Sinister: if everyone is...

[Andrew Williams (UKHQ - Merch)]

Okay, so Isabel sez:

> I look forward to the end to Napster...then I don't have to 
> listen to those 
> fruity tooty girls on the bus talking about how they just 
> heard the most 
> unbelievable version of Radiohead or Badly Drawn Boy's-  this 
> or that. I mean 
> once people have to pay for it again they are only really 
> prone to seek out 
> the good stuff, and not even the good stuff...but what they 
> won't consider a 
> waste of time and money. and then we can get back to knowing 
> who genuinely 
> likes great music and who is just willing to download it 
> because it's free. 
> Just because someone downloads a few cut tracks of an album 
> doesn't make them 
> a fan of the band.

Isn't this kind of a snobbish attitude to have? It all smacks a bit of "I
was a mod before you was a mod" to me... Surely there's a pretty obvious
distinction between people who use Napster to download whole albums which
are available in the shops (which is essentially stealing) and people who
download tracks which are not, and indeed may never be available - long
deleted B-sides, live tracks, radio sessions, etc, etc.

> Where are the good ole days that you had to wait til you got 
> home to find out 
> if your new CD sucked. Napster has ruined the evolutionary 
> process of the 
> music cycle.

I'm not sure anyone in their right mind would sit trawling through
everything on Napster rather than buying stuff, particularly when nearly
every record shop in the land will give you your money back if you don't
like a CD. It's like the argument against people swapping tapes, ie, pretty
flimsy. Besides, you've been able to listen to CDs in most record shops
before you buy them for years, so what's the difference? 

 And while you all think 
> you are getting 
> this great sneaky, clean free music, someone is paying the 
> price...and its 
> almost like cutting off your nose to spite your face. 

People have been saying that "X" will destroy the music industry for time
immemorial, and guess what, it ain't happening. I'm not saying we should be
complacent, or take for granted the beautiful music that's being made at the
moment, but Napster isn't hurting anybody other than bands who rip off their
fans by charging too much for their products or releasing shoddy material
which isn't worth paying for. 

But hey, that's just my opinion...

Andrew.
 
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