading music. Its not the "true" metal thing to do. I could care less. Im not gonna download an entire album, Ill download a few songs, then if i like it, I'll buy a cd of theirs. Hell, it even comes to a point to where having a burned copy of a cd is "poser, nu-metal, hot topic type shit". I understand having the real copy is better and more legit, but having a burn copy isn't that bad.

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If the bands themselves make samples available at their website then I'm all for people downloading it as a sampler of what the band are like. Likewise, when a friend sends you a song or two. What I am against is people downloading their entire music catalogue without paying a single penny for it. The way I see it, there is no distinction between downloading every Suffocation album for free and nipping round to Frank Mullen's place to nick his TV and video.

Obvious comparisons can be made with the tape-trading scene of the 80s but the two concepts are slightly different. Tape-trading kept the burgeoning UK grind scene alive throughout it's formative years and was an act often embraced by the bands themselves. The limitations of tape-trading were that you had to physically know somebody with an album or song that you wanted to trade and it was these very limitations that kept everything in check. With the internet there are no such constrictions and music is thus much more readily available to people who want to 'trade' it.

Regarding the copying of CDs, I think the situation with copying them is that you can copy them for personal use providing you also have the original. However, you cannot give or sell them to anybody else.

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Illegal file sharing helps bands make money more than it does steal from them...I think it's unethical to download movies and make copies, but I think people should download music, but try not to download ENTIRE albums.

I used to download crap, but my younger brother has been a bitch about it, and my parents are paranoid about the FBI sueing us for alot of money, so I stopped a few days ago.

I download alot of shit... I ALWAYS download a CD before I buy it, if the product is original and I like it then I will purchase it, If not then the band wont be recieving my money until they release a product I enjoy.

I download Movies alot cause the Movie Industry is fucking retarded... they spend MILLIONS of dollars to make a 1 1/2 hr film.. and most of them blow.

I dont buy as many CD's as id like because I have to buy myself New Gear, Guitars, Strings... ect.. so I can make MY own music. But every shirt I own is a band shirt (thats like 15 or so shirts) and as far as Video Games go... yeh i download them all the time.. I could care less about the fucking Video Game industry.

Music is what I car about and thats where my money will be spent. I go see a shitload of Concerts too... which is were a band makes most of their $$$

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If my band had thousands of people downloading my music and i was making millions i would be delighted that people would be downloading my stuff un-like people like metallica.

Both.

Would you spend money on a new Metallica release? No? Me either. Would you listen to it anyway? Yes. Likewise.

Would you spend money buying obscure death metal from the other side of the planet that no-one else but the guy in the record store has heard of? Yes? And me, again.

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I usually check out a few tracks from a band....and if the cd is cool, I will buy it. If I can't find it, I'll order it. If I can't order it...I guess I'll download it...but that hasn't happened yet.

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i think i have a great method..

i download a few songs(1-3) and then decide to buy the album...i admit i have downloaded full albums before such asOtep - Sevas Tra, Cradle of FIlth - Nymphetamine) but these albums wernt so great and i dont listen to them anymore, however, i feel guilty downloading lots of music so i mainly download videos (i have 506) and usually after one video i decide whether i like the band (E.G today i bought an Arch Enemy cd).
So 50-50 and support metal!

The vast majority of bands don't make millions though do they? Album sales and the sale of concert tickets and official merchandise are absolutely of vital importance in order for these bands to survive. Even the guys in Cannibal Corpse say that, "We have enough to get by, but we're not rich or anything." "Enough to get by" and they're the biggest selling death metal band of the past 15 years. Imagine how much more of a struggle it is for lesser known extreme acts? They don't need this struggle compounded by people who choose to not pay for their albums.

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I didnt only meen making a million dollars. Even if i was making practically nothing then i would still be so happy that people were listening to my music but i would get a different job too...

You bring up an excellent point: payment in terms of artistic respect, if you will. I'm sure there are many bands who would swap any money they receive from album sales in favour of being considered the best at what they do. Having said that, it still doesn't give people the right to rip bands off and at the end of the day, more money means they can produce albums better and spend more time writing rather than working a day job..

