are we really supporting ayumi by d/ling mp3s???

[Hamasaki-Kurumi]

nope..

id buy all the albums/singles but its so hard for me, i dl em now but ill eventually buy em i really will i feel bad now

[kel64]

If it was not for me downloading a couple of songs, I would never have becomed interested in Ayu. I have since bought two of her albums, A best and I am, and glad I did. I will continue to add to my collection, as I believe you should only use filesharing to sample music that you otherwise would not have heard of. I have also downladed the odd single, not of Ayu's, but I am generally less interested in singles, I rarely buy them, I am interested in full albums, which I would not download.

My view anyway

[HanabiChick]

I did what most did, I downloaded some Ayu mp3s as preview. When I got some money, I started buying CDs and stuff - and I buy whenever I can, which isn't very often. I delete the mp3 songs when I get them on CD, but I keep the ones I don't have, or if it's not possible to get them any other way.
There's nothing wrong with downloading songs as a preview, and then purchasing CDs later, but just downloading without buying anything isn't supporting an artist.

[ayuchanfan]

even though i download about all of ayu's songs from winmx and kazaa, i feel that it is wrong for us to do this. i think it isnt fair, and we arent really supporting her. i guess you can say she is rich, but if we were truly her fans, we would by her cd's. its hard for some of us though, so we get it for free. But now i feel like kazaa and winmx stinks because of the RIAA and such. every artist is getting angry, and im guessing ayu is one of them since she is very popular.....

[Delirium-Zer0]

I download mp3s and I don't delete them because for the most part I listen to music on my computer. But if I like an artist or an album enough, I'll buy their CDs. I very rarely buy CDs new though. And when I do buy CDs I tend to rip them and those mp3s join the mp3s i've downloaded so my whole collection is all in one place. The RIAJ would hate me for my collection, but as broke as I am I really need to choose wisely which CDs i buy, and mp3s help me do that. I very rarely buy CDs new in any case. Alot of times I buy them used, because it's cheaper, but whether i buy any given used CD or not, it makes no difference in how much money the label makes off me; that CD's already bought & paid for, and accounted for in their numbers. I buy the CD because I like it and it's not in my collection and, for whatever reason, I firmly believe it should be. Really, it only counts at all if we buy the CD new, not on eBay or Yahoo! Auctions singapore or at stores like Kamikaze Anime in LA. I hate to say it, but I WISH NEW ALBUMS WERE ONLY $15!!! At yesasia also they're listed at about $25 but with shipping (unless you buy more and use yesasia's super saver shipping or something) that's about $30-35, which is how much it would cost to buy it at Asahiya or Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo. Even if they were only $15 or so, just because we can afford computer & internet doesn't mean we can afford the CDs. the internet bill might be our "spending money" because the internet is important enough to us that that's what we spend our money on. This is the case with me... i pay $35 a month for my internet, cuz I can't afford the $50/month plan. Look at that, $15 difference. Funny how that works out ^_^ So you see, being able to afford $35/month for internet doesn't mean I can afford to buy cds. I like to try to buy CDs I like new, but it takes a long time for this starving college student to save up for one.

I also like downloading the music before it comes out or right after it does, just so I know what my friends are talking about when they talk about music they like x_x I hate when people go 'OMG isn't this song GREAT?' and I have no idea what they're talking about. MP3s are the only thing that saves those conversations. I'm really into music in general and I love reviewing albums & songs that come out but I obviously can't talk about music I've never heard, and I can't afford to buy it all.

Another reason I download & use mp3s is because I want to promote jpop to other people. i make alot of compilations for people and send them mp3s because maybe they'll like it and one day buy music for artists I don't buy the CDs of because I don't like them enough to save up money. But my mp3s still help increase CD sales for other artists, just now my friends are buying instead of me.

There are all kinds of reasons to download mp3s. Not all of us are stealing. It's only wrong to depend solely on MP3s for the music you listen to.

(on top of it, it's just dumb, cuz file backups can get corrupted, CD-Rs can get stolen from you, and computers can be annoying and not work for long periods of time mp3s are far inferior to CDs, i think.)

[PURIN]

i think downloading is good..i knew ayu from downloading her free & easy video off some jpop forum and now im addicted to her..

[akatsuki]

Originally posted by Delirium-Zer0
I download mp3s and I don't delete them because for the most part I listen to music on my computer. But if I like an artist or an album enough, I'll buy their CDs.

I totally agree with you! Because if i buy a new single and i dont like it, i wont buy any other things from this artist. So i download Mp3, and i buy after... And i have a mp3 player too! I make other listen jpop by this so i need mp3.

[dCxAyumi1]

everyone makes very valid points here. ^_^ but aren't album sales a part of a music artist's success?? please keep in mind this is only my opinion isn't there a ranking based upon a music artist's album sales? (I know there is one...just can't think of the name...)

