In a message dated 7/11/2000 12:13:44 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
emlyn@one.net.au writes:
> Who knows, it might end in the glorious anarchic revolution, where
> everything is free and the world is beautiful.
>
..heheh... do I detect a bit of sarcasm here <; - ) ?
Thanks everyone for your comments so far. I am not entirely sure of my
position on
Napster, mostly I think it's kinda dumb and harmless, but I won't OK my
boyfriend smuggle in tape recorders to make bootlegs, since I think it's
unethical. I'll write a little so you can see why this bothers me in some
way.
One, as an artist and musician, I do not want my art to be gloriously free...
pay me please, it you like it enough to take it home with you.
Two, as an artist, the "how much can we get for free'" meme has NOT gone
away, art directors and homeowners and bosses always think artists "aren't in
it for the moeny", and we always have to write airtight contracts, even WITH
recent copyrights and laws and so forth -- which were supposed to protect the
artist.
So in the case of Mettalica, let's say it doesn't harm them - IF the people
who are downloading are the same people who buy their records in used record
stores, lets say.
But to survive, most artists work for MONEY, not for free.
I want commensurate pay for any labor. Art and Music are very ardent - and
materials intensive - work, as are filmmaking and other stealable "visual" or
aural products.
(As in software, it's the original R&D investment you try to protect, not
cost of disc)
Music, being more easily divisible (so far) into 14 billion recordings - is
more vulnerable to stealing than visual arts - but we will soon see stealing
of film, animation, and other new media.
IF one was to record my first CD, it'd take all this to create a quality
piece of music - Add it up:
- years of schooling, lessons and practice discipline
- a time investment in writing the songs, and doing arrangements
- an investment in my piano, synths, bass, drum machines, percussion
instruments etc.
-an investment in finding the other band members and auditioning them, then
regular rehearsal times
- any horn sections, DJ's or outside studio guys I'd need to get my sounds
- an investment in midi, mics, a board, software, Avid, and whatever other
recording tech I need - or hire a sutdio at $**$$**** per hour.
- cost of the CD itself - shopping the label OR coming up with the cash to
burn my own
-cover art, promotional costs
_ tour or club gigs to promote it
It's the basic conundrum, if we aren't gonna get paid for this, at least in
SOME fashion.. why on earth would we make the art in the first place?
Because we LOVE you? And we want you to be Happy Napsters?
See, Napster is not paying the artist. But they are - as Emlyn pointed out-
getting something from them. Hi volume traffic. So it's sleazy. Reeeeeeal
sleazy.
The fans aren't... so they aren't really harming us ?? ......its a tough
call.
Pirating is such a gray area, and my opinion is, if you're making money of
it, you should pay the gals/guys who created the "intellectual property". If
you pirate software to learn it, and you make a big killing off it, go back
and order the damn thing from the company!!
If it sucks and you never use it - OK- you borrowed it for awhile, and no
harm done. uninstall.
And, if you are actually SO POOR you can't afford music, or the software or
whatever, then steal it. Like the chicks stealing Pampers in the LA?Rodney
King insurrection....
Or, you're a "Fuck You Corperate America" type - Like Abby Hoffman' - Steal
This Book. And you dont WANT to pay the artists.. since their all a buncha
sell outs anyway! ( ; - )
But it's still stealing. Let's not pretend it's offered as free to begin
with.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:34:23 MDT