Why Pay for Recorded Music Anymore? Part 1b (second post on this subject)

Think of a beautiful painting that captivated you enough to want it to hang on the wall of your home so that you could be inspired and enriched by it every day. Would you think it would be okay to steal it? Or a poster in a poster shop that sold for $20. Would you roll it up and stuff it under your shirt and sneak out the door when the cashier wasn’t looking? Well, a CD recording costs much more to produce and distribute than a painting.

The difference is, of course, that a painting or a poster is a physical object which is much harder to duplicate than a sound recording. Also, people tend to take more seriously things which they can see, as opposed to something they can’t see, like the sounds of music. However, remember that the human skills, mastery, intelligence, and creativity required to give both paintings AND music their value, are similar, and just as precious to the human soul.

Think of how you feel when listening to your favorite piece of music. Perhaps the song you chose for your first dance at your wedding. Think of what someone went through in their life to create that music, and persevere long enough to have a successful career which enabled his/her music to be easily available to you for your enjoyment. Perhaps for more than just enjoyment….perhaps for life’s meaning. Wouldn’t you, for your own sake, want to support and encourage the people who provide that?

Your support doesn’t require any great sacrifice. It simply means paying for the music you love.

But, you might object, these greedy record companies are charging too much.

You might argue, “I only copy CD’s that are distributed by the big record companies. The artists with those companies make a miniscule portion of the sales, and the companies get most of it. The artists are getting ripped off. I am only ripping off the greedy record companies. Plus, these companies are keeping the price of CD’s artificially high. CD’s are being sold now and the same prices that they were at in the 1980’s! Why should I pay for their greed?”

I actually sympathize with this argument. Why indeed should you pay more than you want for something you may not value as much as the item costs? Also, why pay for an entire CD when you only want one or two songs from it?

I will answer these questions, AND MORE, when I can think of some good answers. ( Just kidding.) I just want to give you a good reason to come back to my blog again!