Record Store Owner Calls People Who Pay To Download 'Idiots'

from the well,-that-might-be-a-bit-much dept

You would think that record store owners might be the folks most upset about the changing music landscape these days. And, indeed, we've seen the "big players" like Tower Records and Warehouse Music go out of business. However, many smaller independent record shops have figured out ways to take advantage of the changing landscape to offer something different to customers. In fact, some even say the real problem was the RIAA and its failure to embrace things like file sharing. Still, it's a bit surprising to hear the owner of one NYC indie record shop, Rockit Scientist Records, slam those who buy music legally:

"Anybody who legally downloads music is an idiot! You can get it for free, why pay for it? Download it illegally, who's going to catch you? Legal or illegal, they sound the same."

While the conventional wisdom of those who insist that file sharing is "theft" would also suggest that this would mean trouble for the record store owner too -- but he seems to recognize that there's still plenty of value in the physical product: the CD or vinyl for those who want it. He figures if people are going to buy music, they might as well get something tangible out of it -- and the real problem (again) is that the record labels artificially inflated the price of CDs. If they'd kept CD prices more reasonable, perhaps things wouldn't be as bad as they are for the CD market.

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