Warner CEO Admits His Kids Pirated Music

Using online music services to share songs without paying for them may be illegal, but casual users don’t usually find themselves under the steely gaze of an angry recording industry executive. Unless Dad is the head of Warner Music Group.

We asked Edgar Bronfman, the head of the world’s fourth largest music company, at the Reuters Summit whether any of his seven kids stole music.

“I’m fairly certain that they have, and I’m fairly certain that they’ve suffered the consequences.”

We couldn’t begin to guess what that means. He explained to our Second Life reporter, Adam Pasick:

“I explained to them what I believe is right, that the principle is that stealing music is stealing music. Frankly, right is right and wrong is wrong, particularly when a parent is talking to a child. A bright line around moral responsibility is very important. I can assure you they no longer do that.”

Great, but what did he do to them?

“I think I’ll keep that within the family.”

Source: Reuters

 

Downloading Music is not stealing i dont think, stealing is when you go into a shop, and slip something under your coat etc..., i admit i download music, but i wouldent class myself as someone who steals stuff.

In some countrys there is nothing wrong with downloading music.

I dont belive he has stopped his kids from downloading music, he is just saying that as if he said he let them continue it would give a bad example.

 

Anything where you dont pay for something that u should do is stealing.

For me i tend to download some tracks of a band i am interested in off P2P and then if i like what i hear i go out and buy the album. Initially downloading the music without paying for it is stealing but then i make up for it by actually purchasing the album in a shop.

I could just download the whole album but i have morals.

 

its not stealing, because you did not steal it, if you download something from say p2p, they are letting you get it off them, so your not actually stealing, its the people who first ripped the song and put it onto the p2p network that is stealing.

i have never stolen a thing in my life, and never will, if i like stealing stuff, i would go into a shop and take something withought paying for it, which i would never dream of doing.

also, if we want to listin to the music we like, it means buying it, which means paying rip off prices, an album with 12 songs on is not worth £12 no matter how popular it is, 60p for one song of I-tunes, that means for around 2000 songs it costs nearly £1200, not worth it...

 

what are you talking about its stealing and even then piracy. Its like taking a car that you know the person stole, why are you tying to pretty it up. Some one put a lot of time into that stuff and it was meant to be bought no given away. One way or another you have to come to terms, it is still illegal and in some fashion stealing

 

Well, in the uk, nothing can be done about downloading music, at the moment as long as its for personal use its ok, no matter what anyone says, i still think it is not stealing, i am not trying to pretty it up, maybe it is illigal, and called piracy, but i still aint buying music at rip off prices.

Sure, i'll buy games and movies, but music is not worth the price you pay.

Ok, maybe i was wrong that music shouldent be bought, well in the USA maybe, but not in the uk, an album that is like £12 in the UK is about £7 in the US, if i wanted an album, £7 would be worth it, but £12? no way, i dont want to spend a fortune on music, what will it be? buy music at rip of prices and spend a fortune?, listin to music, not buy music at rip off prices and not listin to music? only listin to crappy radio stations?

I would end up spending about £400 on music for what i want at the moment, and £400? for music????, whaat, i would rather spend that on AV stuff...

 

It is still stealing. You may have downloaded it off of someone that bought it and they may have consented to you downloading it, but they don't own the rights to the music. They were sold one copy of the album to use for them self... not one copy to distribute among everyone. I DO think that record companies/RIAA charge too much for music and are making WAY too much money off of something that is actually far cheaper to make; but face it: it is still stealing. Even if they DO rip you off, it doesn't change the fact that you're ripping them off back illegally. Although I would have a far more difficult time making this argument in an area that does not have a law against it.

 

The law will change very soon..

If i download off limewire, i obviously have there consent to download it, as they wouldent share there files if they did not want people to download it, i do not steal from the companys, once i got sim city 4 off a freind at college, found out it was stolen, i was horrified, i nearly chucked the thing in the bin, but then i found out, i wasent responsible for it been stolen, i never stolen it....

The music companys dont loose alot from pirating compared to what they get, they just want to sue everyone ass who download music and stopp pirating to make more and more money, thats only why there bothered, coz they want to make more and more and more and more and more money.

Everyone i know downloads music, i wouldent be surprised if alot of people on this forum do too, there is just far too many people to stop.


On I-tunes, they should lower the price of all songs to 10p, thats all one song is worth, the artists will still get loads of money, still make £1million from one saong if 10million people downloaded it.

TBH, i dont care if people think its stealing, i dont even really download music anymore, got enough, i listin to AOL radio most of time, but the fact is, I DO NOT STEAL, i am not a crook, i do not pirate music, i am not a thief.

Its annoying of the fact that people think people are thiefs and crooks and piraters if they download abit of music, if that so, even if someone downloads one song to try it out, there a thief too.

 

You are a criminal and a thief. According to law you are stealing music.

It doesn't matter if someone else gave consent to share music, it wasn't their copyrighted music to begin with. We may all dislike it, but

seems a bit naive. I download, but it doesn't change the law if I don't agree with it. Its all to do with copyright.

 

So your a criminal too...

The Law is stupid, and the Music companys are stupid.

