cebteq wrote:i think the artist is fighting a losing battle. the only way we gonna know what the artists wants is if he or she subscribes to a forum or something.
Come on ceb.... If we know that an artist is selling their product, it's reasonable to assume that they don't want people ripping and sharing it out on an internet bulletin board. Besides, if you REALLY liked something on a netlabel, what's stopping anyone from sending them a few EUR to show support?
I don't mean to make this a personal slag against bias or anyone else but really... just think about it: Many of us sit and bitch that most commercial artists are crap. The other 10% - and that includes a lot of artists who hang out here - have to work a day job or struggle to get by.
Logically speaking, if this sort of thing keeps up, artists and labels can't afford to make it past a certain point. Right or wrong, Mariah Carey can survive if 100,000 people steal her shit. Traxx can't. Smakos can't. Rude can't. So it's really not OK to come in here and pass this kind of thing off as being cool.
Furthermore, stealing somebody's beats and hiding behind a half-baked "cyberpunk" remark is just outright WEAK. I've known Mike Banks of UR for 15 years and Melvin (Traxx) for several years as well. Take the internet away and try and imagine telling Mike to his face that it's OK to steal his music. Tell Derrick May that he's sold enough records and he can afford it if a few people share his tunes. Pffft!
Talking junk behind people's backs is for lesser men. Wither they deserve it or not, ripping people up over the internet isn't the same as saying it when they are in the same room. The same idea extends to ripping artists off on the internet.
Traxx is not an easy guy to deal with. Regardless of all that, the man is full time making music - taking food off his plate by passing his new CD around is BULLSHIT.
I won't lie to ya - I used to be a pimple-faced kid in my Mom's basement... but this isn't 20 years ago. The issue of "stealing" music has been around for long enough. We ALL know what's at stake for smaller artists and labels and collectively, we've got to make a decision that this sort of thinking is busted -- regardless of wither or not an artist has an issue with public perception, makes "good" or "bad" music or whatever.
Again, noting personal, bias but no apologies for having an emotional reaction to this - it's MUSIC, after all. If there's no emotional connection to music, it