I didn't want to try and make the point because I can't find the information I have seen before and I'm not confident in saying it, but I'm sure I've seen information shown before that if an album had 100,000 listeners 10 years ago it could have yielded x return (enough to justify the investment and risk) and now 100,000 album listeners might mean only 1,000 purchases, which is often not enough to justify the investment and risk. I don't even think there needs to be evidence to justify the point, because it's common sense: If 100,000 people consume something and only 10% of those paid for it that's worse than if 50,000 consumed it but 50,000 paid for it (accounting for listener growth, now vs. 10 years ago)
> "People are taking something for free" simplifies the issue, and misrepresents it as well. If I made a song and priced it at three billion dollars and thousands of people "stole" it, would it be the biggest theft in the history of mankind? The terms set out by which information can be exchanged should not be exclusively in control of the creator. Copyright has generally existed under the premise that society demands a little fair use in return. That should be based on what is practical to enforce, and partially on what benefits culture the most.
The cost of something does not matter when discussing whether or not it's right or wrong to take something. If a song costs $0.10 or $100 it's still wrong to take it. No, downloading a song that is priced at $3,000,000 isn't worse than downloading a song priced at $1, but that doesn't make either of them right? I'm not sure I entirely understand the point you're trying to make here.
> Are you willing to go that far to enforce copyright? If not (as I hope) you should support making non-commercial filesharing legal, and expanding fair use in other ways.
Personally I would much rather society just stopped being so damn selfish and accepted that if someone wants something they either meet the terms of the owner or just don't consume it. If I want an album that costs $10, I pay $10, if I want an album that costs $100,000, either I pay $100,000 or I don't get the album, I should not just download it for free and say "well it isn't worth $100,000 anyway, so whatever, fuck them, civil liberties!"
It's not about copyright, it's about respect for other human beings, respect for the people that create the content you consume. If someone prices something at $100,000 either you pay for it or you don't get it.