Stealing

I was talking with a friend about this the other day. We concluded that in general, stealing was wrong, yet for some reason, downloading music seems to be in its own category. What is the distinction between downloading music and actually physically picking up an object from a store and nabbing it?

Most people reply with the argument that music has just become too expensive these days. CDs cost next to nothing to reproduce once they are made (this is true), so that the record companies and stores put such a high price on CDs justifies the stealing. I sort of see this argument, but then why don't people generally condone stealing CDs from record stores as well?

I think it has something to do with stealing physical objects versus stealing intangible objects that still have value. I'm really curious to see how people view downloading music and where they draw the distinction between stealing music and stealing other things.

(By the way, I was inspired also in part by reading a thread on these forums where most members were adamantly against stealing weed from a parent, so in advance I know most of you are against stealing in general, as I am too.)

i mean, i never have enough money or time to buy cds so usually i download music. and about the stealing weed think, if my dad had several pounds of weed just lying around i would defenitly take some.

If you download music the computer you "steal" it from is still able to listen the music himself too, if I was to steal somebody's banana only I would have the banana and not him (or her)

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Originally Posted by Hollandica

If you download music the computer you "steal" it from is still able to listen the music himself too, if I was to steal somebody's banana only I would have the banana and not him (or her)

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True, but that was not what I was referring to exactly. You are stealing from those who produced the album, from the artist, etc. They are losing profits because of your actions so it is legitimately stealing. So there IS a loss.

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Originally Posted by make it legal

i mean, i never have enough money or time to buy cds so usually i download music. and about the stealing weed think, if my dad had several pounds of weed just lying around i would defenitly take some.

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That's another related point I wanted to get to in my original post. It seems almost justifiable to take a small part of a whole rather than to take the whole thing. What is it about human nature that condones stealing a little but not stealing a lot? Is it because we know it is intrinsically wrong, so a little bit of wrong can't do too much damage?

The same pretty much applies for stealing music. There are millions (or billions) of copies of any given song available to the public, so stealing one at any point in time seems pretty harmless to the profits of the artist/record company. They will barely even notice. That's true, but when millions of people have the same attitude, it is quite noticeable. Is a small wrong acceptable?

I download stuff but if I like it a lot I wil buy the CD. This is mostly beacause I often like really small bands who need the money and I feell bad about not paying for it.

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Originally Posted by tokinggreg

True, but that was not what I was referring to exactly. You are stealing from those who produced the album, from the artist, etc. They are losing profits because of your actions so it is legitimately stealing. So there IS a loss.

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right but if you make music, it shouldnt be for the money. they still sell enough albums to be comfortable. i am a guitarist and if somehow one day i was to make it big, i wouldnt need millions and millions of dollars, because i play guitar not for money, but to make music. now, of course if would be great if i could make a living just only by playing guitar, but as i said before, i would not need to be extremely rich

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Originally Posted by tokinggreg

True, but that was not what I was referring to exactly. You are stealing from those who produced the album, from the artist, etc. They are losing profits because of your actions so it is legitimately stealing. So there IS a loss.

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if your steal a cd, your NOT stealing from the artist. The store you stole it from has already paid for those cd's so the band has already got its cut(typically $1-$3 a record, depending on the band). Downloading, on the other had, there is no medium to initially pay for the material, so in that case the artist is losing money.

I think the music industry has been corrupt, bullshit, theiving bastards who are now reaping what they have sown. Sucks for the artists, but for the past 10 years at least the industry and artists have all known that ppl illegally download off the net. They can protest it, they can stop making music, or they can use the internet as a tool to get a larger message out. If you look into history (20- 60 years ago even), musicians, actors, and artists have notoriously been poor as hell unless they find a rich benefactor who directly supported them. They played/drew/painted for free, for donations, for food, or for the sheer joy of doing what they love. It takes more than talent to be an artist, it takes some balls and a really healthy dose of motivation.
Doing something you get paid a lot of money for that you just kind of happen to be good at (or at least your sound techs are really good) and you look really pretty and you got a firm solid marketing team behind you.......that's lame and those "artists" put out shitty music press molded for the masses because they don't really like or understand what they do, they don't really like you, they don't empathize for you or the human condition, they want to get paid and live large. (missy elliot)

I proudly steal music. If it is consistantly worth a damn I will buy the cd. If it is one good song sandwiched between 12 shitty ones, well they need to learn how to play better so ppl buy the whole cd instead of downloading the single and forgetting the band name 6 months later.

I dont have strong values but when it comes to stealing I suprise myself. No matter how small the value I couldnt ever steal from anyone its also a very direct action you take - they are less happy. However big corporate stores are a free buffet to me since it doesnt really hurt anyone. Can you imagine the CEO crying at a meeting because he discovered I took some Schnapps from his store? (Mom and Pop places are very different though)