Not exactly a new story but I found myself reading this earlier – a CBS News article from last year – which claims that a saddening 95% of all digital downloads are illegal:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/21/tech/main6125189.shtml
…and I began to ponder ‘why is that the case?’. It’s not the cost: in the 80s, premium chart albums on LP cost £6+ or £10+ for the same thing on CD. Nowadays, the average album download is way less than the inflated equivalent of that.
So why are so many people not prepared to pay for the original thing? Or to put it another way, why are they happy just to own an illegal copy? It got me thinking that the main reason is entirely related to the death of the ‘physical entity’: an unavoidable bi-product of the download format and mindset.
Now there’s probably a better phrase for that, so just to explain myself…
Back in the old days, in my misguided youth, I just *might* have been guilty (just once or twice, Officer, honest) of borrowing an LP/CD from my local library and sneakily copying it to tape before taking it back. Thing is, it then always bugged me that I didn’t possess the original LP/CD: the tippexed, hand-scrawled inlay in the case screamed ‘FAKE’ at me from inside my Boots lockable cassette box. My hifi was not bad for something compiled from a student’s budget and so the SQ on the cassette was a decent facsimile of the record/CD, thanks to Dolby C and chrome tape. But it wasn’t original. It wasn’t the same. No original sleeve. No original artwork. No original LP/CD. And so, and almost without exception (on those one or two times, Officer) I duly ended up going out and buying the LP/CD, because having a ‘close facsimile’ was just not good enough.
Fast forward to the 21st century where downloads are now the predominant format, and it’s almost understandable why the equivalent of what I did – modern P2P piracy – is so rife. It’s not just that it’s easy because of broadband internet, nor because people are deliberately ‘ripping off the fat cat music industry’: I think it’s mainly because a legal download and a pirated torrent gets you the exact same thing: a collection of 1s and 0s on your hard-drive, and if you're lucky, some naff low-res pixelated jpg cover-art. There’s no blinding difference to nag your conscience and whisper ‘FAKE!’ down your ear when you stare at your torrented album on screen, and nothing missing to bug you because you’ve not got the ‘real thing’.
Here’s another example. Again, back in the day, Kev might borrow a CD from a Brian: a close mate with whom Kev shared a passion for a certain band or artist. Kev would borrow Brian’s CD, sneakily copy it to tape, then give him his CD back. Ok, Kev now had a copy on tape (very naughty) but in the back of Kev’s mind, he knew that of the two of them, the only person who’d really ‘got’ the album was Brian. If someone asked Kev, “Have you got the new album from Buns ‘n’ Posies…great album isn’t it!”, Kev would reply kind of sheepishly, “well yeah I’ve got a copy of it on tape from Brian”, like he was admitting he’d got a small willy. Kev knew his copy wasn’t the real deal. These days, Brian’s gone and spent £9.99 on an iTunes download and Kev’s torrented the exact same thing from Piratebay for free, and instead of Kev thinking “But I’ve not got the album for real”, his thinking’s more like “more fool Brian…”
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning illegal downloading, nor am I excusing those who do it. But I don’t see any way round this.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/21/tech/main6125189.shtml
…and I began to ponder ‘why is that the case?’. It’s not the cost: in the 80s, premium chart albums on LP cost £6+ or £10+ for the same thing on CD. Nowadays, the average album download is way less than the inflated equivalent of that.
So why are so many people not prepared to pay for the original thing? Or to put it another way, why are they happy just to own an illegal copy? It got me thinking that the main reason is entirely related to the death of the ‘physical entity’: an unavoidable bi-product of the download format and mindset.
Now there’s probably a better phrase for that, so just to explain myself…
Back in the old days, in my misguided youth, I just *might* have been guilty (just once or twice, Officer, honest) of borrowing an LP/CD from my local library and sneakily copying it to tape before taking it back. Thing is, it then always bugged me that I didn’t possess the original LP/CD: the tippexed, hand-scrawled inlay in the case screamed ‘FAKE’ at me from inside my Boots lockable cassette box. My hifi was not bad for something compiled from a student’s budget and so the SQ on the cassette was a decent facsimile of the record/CD, thanks to Dolby C and chrome tape. But it wasn’t original. It wasn’t the same. No original sleeve. No original artwork. No original LP/CD. And so, and almost without exception (on those one or two times, Officer) I duly ended up going out and buying the LP/CD, because having a ‘close facsimile’ was just not good enough.
Fast forward to the 21st century where downloads are now the predominant format, and it’s almost understandable why the equivalent of what I did – modern P2P piracy – is so rife. It’s not just that it’s easy because of broadband internet, nor because people are deliberately ‘ripping off the fat cat music industry’: I think it’s mainly because a legal download and a pirated torrent gets you the exact same thing: a collection of 1s and 0s on your hard-drive, and if you're lucky, some naff low-res pixelated jpg cover-art. There’s no blinding difference to nag your conscience and whisper ‘FAKE!’ down your ear when you stare at your torrented album on screen, and nothing missing to bug you because you’ve not got the ‘real thing’.
Here’s another example. Again, back in the day, Kev might borrow a CD from a Brian: a close mate with whom Kev shared a passion for a certain band or artist. Kev would borrow Brian’s CD, sneakily copy it to tape, then give him his CD back. Ok, Kev now had a copy on tape (very naughty) but in the back of Kev’s mind, he knew that of the two of them, the only person who’d really ‘got’ the album was Brian. If someone asked Kev, “Have you got the new album from Buns ‘n’ Posies…great album isn’t it!”, Kev would reply kind of sheepishly, “well yeah I’ve got a copy of it on tape from Brian”, like he was admitting he’d got a small willy. Kev knew his copy wasn’t the real deal. These days, Brian’s gone and spent £9.99 on an iTunes download and Kev’s torrented the exact same thing from Piratebay for free, and instead of Kev thinking “But I’ve not got the album for real”, his thinking’s more like “more fool Brian…”
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning illegal downloading, nor am I excusing those who do it. But I don’t see any way round this.
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