Downloading in the 70´s

Well, I am old enough to remember that in the 1970´s and 80´s the corporation went wild about people making tapes.

Everybody made tapes and handed them around to friends to have a party or favourite tracks or just to have a mix of your favourite songs and listened to them while driving. And the corporations went wild because they said: “this is illegal, and you can´t copy our stuff”. But finally they found out that it actually increased sales because things were being played that you didn´t hear on the radio and now just the other day I read an article on an oline newspaper that illegal downloads are actually not harming sales.

So, it is a mix. Yes, some people are losing out but the corporations and their sales models are also way behind modern technology. And, a lot of people who are not signed with a big label actually put their stuff online and give away a couple of tracks for free. Then, people like their music. They get more exposure and then people will go out and actually buy something from them.

So illegal downloading, people who download it illegally, copy it and then resell it. No, that´s theft because you are profiting from some else´s work. But to help small artists get exposure? I think it can be very useful. So it is a mixed bag.