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Also very true but you can raise money for that stuff in gigs and stuff and if your considered so great then you can go and do gigs and people will come. As far_beyond_sane said bands that are makin millions dont desearve our money but underground bands need some of our support.

Yes, they do need our support - by buying their albums!

When it comes down to it, the record industry is driven by one currency: album sales. More album sales means a better record deal and in turn this means a better produced album and more time made available in which to write and record it. If a band doesn't sell records it will be dumped from the label's roster faster than a snitch in the East River wearing a rather fetching pair of concrete shoes. Without record label support a band cannot tour - it is simply fiscally unfeasible to do so. This leaves the buying of albums as the best way to support the underground.

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Thats what I meant... like you said "This leaves the buying of albums as the best way to support the underground." I also do beleive in buying albums if it is one of my favorite bands so i can support them but they have to be worth it (that is if they are not underground). If i like it and it is underground then i will buy it no if ands or buts (unless i have a shortage of money).

This goes without saying and is the point at which the onus is shifted onto the musicians.

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ohh yea why does every one keep saying i listen to slipknot , the bands i listen to dont even come remotley close to that shit. anyway, people keep saying buy the CDS '' its the metal thing to do '' i disagree. you act as if metaheads are suppose to act a certain way. plus all you peaople stop bitching like little girls if some one rips music. you act as if im the first person you seen rip music. if my band made CDS i wouldnt be mad if people rip my songs because why get mad?? is getting mad gonna stop people from downloading ?? learn to make music from the soul and not for money

Shut up..

THX! ^_^

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Buying the CDs is not the metal thing to do: it's the legal, honest and most supportive thing to do. If everybody thought like you then metal music wouldn't even exist as it would not be able to support and maintain itself. Album sales are essential and for every album downloaded and not subsequently bought, a part of the extreme metal scene dies.

Taking $12 as the average internet price of a CD, it only takes 100'000 people to download just one album each for the extreme record industry to miss out on $1'200'000 of revenue. I'd consider this a gross underestimation of the deficit afforded to piracy. You might think that your personal actions are negligible in the grand scheme of things but, in conjuction with hundreds of thousands of others who wrongly feel the same, the effect snowballs into a major thorn in the side of extreme and underground music's progress.



This argument is pure conjecture. The fact of the matter is that you are not in a position where you have been a victim of piracy and you, presumably, also haven't got rent to pay and a family to provide for plus a heap of bills to pay.

Getting angry is pointless - but it's not out of the question to expect loyalty from the people who claim to be fans. I wouldn't want fans who would willingly and brazenly steal from me. If you're taking food out of my kid's mouth why should I welcome you as a fan?



This is idealised, soppy, perfect-ending-to-the-hollywood-blockbuster, pathetic bullshit and you know it. Musicians are entertainers and as such provide a service to us, the fans, so it is wholly reasonable of them to charge for this service. Artists no doubt paint from the soul yet they charge for their work so why is it that musicians should not command a living from the outpourings of their souls?

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The facts are this:

The music industry sucks. It's a decaying monster designed to make money by ripping off artists and getting them in debt. I don't like it at all and hope that it will someday be replaced with a better system, which the availability of free downloads might play a part in effecting. But, until that time, it's the game every band has to play. Most of the people in the bands I love work triple shifts on a broiler at Applebee's so they can make a living and also pay for the necessary band things such as practice space, studio time, tours, merchandise, alcohol, singles for strippers, etc. They write shit in their spare time, for the soul and not for money, and basically work their asses off to get the music out there so I have something to listen to. So I figure it's the least I can do to help reimburse them for all they've done for me rather than contribute to the lack of funds that forces them to eventually quit or sell out. If they can make some money 'making music from the soul' they won't have to do it for money. There's a difference between making enough money to survive and selling out. Try and keep that in mind. Plus, like Jarrod said, you CD collection won't be wiped out because you got a virus download porn.

And Jim didn't say rich bands don't deserve money. He said Metallica don't. Not because they have $X already, but because they put out an inferior product only worth listening to see the degraded state they've come to. How do you go from being possibly the best arrangers in metal to letting shit like two riffs over the course of a 25 minute song slide?

