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Do people pirate music anymore?

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Reverend Funk

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Like it doesn't even feel necessary anymore with spotify and shit like that. This is a safe space so feel free to confess if you do I won't tell anyone. Also is pirate bay still the big thing in pirating?
 
I've never been much of a music pirate. Youtube/Shoutcast/soundcloud/etc are more than enough for my needs. The only music I ever pirated was anime osts and even that has come to an end since I haven't found an OST that I like enough to pirate in years.
 
i don't pirate bc my car still has a 6CD player. and i'm too cheap to buy blank CD's and i forgot how to burn them.

i just got to FYE and get used Cd albums for 4 bucks.
 
I'm sure they do, I have no idea why. The fact that almost every song is on Youtube now just blows my mind, but I'm not complaining.

Personally, there are a ton of albums I have listened to online ever since, but once I finally get a great job I plan on building my album collection. Should be fun.
 
I buy it unless it's something I can't even buy. For instance, there's a band I like in Sweden, there's some videos of live shows you can't get through Amazon or even ebay. Then I make sure to buy something else of theirs to make up for the fact.

Otherwise I go through Amazon for single tracks and am quite happy with my Napster/Rhapsody account. Got grandfathered into $50/yr, years and years back.
 
I used to a lot back in the day. But yeah...since Spotify Premium, I can't even think of the last time I pirated an album. Been buying a lot of records lately too.
 
Personally I just buy the songs I really like for the .99. I don't do entire cds.

For movies, I buy cheap UV codes ranging from $2-5.

For games, I buy games, play them, sell them on ebay, use the money again to buy different games.

I haven't even thought about pirating anything for years.
 
Very rarely. Like maybe once or twice a year my wife will ask me to grab some new album from a band I've never heard of and it just takes a few seconds. Kind of funny since I remember the Napster days of leaving my PC on all night just to grab like 10 MP3s off some random person.

Mostly just use Pandora/Google/Amazon anymore and just let whatever play. Don't pay for any subs though, I'm fine using it as a radio-type service.
 
Someone I met is far too deep into the hole to stop. SWIM owns every song they have ever even kinda liked downloaded. It's why swim needs a 128gb micro sd card.
 
Spotify Premium has eliminated any need to pirate music for me. It's way better than pirating stuff ever was, even if you take away the moral issues.
 
My younger cousins who never grew up with limewire or whatever use programs to rip YouTube audio into mp3s. Which quite frankly offends me cause it probably sounds like shit
 
I guess? Someone somewhere is. I've got a friend's YouTube Red account..guess it comes with Google Music? Or the other way around? Between that and Amazon Prime, I'm alright..
 
I used to all the time. Then I got a new pc and wanted it to be full of "legit" media. I've been buying music, tv, and movies ever since. spotify and that is cool but I like the feeling of owning the albums.
 
searching for torrents or rars, downloading them, plugging in my phone, transferring the files onto my phone

or using Spotify premium to just download 320k MP3s straight to my phone at the touch of a button.

The second option is so much easier and easily worth 10 bucks a month for me.

Also buying FLACs on Bandcamp is way easier then hunting for them online.

As Gabe Newell once said: piracy is a service problem.

edit: I'm glad file sharing and whatnot exist for obscure stuff (and as a fan of Old-school heavy metal i'd be lying if I said i never had to resort to illegally downloading some albums) but for all the current stuff pretty much every band is smart about getting their stuff on Bandcamp, Spotify, or some similar service. You still have the "trve and kvlt demo tapes, analog or die, only 666 vinyls ever made!" guys lurking out there but it's just needless obscurity for the sake of underground street cred.
 
Amazon is pretty big for me.

Combo of
1. Prime / free streaming at good quality for general
2. Buy CD for high quality with instant high quality digital "rip" included.
 
I usually see folks use spotify but whenever I see someone's playlist on phone, computer, or whatever the track info usually references a pirate site.
 
NoblesseOblige said:
I play a lot of music off Youtube from channels that clearly don't own the license to do so. So I guess I stream pirated music?
Click to expand...

This

I also pay for a spotify family account with the people that lives with me.

So I both pirate and legally listen to stream music.

I don't download anything legally or illegally anymore.
 
Its gotten harder to do over the years and easier to consume legally so I wouldn't be surprised if piracy is down.
 
i stream a lot of spotify, but i also buy vinyl records of albums i really like. pirating music is a hassle, especially since my main mode of consumption is through my phone.

listening to records is a pleasure though, i recommend it.
 
Puck Beaverton said:
are you a cop?
Click to expand...

You know you have to tell us if you are.

But seriously it depends. If it's a single song I will usually just download it online. But for full albums or soundtracks I like to have a physical version (if they are available).

The rest usually from Amazon.

The problem with youtube or other services is it compresses the shit out of the audio and you usually end up with some awful mp3 if you choose to download it that way. I guess it depends on how particular you are with your music.
 
I've said it time and time again, but considering CDs are usually upwards of 10 bucks a pop.. streaming services are a steal. In this day and age I really look down on people who still pirate everything. Artists already make next to nothing. I get that streaming doesn't pay them very much either, but it's better than nothing.
 
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