I have a 3GB library of music yet have not paid for a single song, I cannot remember the last time I watched an ad on TV, and I am certain over half the games and software on my computer are unpaid for but I don't regret any of it. I don't know how I could feel bad when pirating things is both easier and so much cheaper.
Easier:
Just take TV as an example, legally I have two options:
1) Pay a broadcasting company a fee so they can show me a TV show for 40 minutes and commercials for 20 minutes but I have to use a cable box or antenna.
2) Login to the broadcasting company's website and deal with buffering and ads.
Or illegally I can go to a free site: press on one link, click off of one ad, and watch my show completely uninterrupted. Also, music is so much easier to pirate than to pay for it. I use the free version of Spotify on the web to play all my music. I have a ton of playlists which I can instantly download and put on my phone using various websites. The legal option would be going through every single song, paying for it, downloading each one individually, and rebuilding the playlists again. Do you see what I am getting at? Why would I pay for something that makes my life harder?
Cheaper:
Also there is extremely overpriced software such as Adobe's Creative Cloud. I once read a quote that said something along the lines of "My entire graphic design career was based off of my ability to pirate Photoshop in middle school". I cannot help to feel the same way, while I don't want to become a graphic designer I still enjoy using and learning Photoshop, After Effects, and Premier Pro but there is no way I could afford the 20 dollars a month to use it. I use these tools for fun not for business. The same thing goes for games, I am only going to end up playing the game for 2-3 hours so why would I spend $60 I don't have in the first place on it. If I were to buy all 1000 songs in my Music library I would be paying ~$1290, that is just not worth it, especially when I can click and download a song on YouTube for free.
The way I see it until it becomes easier and more beneficial to pay for something than to pirate it, I am going to keep pirating.
💯👌🤑Bennett🤑👌💯
Paying for music, especially independent music, is beneficial to the musicians who make the music. That's a good reason to pay for music. Support the musicians who make the music.
I understand your argument but why should I pay for it when it is available on YouTube and SoundCloud for free? I almost feel my payment is the views that I give the song. If I enjoy it I will add it to a playlist, with ~30 followers, so the artist is getting a larger audience. I can't understand how it is considered stealing when anyone can listen it to free on YouTube or SoundCloud, what is the difference between downloading it and streaming it?
If you don't think that musicians should get paid for their work, than I understand your point of view. Musicians don't make any money from the extra views unless someone decides to buy their music.