argument because my "side" of the argument was just an analysis of
history and it's application to the future, and her "side" of the
argument was that I shouldn't "think" these things.
Let me make myself very clear from the very beginning:
I am not perfectly fine with accepting it as "ok", I am simply
speaking about it.
Anyway here's the point:
Just as selling horse shoes is obsolete, as will be selling music.
Right now, let's say you're a fan of R&B. You make about $12/hr,
working at RadioShack or whatever. You work ur ass off, standing all
day, lifting boxes when the truck comes (lol), dealing with retarded
customers. For a measly $12/hr. Then R Kelly comes out with a new CD
and the single is on the radio, the album is FIRE (lol). They're
charging you $13.85 for a piece of round plastic sitting in a plastic
box, wrapped in plastic. iTunes is charging you $11 for some music
floating in a computer. Then you realize that CD's get scratched, get
lost, or break, and iTunes sells music at 256Kbps mp3's. Then you go
online and see that you can get the same music thru a torrent, in 4
minutes, the entire album, at 320Kbps, plus the bonus tracks (that
album costs $15)... For free.
What are you going to do?
Are you going to be a law abiding citizen, wait til next week after
you pay your bill for your T-Mobile sidekick, and u get ur next pay
check, and give it to Sony BMG. OR will you get the music. Now. For
free. At an awesome quality. With absolutely no way of getting caught
or fined or whatever.
I remember when facebook was not "accessible" by old ppl. Now I see
even my mom on it. I believe the same can happen with torrents. Right
now it's still a nerdy world. The top most downloaded torrents are
usually action movies or anime. Clearly a bunch of nerds fueling the
free-media community. But just like facebook, it will become easier
and more accessible. When Luis Miguel comes out with his "farewell" or
"greatest hits" album, by then, my mom will probably be torrent-savvy,
and will get the album no-strings-attached, for free, at a high
quality, and in less than 4 minutes.
Artists will record album after album, and record companies will be
unable to make money off of this, because ppl will realize that
there's no reason in paying, when it's free and easy to get. There
will probably come a time when a software developer will make a
program that looks and acts exactly like itunes, except is just a
graphical representation of free torrents. They say that filling an
ipod costs $30,000 or more if u have a bigger ipod. You will save THAT
much money if you just click on "download" rather than "buy". People
will learn this VERY quickly.
See, the beauty of downloading thru torrents is that there is no
single source. There is no "mother load" of music. You get bits and
pieces of files from different users, and u feed the world bits and
pieces of your music too. What this means is that you're basically
walking into a supermarket, and stealing one grape, then visiting a
hundred other super markets and stealing one grape from each place. By
the time you're done, you'll have many many grapes. I'm sure it IS
illegal. But which supermarket cares enough to press charges?
The record companies will be like the horse shoe companies of today.
Who wants a horse, that you have to feed and maintain and has a speed
limit and stinks and sleeps and poops and dies... when u can have a
car that just needs gas and your foot on a pedal? The horse shoe
companies went out of business. Nobody cried. Nobody cared. The guys
working at that factory just left and found jobs at Ford. The iron
companies didn't care. Ford was still buying iron to make steel. It's
all good.
The same will happen in the future. Instead of Best Buy having shelves
full of pointless discs that nobody wants, they'll have shelves full
of concert tickets or something else that they'll think of. Maybe
merchandise will get as popular as it used to be, and artists will be
forced to make part of their earnings off T-shirts. Producers will
stop asking for royalty checks, since records arent selling, and
instead will ask for a big chunk of money up front.
Honestly, I don't care how it happens. I just think that it will.
That's all I'm saying. It's sad, but it's not like it's happening cuz
i'm sayin it.
