----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Kamm" <kammagic@comcast.net>
Stealing: is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's freely-given consent.
You are right. Stealing is taking another person's property. Unfortunately, music does not long in that definition of property (forget Wikipedia for once, and check the law). Music is intangible, so it isnt a property in the traditional sense. In stead, what you have towards music are rights. Like, "you have the right to an attorney" and "you have the right to copy this music and sell it". This is fundamentally different from theft and property law. You can steal a CD. You cannot steal music. You can only infringe on rights when it comes to music.
These songs are now available to millions of people for free. Millions of sales that YELLO will never see. Sure YELLO fans will buy the CDs. But there are millions of general music fans who would of otherwise had to buy the album to hear it. Now they can have the tracks for free. Never paying YELLO anything.
Sorry, but independent research (as in "not paid by the music biz") shows that there is no correlation between leaked albums and loss of sales. On the contrary, the increased buying that many downloaders (aka pirates) do as a result of illegal downloads make up for the loss of sales.
simply going by the standard definition of stealing. You take my property without my permission you are stealing. You don't seem to think the standard definition by which we all go by is correct. I find that absurd.
But Jon, no court, lawyer or judge go by that definition. You're wrong. You dont have your facts straight. You dont know the law. There is no such thing as "standard definition of stealing" and copyright infringment never was covered by property theft laws.
My argument is based on facts. The definition of the word backs me up. The only thing backing you up is your opinion. Until you can bring some facts to the table I see no point in continuing.
I never saw a fact in your arguments, Jon. I didnt ever see correct references to law. You claim that illegal downloads are theft. That's legally wrong. That's your OPINION and misunderstanding. Illegal downloads never were or will be theft, it's infringement of rights. I am not saying your emotions are wrong, about it not being a good thing to leak music, but your arguments are. The reduced sales of CDs as of late is not mainly due to illegal downloads, but the fact that there are so many other things and services to spend your money and time on, compared to before. Things that didnt exist 10 or 20 years ago. Digital TV, internet subscriptions, DVDs, ringtones, user-generated personal content (such as Youtube), mobile applications, sms and mms, online games, Xbox, social media, chat rooms.... the music business are idiots if they dont understand that all these things reduce the interest in CDs (which also are not able to meet the delivery methods and convenience that today's customers demand). Greetings from Glenn Folkvord Chief editor http://www.PlanetOrigo.com New sci-fi movie reviews every two days! Always free shipping, bonuses and exclusives!