I'm glad somebody cought that. Cheese Co/Acoustic Mike seem to have a very convaluted way lf supporting bands.

You can't look at every band like they're Metallica and that one less CD purchase won't bring their financial lives to rubble. It's the complete antithesis of that, actually. For bands that we listen to, one less CD purchase can mean alot. It's hard to sit here after reading your posts to believe how naive you are, or how one can be. It's selfish, really, that you can't spend 12 fucking dollars for a band that you really enjoy. Thats the least you could do.

Acoustic Mike is generalizing us into some imaginary group of boneheaded metalheads that label things as "metal" and "non-metal" and anything related to the latter is subordinate and should be reviled. If you really believe that an artist should only write, paint, etc, for the soul and not charge money - then your pretty much saying that almost every artist to exist isn't truly an "artist". By your logic; Micheal Angelo, Chuck Schuldiner, Jimmi Hendrix, and Salvador Dahli are all not "true artists" because they convalute their soul with the asking for money in exchange for their art and the hours and hours of laborous work put into it.

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Oh, Maybe I wasnt clear. I meant if I like one song on an album from bands that make much money why should I buy the whole album especially if its metallica, i think i just wanna piss them off because off that whole anti-downloading thing. Its only for mainstream stuff. IF i like at least one song on a death metal/ black metal album then i will surely buy it.
I buy many Iron Maiden cds because i think that they desearve my money. I buy Megadeth Albums because i think they desearve it.I dont buy metallica albums because i dont think they desearve it. I buy more underground albums beause i want to support the underground metal scene.

I recently downloaded a Slayer album. I liked it so much i bought it because they desearved it!

Ill say this... most of you idiots pay for cable... and cell phones.. and other useless bs, but you REFUSE to pay for the music you love?

Fuck off, go watch some bullshit reality tv show... and PLEASE make sure you use your cell phone while your driving!

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If we found a way to get Cell Phones and Cable (without messing with the cable box) for free would we not?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I dunno. I'm a thief then!!

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I'd tell you that you're a useless douchebag who is nothing more than a waste of perfectly good flesh, blood, and organs, but you probably hear that far too often for it to mean anything to you.

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Plain and simple i will never buy CDS, but i do attend concerts and do i buy merchandise from my favorite bands. Clothes, posters , etccc. If i like the band , i also spread its name to people who havent heard of that band.
so i do support the band, just not with CDS. thats cool if you pay for CDS and its cool if you rip your songs too. But the people who pay for CDS shouldnt flame me because of my opion on this subject.

They dont just flame you for that, they also flame you because you have 22 posts.

I don't care how many posts he's got. He's encountering vociferous opposition because he is part of a growing trend that could see your favourite band disappear off the face of the Earth because they can't afford to do the thing they love anymore.



And why not? People like you are partly the reason why CD prices are not lower than what they are. People who actually buy CDs are subsidising people like you in your search for music so we retain the right to give you a right good e-twatting over it. Seeming that we provide your music for you, I'm sure you can take a few on the chin, old boy.

Imagine this situation: you buy an album and a friend of yours asks you to copy it for him. You buy another album and again your friend asks for a copy. After a year, you've bought 50 albums and each time your friend has asked you to make him a copy. You've spent $600 (going by an average internet CD price of $12) and he's spent nothing. Does your financial situation at the end of the year appeal to you when compared to your friend's? Would you be happy for this sequence of events to continue indefinitely? Tell me how you feel about this and then tell me it isn't the same feeling that I am feeling now.

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i just download videos and live stuff u cant get from cds (like the '85 Combat Tour with slayer or hultsfred '02)

A very interesting read:

http://www.nilechat.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5334

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hmm i hope karl posts in that again soon, im interested to know what he says about that "having his own record label thing"

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Yeah. It's unbelievable how much bands get shafted by record labels so what they don't need is their so-called fans compounding the affect.

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Haha, that's not the case in Russia my friend. Offical cd's go for around 2 pounds, and mp3 cd's with all albums of a particular band for around 3.

