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Old Jun 8, 2010, 10:08 AM
LiquidAcid LiquidAcid is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleJCrb View Post
Unless you're buying newly-released soundtracks or purchasing direct from the original composer or publisher, you're not supporting the original artist with your money either. They won't make a cut off of sales from eBay or YahooJapan auctions, and they certainly don't make anything when buying/trading on forums or sites like this.
Sorry, but I think you're missing the big picture. Cashflow isn't always direct and that's naturally also the case here.

With your argument you shouldn't buy any of the albums that are published by any major record labels. The distributor/publisher 'barrier' between artist and consumer is a totally different thing, and doesn't belong into this discussion.

Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleJCrb View Post
Note that I don't disagree with the notion that bootlegging is a problem, but the channels of obtaining VGM albums outlined in this guide aren't exactly supportive of the original artists either.
No, of course not.

However there are more options than just 'support the artist' and 'do not support artist'. And that's where bootleggers come into play. Most people don't know what bootlegs are. So we've a number of customers who're _willing_ to invest money to buy an album. Bootleggers provide the 'better deal', in terms of how cheap the copy is. So we end up with the option 'hurt the artist' and that's exactly what's happening here - the naive customer is satisfied with his bootleg purchase and probably happy about his 'good deal'. However the original artist is never going to see one penny of the money that went to the bootlegger. And like already stated, that's not even the important part - more important is that you're _actively_ supporting the bootleg industry.

So you have the option of:
1) Support the artist - buy album, go to concert
2) Stay neutral / don't support the artist - filesharing (!)
3) Hurt the artist - buy bootlegs

Disclaimer: That's how I see things and I acknowledge that people might have a different opinion. No further comments here from me - I made my point clear and that's it

Last edited by LiquidAcid; Jun 8, 2010 at 10:39 AM.
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