What is music worth to you?
Written on May 12, 2008, by Jeff Nordstedt. Category: Opinions.
Back in the heyday of Napster, I took some songs. I exercised a strange kind of arbitrary morality. For instance, I once owned a tape that had Van Halen’s “Fair Warning” on one side and “Women and Children First” on the other (Damn that was a good tape!). Tape being tape, I wore it out. It would get eaten by my Walkman and I’d have to splice it back together with scotch tape. I broke the casing that held the tape and I transplanted it into the case of a blank tape. Eventually it couldn’t e salvaged. I felt that I owned those albums and had no qualms about downloading on Napster and reliving past lawn-mowing glories.
Other instances of arbitrary morality took the form of downloading songs by bands that someone dubiously recommended to me. I was curious enough to listen but not curious enough to shell out the inflated $17 price for the CD.
As soon as iTunes really took over, this latter piece of arbitrary morality faded. Turns out an album is worth about 10 bucks to me. I’ll happily take a $10 chance on an album. $17 is unreasonable and I’d rather pass on it or download it illegally.
So tell me, what is music worth to you?
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I think it all depends. I think it’s ok to download (and not pay) for certain songs. If you heard one song on the radio, but have no idea what the band’s other stuff sounds like, then it’s ok to download to some stuff to get a feel for it. As you said, why pay $17 to take a chance? If you hear one good song and buy an album that sucks, you’ve just spent $17 on ONE SONG. Not tempting to me… If your CD gets scratched up and it’s not playable, you already shelled out the money once, why should you have to again? My ipod crashed and I lost everything on it. Half the songs on it where from a different computer that no longer existed. So I downloaded whatever I wanted back. It only pisses me off when people go crazy downloading EVERYTHING. Or when people want shit for free from local and/or up and coming bands. No. Don’t take money out of the pockets of a struggling artist. That’s my opinion. Want to illegally download Metallica songs? GO FOR IT! They have enough money.
One more things. iTunes $10 albums are a good price. It makes more sense then driving to a store, wasting gas, and spending $15+ on an album.
Yeah, I had a shitload of CDs stolen from my car in Jersey City once. I resorted to some questionable measures to recover my collection. As a matter of fact there was a Yo La Tengo CD in there that I was just able to grab off of Dylan’s computer a week ago. I was so happy to have it back!
As for taking money out of the struggling artist pocket, as a struggling artist, I think we all would rather you listen to our music and then come to a show and/or tell a friend. If you feel guilt over it, just buy a shirt at the show (particularly if they are on tour).