Except that it cost virtually nothing to make downloadable music especially if you dont use the companies servers and files. The problem is they are overcharging and everyone knows it. If their prices were more reasonable and justified for the amount of work being done then many wouldnt bother with illegal downloads. Reality is that songs shouldnt cost much more than $0.10 cents to download.

If a million people download the song then it takes in $100k. Please dont tell me that musicians should earn more than that selling COPIES of a single song.

- A soundproof studio can be built for less than $25k with computerized equipment using modern tech.
- Most songs only take a few weeks to write and perfect and even for a month of work, $100k is a lot of money
- Anyone and their mother can compress a song and distribute it over the net at about $10 a month (for internet access) using a peer to peer network.
- You only need 1 person to help produce the song and compress it for internet

Split the money in between producer and artist and thats a lot of money for the amount of work actually done. That puts them in-line with the rest of the world in terms of income and we are not even taking into account live performance where they can make millions per concert. Hell... you could even forgo the entire profiting from copies entirely and artists (and their crews/managers) could still make millions if they are actually good enough to perform live. To me copies of music are no different than listening to the radio for free. In fact I dont see the distinction especially if you have a good radio signal or premium radio.

There is a reason their hasn't been a successful band this decade. Killing music isn't going to help anyone. Now-a days kids just like rap, which is 80% liked because of a dance move. Pop? don't get me started. There hasn't been one band that people will remember. Wow that was a great band from the 00s, know what? it is only going to get worse. Concerts cost tons more then a 12 dollar CD. Really people, stop being lazy.

 I bolded the extra dumb parts.

- There have been planty of very successful acts in the past 5 years, and definitly ones people will remember.

- Kids like rap for the same reason kids liked grunge of the early 90s, for the same reason kids liked big hair metal in the 80s, for the same reasons kids like prog rock in the 70s.....

- The only shows that cost more than "tons" more than cds are the big stars in stadiums, you know, successful bands.

Same shit, different decade. Really, learn something about music. 

Yeah, it's really expensive when I pay $15 to see a concert with three acts. Breaks the bank.

  There hasn't been a successful band this decade? What on earth is your definition of success? There are hundreds, probably thousands of musicians who make a living off of their art worldwide.

If you're bothered that there hasn't been a Beatles or a U2 in the new century, don't be. What you're seeing is a diversification of musical tastes brought on by cheaper, easier music production and distribution. This has broken the oligopolistic stranglehold that had been developing since the 60s and sparked a reneissance of independant music. There are far too many genres of music and genuinely creative artists nowadays for a single, original sound to emerge and claim dominance. Music has gotten more competitive, and that's a good thing for all music lovers. Illegal downloads are a factor in this trend, but there are plenty of legitimate channels also driving the phenomemon.

 Hey guess what.  Your entire post?  Doesn't matter.

I don't care how much it costs to make each song...or each mp3 even.  Yeah, it costs them virtually nothing, so what?

The point is, it does cost something, and when you download a song from torrents or P2P programs, you are taking something that normally costs money.  That is, in fact, illegal, and it's NOT an argument!

If you would like to argue about why you think it's ok to download music for free (because it costs studios and artists virtually nothing to produce mp3s) then be my guest.  That's not what I'm talking about.  I'm telling you, it is illegal, and you ARE taking property that is supposed to cost money.

^^ Yeah I know its comletely illegal to download musik you don´t pay for, but there are some gray areas there too. What happens when I make a mix CD of musik I like and give it to a friend is he/she stealing that musik ??? Can I record songs of the radio or internet-radio and ceep them legally ???

I have never purchased a music CD, or paid for music on iTunes, in my entire life. I have always, and will always, download music, for free, off of Limewire. I do pay for movies though. It's nicer to watch movies on a big T.V., rather than on a computer screen.

Thats true , its illegal only if the site mentions this in there main page , if not nobody can tuch you . 

 While I don't disagree that it is illegal (depending on where you live in the world), it clearly is not stealing. This is even recognised by US and numorous other countries laws. In the US, stealing is a criminal offense, however, copyright infrigement is a civil offense (so you can't serve jail time). The whole reason copyright law exists is because the laws for stealing were insufficent and did not cover copyright infringement related offenses.

Most people use a car example, but usually don't explain it very well so I'll try and do better. If you have a ferrari, and I come around and duplicate it by building my own parts entirely, I have commited the exact same offense as copying a cd (plus I've probably commited patent infringement too in this case), yet, have I stolen the ferrari from you or anyone else? The design of the car is covered by copyright, and by duplicating the car I have infringed on this. 

In regards to cost, this has little to do with legality and is primarily an argument in regards to the length of copyright, market sustainability, etc and is beyond the scope of this thread.

No duderino, its not illegal to download music movies or anything else, but it is illegal to broadcast what you do download for either profit or just to have your friends over at your house to watch a movie that you've downloaded.  Also, the act of others downloading from you is considered broadcasting, so if you let others download from you, you are breaking the standard interpretation of the law.  And btw, all of this applies to the U.S only.