Quote Originally Posted by Centurian
At the end of the day, regardless of the downloads, if i'm selling records i'm gonna find the best market i can, regardless of what people think morally. There's no point me selling The Gift for retail price when i can get 10x that amount, like it or not, to sell an old record that's in demand at retail price is bad business sense; and if you are selling something you are doing business anyway, so all this moralistic talk doesn't really wash with me i'm afraid.

Also, my opinion on the MP3 ripping, i can't say i really agree with it, it's still a breach of copyright especially if you're using it to earn money in the clubs (unless you've cleared (c) of course). Soulseek, well, i've just signed up, but isn't supposed to be used for promoting artists rather than ripping them off with illegal uploads/downlods?

From a buyers point of view, well, i wouldn't be happy paying 10x the retail value of course, but i can't help but think that if i wanted a tune that much, i'd pay for it, there's plenty of other people out there willing to so why shouldn't i ?
It's not "business" for me. When I do, once in a blue moon, sell a record that fetches $50+ on E-Bay, I sell it to someone I know for the same as what I bought. Reason being is that a.) they actually want to play the thing out and, if I'm selling it, it's a record that collects dust and b.) by being reasonable with the price, someone who has a desire to play the track out for others will be inclined to take it and do so.

As for anything that is fetching such high amounts of cash, if it's out of print, yep, chalk me up as a pirate. If I want it that bad, I'll download it. Artists, in many circumstances, will give you permission to do so anyways. Still legally grey, depending upon the contract signed with the publisher by the artist. But, that doesn't bother me. It's why I'm amused when you see records popping up with titles like "Anti E-Bay Weapon." For some reason, it doesn't appear I'm alone in finding it kind of offensive that music which was pressed not even a decade ago in many cases starts fetching such high prices, all while be held by people who don't play it out anyways. So, nah, I'll never drop that much on a track. Especially when, thanks to filesharing, I will never have to.