But yeah I know what you mean, I hate people leeching off of their "rich" friends just because they buy so many cd's.

I download things I never would have bought......I have no problem paying for my favorite artist and have even bought 2 copies of several favs over time.

To the tunes/bands we download.......they should thank us for further exposing their talent.

"every one"?
C,mon dude.....duhhhhh

And by the way....why DO you listen to em?

hahaha

i got about 2900 riped music files on my comp, soulseek rules.

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i buy albums....
A) the band gets a little bit of money. always a good thing.
B) if i buy it, the record company recognizes that the band is good. Band gets a new, better record deal, band gets tour support, band gets publicity.

its posts like these that make me want to make fun of you. but im not going to.

I download and buy. I've downloaded entire albums off of a kickass Russian web site. But not for free. The downside of this? The bands probably didn't get shit out of it, and if they did, I don't think they'd care much, because it costs about 40 cents per album. A buck for a box set. I will never forgive myself for doing shit like this, but it's tough to stop. On the upside, most of the shit I've downloaded is old as dirt, and some of the bands aren't even around any more. I have also saved 15 bucks by not buying CDs of a couple bands which I heard were cool, but ended up not liking. I downloaded the songs, and I ddin't like what I heard. I think I still have their songs on my computer, but I don't listen to them.
I do buy CDs, though. I've bought quite a few CDs. I usually try to buy at least one CD from every band that I download and end up liking. Plus some T shirts and concert tickets.
Still, if the site that I DL tunes from got shot down tomorrow, I wouldn't be sorry. I take it I'm not the only one doing this, since their prices are so low.
I think we need a way to download music legaly for a low price. What do you guys think about that idea?

Usually download to get an idea of the band, to see if they're in my taste or not. Then usually if they impress me enuf, then I'll go out and buy their CD's. I dl a lot of live videos and stuff that you can't really get anywhere.

Yep I think that's what most people do Silent Night.

i think thats a big factor about plummeting album sales for mainstream artist, people get to preview new albums and decide not to buy it

the whole fallout of indie labels, i believe, is that there are too many label and bands out there, in the future they'll be alot of labels folding, file sharing is a little hyped, and for underground acts its a great boost in exposure, since alot of more people understand that buying the album is essential and are more inclined to do it rather than your average mtv fan

i heard that wallmart is gonna expand into album sales, people think this could hasten the eventual bankruptcy of major labels here in america, which i welcome completely, it kinda stinks that record shops are gonna be phased out, but in my view the independent/underground shit will survive by virtue of loyalty buy the fans, but only time will tell

Uhh most but not all, a lot of people don't buy CD's. I have a friend whose so cheap that he goes down the line and just downloads every single song he can think of.

Yeah, and some people never buy CD's at all, they just wait for their friends to buy them and always make copies.

Nothing wrong with that, as long as you have/buy albums that your friends can copy off you.

I mean there's a warm fuzzy feeling I get by buying CD, kinda like the same feeling you get when you open a parcel or open a present at Christmas.

That is EXACTLY how I felt when I found Leviathan's Tenth Sublevel of Suicide.

the copying aspect never hurt tape sales, that was a big thing 25-30 years ago,all this hype about bootlegging, never became anything substantial, i have faith that people will enjoy the inlay of an album so they can read the lyrics,check out the art, will continue to collect vinyl, cds, tape but then again there is the ipod and other things like it, kinda changes everything, 200 songs in this little plastic thing,no cd skipping,no chewing on tape, browse thru songs,digital hi-fi, etc.

either way im excited the industry on all levels is changing. everyones forced to adapt and survive or go extinct, bands are becoming to be on a more level playing field in terms of mediation, and that is being reflected in the sales, alot of potential slipknot and korn album sales lost to relapse bands,as the consumer becomes more astute to the variety of metal,so on

I also feel that alot of the people less dedicated to music are fans of bigger name acts, whom don't buy much music anyway. The labels will ALWAYS loose when apealing to thse sorts of fans, where as metal has more of a strong following, so its not really unusual for bands to last 20 years, like Kreator, Megadeth or The Grave Digger.

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