[PinkSock]

well... i don't think mp3s are a bad thing.
if it weren't for mp3s, i wouldn't have ever known ayu.
now i buy albums and singles whenever i get the chance to.
13 cds and counting...

most songs i liek now a days are dl by chance, and if i hadnt i wouldnt have liked em in teh first place, then i wouldnt have todl me friends.

so im actually PROMOTING and ADVERTISING stuff artists in a way lol... ive gotten liek 5 people to leik ayu and theyve all dl, but theyve at least bought an album already, so in teh end it works out decently...

[bulmasman]

well it's taken me a wbile to get from downloading to actually buying the stuff, but that's not really my fault. Look at the facts, i live in the UK where access is about zero, not to mention most places only allow order by credit card, which i didn't have access to until last year. An exception to the credit card would be cdjapan, as they allow international postal orders, except for one problem, UK doesnt issue international postal orders >_<. So only in the last few months have i been able to actually buy anything. I also forgot to emntion, that ontop of all of that theres also the problem of money. I mean look people, we're not exactly made of it are we?

[Linzy]

First of all, do you know what portion of record sales actually go to the artist? Very very very little. Most artists receive their income from concerts and television performances, etc.
I only buy CD's I know I really like. I never buy singles, because honetly, they're a huge waste of money. I live in Canada, so do you know how much a CD from YesAsia costs me? A single is about $15 PLUS shipping for like 3-4 songs, while I pay $40 for an album. I bought Ayu's Duty in the States for $45 Canadian. I'm a univesity student paying $11,000 + a year for tuition and board, I can't exactly afford to buy every single CD I want to listen to. I know that's a poor excuse, but I really don't see anything wrong with MP3's. Though I'm sure the RIAA would give me a very hefty fine for my MP3 collection hehehe....

[mrdeus]

I download stuff I'm curious about. If I like it, I buy it. I would never have bought any Auy stuff (what a horrible thought) if I hadn't had the possibility to download mp3s (I heard about her online by coincidence). Now I've bought 40+ CDs (from Avex) and some DVDs and other stuff. But if I'd only bought one album Avex still would have profited, because, well, they don't advertise here in Sweden and the products aren't available to people who don't search for them and order online.

Sure, maybe some people spend less money because of mp3s, but others spend more. Like, because of the fact that I could download concert videos I discovered ELT and DAI too. For me it's been a chainreaction that started the second I opened the door to j-pop.

[boogieordie]

Linzy, that's true. I'm sure most of Ayu's money comes from commercial deals, etc...

Also, Avex has a lot of limited Ayu releases that you couldn't go out and buy even if you wanted to. I don't see any harm in downloading those at all.

Ashley

[SheFliesHigher]

I say WORD to Impact and Ashley!

Also, do you think Ayu achieved such great international success simply by selling hard copies of her music? NOPE. I would say-- no, I would ASSERT-- that most of her worldwide success is owed to the internet and its abilities as an advertising/sharing medium...this includes offering her music to thousands of people who couldn't otherwise hear it. Some business exec in Japan didn't say, "Hey, let's toss a bunch of Ayu's CDs into a bunch of different countries and see what happens!" People started putting her songs online and the Ayu Addiction spread.

[dCxAyumi1]

right, i definitely agree with you there linzy...as with everyone else too! yes, success is measured by quite a few factors, not just selling CDs...good to hear some thought out opinions here! ^_^

[nick]

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[Unimatrix Prime™]

The way I've seen the MP3 vs. CD debate, you're dealing with actually taking a physical item vs. taking random 1s and 0s, which doesn't necessarily equate to the same thing to me. While "stealing is stealing", then what can be said if you, for example, copied an MP3 100 times to your PC? Would that mean that you've stole the song 100 times, or 1? And about being a fan, I don't think you need to own anything to be a fan. It's just like saying "I like [insert name here]'s acting skills!" You don't have to own their DVDs or watch their movies to like them, considering there's movies you can watch on TV! And finally about the example for stealing chocolate, that falls in the category of "Does that person really need it? Or are they simply taking it because they don't need it?" Instinct can override logic at times, so to some people, esp. those who are perhaps poor, they know it's wrong, and yet when a person's stomach tells them they're hungry, some people would do anything for it, even if it means stealing to know that perhaps they won't go starving that night.

[ImpactBreaker]

If there was a way for that someone to DL the chocolate flavor and taste it using a computer device it woldn't be like stealing a bar of chocolate (the person would just feel the taste but wouldn't be able to get hol of the material part of the chocolate - consistency, nutrients, etc) ahhaha just kidding...but well, everyone is entitled to their opinions and I respect yours becuase you are actually showing your points instead of just saying it's wrong and THE END.