100% agreed.
I'm the biggest Beatles fan I know, have been since I was in junior high in the mid-60's. I've got them on vinyl, I've got them on CDs, I've got a few old 8-tracks of 'em...
And I ripped my CD's to MP3s rather than download illegal files.
I will not download copyrighted material -- even though I hate the RIAA and MPAA and DRM -- because no compensation gets to the artists that way, not even the tiny dribble that they get from the physical media sales.
Screw the RIAA, but not the artists.
Politics aside, even Yoko aside, I'm still a Beatles fan. Some of the best music I've heard in my entire life.
Thank you for not giving in to the “everybody does it” mentality.
So you have no Beatles bootleg recordings in your collection? Only Rarities (US and UK versions) and Anthology I,II,III to satisfy any desire for outtakes and unreleased songs?
No purchased used records, tapes, CDs either?
My comment is not a support for downloading (legal or illegal), just probing the full context of your stance.
Bands like the Beatles (apart from the mythmaking of things like $2,000 butcher-shot LP covers, etc.) receive nothing from used sales yet there is NO (zero zip nada) legal resale value for digital downloads.
If it is all about seeing bands paid for every transfer of ownership of a recording, then digital download ONLY would be the model to go with.