 

If the chance of getting caught was equivelant to shoplifting then people wouldn't do it. If everytime you downloaded something the coppers were knocking on your front door an hour later and arresting you then you simply wouldn't do it.
The reason it doesn't feel like stealing is because the chance of getting caught is minimal.
Its a bit like speeding in your car, everyone bar none speeds at some point in their lives for whatever reason, its still breaking the law but the chance of getting caught is minimal (probably less than 1%) so people still do it.

Well i know what i mean anyway.

 

I don't deny it though, none of us like the way RIAA sues people but its life.

Agree with yorkkev about the minimal risk of getting caught. I might have sounded a bit harsh, but thats the way the law's interpreted.

 

I have 8GB of music on my computer. Know what, I own a physical, purchased copy of each CD.

I don't have an issue with the RIAA going after those downloading music illegally. If a band offers a free download, that's one thing. However, if you're downloading the latest CD off Bittorrent, then you should be afraid of them knocking at your door.

Where I do take issue with the RIAA is their dubious methods of going after people. They're firing into a crowd and saying that those who got hit weren't wearing Kevlar vests. That's why they're suing grandma who doesn't have a computer or the internet and dead people. That's where I have a problem. That and the attitude that consumers are all thieves. That's the type of attitude you DO NOT have when dealing with the public.

The music companies are in business to make money. As such, if you are taking property without paying for it or being given it, that is theft. Should we revise the copyright laws? Maybe. However, we need to make sure that this doesn't shaft the musicians. That's their profession, and illegally downloading their music is the same as going into your grocery store and taking a loaf of bread out the door without paying for it.

 

Downloading music is equal to stealing. It's not about "i dont care if people think its stealing."
If you walk into a shop, pick up a CD and walk out without paying, you are stealing.
If you go onto limewire and download a CD to your hard drive, you are stealing.
Can't you see the link? You are taking something you haven't paid for.
The only difference is that on limewire there isn't anybody watching you. There's no security alarm system at the exit. There's no security guards and CCTV cameras.

Yes, the price of music in the UK is seriously high, and I don't agree with such a price. However, I have no choice, I don't want to be involved in any criminal acts, so I must pay the £12 for a CD I want.
I used to download music all the time, however I have mended my ways and removed all downloaded music and replaced it with completely legal copies which I have paid for.

 

you make it sounds like its a giant operation downloading music, It is ok to download music at the moment as long as its for personal use, i aint one of these guys down at the local market who sell copied DVD's, maybe to some people downloading music is stealing, but it is not thought of as stealing and i still dont think its stealing, it sounds like stealing buy it aint.

The law dont even care about people downloading, all they care abotu is stopping the distributers then no one will be able to download.

I am not a criminal, but i do download music, nearly 100% of people i know downlo music, you telling me there all criminals, just think then how many people you walk past in the street are criminals... i would be a criminal if i uploaded or seeded downloads.

I dont agree with downloading DVD's, as DVD's are actually worth the money, i will not pay £12 for a cd, for as long as i live.

If i were a thief, that practically brands me as a bad person, i am not a bad person, and i do not like to be called a thief.

 

It doesn't matter if you're not selling it. It's still stealing. The exception would be if you have a legal, paid-for physical copy that you're selling/giving to someone else.

And every one that is downloading music that's not available for a free download is stealing. It is stealing. It is taking something that does not belong to the person nor was given. That is stealing. If you don't believe me, try waltzing out the door of your local grocery with a loaf of bread and not pay for it. See what happens then.

I hope that everyone who's downloading music illegally gets caught. That's part of the reason that any product costs as much as it does: compensation for theft.

 

Willz, just because its for personal use doesn't make it any better. 100% of the people you know download, so 100% of the people don't pay for the music even though its for personal use. This ALL adds up.

I don't stop buying CDs if the music is worth my money. I have bought 2 CDs in the past few months, both have been when I've been impressed with what I've heard and decided that the artist (and unfortunately, the record company as the middleman) actually deserve my money for their creative works. You say thiefs are bad people. You say you download music illegally but you're not a bad person. Therefore you are not a thief. How does that logic work?

 

Willz man, face it your friggin steal, and your a thief, bottom line, thats like saying oh well i do drugs in this country so i can go to that country and do it there to and do it cause it not illegal for me. WAY to GO BIB G, yeah i only have like 2 gigs, but i have CD's for all of them to, or i own the song. Big B i completely second that, it bullcrap, i would be livid if i a band i had, or if we sold music, and we made CD's and then i found out that some one was taking my music without paying i would be friggin livid. Yeah its called the "Global Market" one things will cost way different in one place than in another, just buy local bands music, that or maybe there is some tax or something on music, or maybe you guys have higher wages, or maybe its none of those. Its the same here for other things, but we still have to pony up the doah.

 

The problem is that the record companies take a far too large share of the revenues from CD sales. I might buy more CDs if I knew that more of my money would be going to the artists and the people who actually did the work in producing it rather than a businessman in a suit ripping off the consumer and the artists.

 

Ok, find think that i am a thief, but it doesent make me a bad person, its only damnd music.