TheBoost said:

Mithrandir said:

One of the most interesting things I've read about piracy and copyright was strangely in the words of Liam Gallagher:

“I hate all these big, silly rock stars who moan – at least they’re fuckin’ downloading your music, you cunt, and paying attention, know what I mean? You should fuckin’ appreciate that – what are you moaning about? You’ve got fuckin’ five big houses, so shut up,”

"Interesting." Yeah, that's one word for it.

At what point does someone not deserve to get compensated for their labor? What's the exact dollar ammount where it's now 'enough' and it's ok to steal from them?

Is it the same for civil engineers or financial planners as it is for musicians?

If I develope a cure for a disease and people steal if from me, should I just be happy people are enjoying my cure?

I think a lot of people would put art in a different category than medicine or engineering or any other "job." But there is also a very good point Quackula made that most musicians that are semi-famous, have deals and fans, are on the radio, etc., don't make a whole lot of money and struggle to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle. The flipside, of course, is that downloading doesn't make much of a dent in their income because most of it comes from concerts and merchandising. If musicians had to rely only on CD sales they'd have to give up and get a real job.