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“Downloading Music: Do they really need that extra dollar?”
Some people believe that illegally downloading music is quite harmless. Many claim that musicians do not make a lot of money, if any at all off of the success of their CD. People who are in favor of the illegally downloading music, instead, look at the facts that most of a bands income seems to come from touring, concerts and merchandising. This may be so, in many cases. When you are in defense of the band when it comes to this issue it is clear that it is not so much the band members who are overly concerned with illegally downloading music, but more so the record companies who see the majority of revenue from CD sales. The bands themselves are thrust to the fore front of this and made to look as the victims of this issue by being taken advantage of by the consumer for all the hard work put in to making music for our pleasure.
It is very apparent that only the larger bands are the ones who are being brought up on this issue, the ones that have already made their millions of dollars. Smaller bands such as The Arctic Monkeys are in favor of illegally downloading music due to the fact that it gets the word out there to the masses quicker than a CD on the shelves trying to draw teen’s attention with a savvy or possible lame cover.
“Forming a new band requires money, something that up-and-coming bands like Arctic Monkey are short on. Through P2P programs, struggling musicians are able to gain popularity. Illegal music downloading not only helps out these small bands, but also brings up the massive issue of materialism in America. Though certain artists are upset that P2P traders are taking money away from record labels, sending the message that avid music listeners have to pay to be able to listen to music is unreasonable. By downloading legally, which requires paying for the song, patrons feel restricted to only buying songs they already know they like. This makes music from small...