[Hidden-tech] Music downloads

[Baer Tierkel]

Hi David

 

I find that illicit businesses tend to thrive when there is demand for the
product and there is ambiguity as to whether the business is “morally wrong”
– regardless of the government’s imposition of a law.  

 

Certainly there is demand for electronic copies of music – and until
recently there was no legal place to even purchase and electronic song from
a major distribution catalog.  And as evidenced by the HT thread, there is
ambiguity as to the morality of copying music.

 

I think examples of people disregarding laws that fit this model abound!
How much pot is smoked?  How much beer consumed by 20 year-olds?  How many
miles driven at 75mph in a 55 zone on the interstate?  How many CDs burned?
In each one of these cases many Americans would make the argument that there
is demand for the product and the business is morally defensible. 

 

In my view, governments, no matter what the form, will never be perfect in
enacting just laws.  And hopefully, a free people will always be able to use
their pocketbook to work around these laws (the capitalists’ vote).
Interestingly enough, over time, these ineffective laws are many times
overturned specifically because the consumer has voted so overwhelmingly
with their hard earned dollars.  Examples of this are prohibition being
repealed in 1933, the speed limit was raised in the 90s by Clinton, etc.

 

I’m very hopeful that in the case of popular music (whose distribution model
really, really sucks for the artist), technology will continue to be an
enabler – enabling bands and songwriters to self-publish without the
shackles imposed by the old-line distribution model.  I tend to find great
music on the web, bands who put a taste of their music out there on their
own websites with a couple of songs and then I buy more if I like them.
Also great services like Pandora (www.pandora.com <http://www.pandora.com/>
) where you can turn on to new music based on your tastes.

 

Regards,

Baer

 

p.s. An interesting note to someone’s post in this thread: yes disruptive
innovations do move industries forward, but there is great pain that is
suffered by businesses and the people who work in them.  The sheet music
industry was decimated over years by the record industry; the movie theatre
business was decimated by the VCR/DVD; and the CD business is being
decimated by mp3/wma/etc.  And yes, Sony and Universal will survive as they
finally adapt to the new innovations brought to market by the visionaries.
But the people who work in th sheet music printing company or the folks that
work at the corner movie theater will be losing their jobs.  As it should
be, society as a whole needs to move forward with innovation.  But we must
have compassion for those who are impacted by innovation.  I think one of
the roles of government is to help ease these transitions by retraining our
workforce (or at least incenting business to retrain).  It might be easy for
a twenty-something to find a new job, but no so for the fifty-something lady
that works on the CD disc assembly line that will be laid off as CD/DVDs
become passé in favor of electronic distribution.  There are thousands of
examples like this in our current economy.  Long live innovation!  Long live
compassion!

 

-----Original Message-----
From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net
[mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of DAVID F.
FARKAS
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 1:02 AM
To: Fred Levine; hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] Music downloads

 

        Fred, thanx for this...

At 12:34 PM 12/30/2006, you wrote:



I've also wrestled with the morality of letting my kids download for free. I
second the library as a source of CDs that can be "legally" copied (and how
is that so different from downloading?





For an alternate take on itunes,
see this website: http://www.downhillbattle.org/itunes/index.html

As the person who posted the original questions I've been fascinated by the
rising crescendo of responses. All interesting perspectives and interesting
emotions. And... many good suggestions.

I notice nobody asked clarifying questions before moralizing or giving
parenting tips. <chkl> I'll take responsibility for the fact that my
question obviously was unclear. I learned a lot and it has just raised more
questions... perhaps for you too?

Perhaps a better worded question would have been, if downloading or file
sharing sites are 'illegal' how / why do those sites still exist? And if
they are in some way 'legal' how best to use them? 

There were prior legal battles and sanctions and they are still here. Why?
What's up with that? I'd  like to know. 

My kid found them and asked about them and I didn't have the answer...
figured some of you might know. I thought these sites would have died if
they were illicit. I have not made a decision about downloading anything
yet, but there is no clear answer from the discussion either.

Copying CD's from the library or a friends collection, just skirts the
'moral' issue. Someone paid for it once and many users are getting the
benefit without the artist getting more royalties. Legal in the sense that
nobody would ever be tracked or prosecuted, but still doesn't 'pay' artists.
It's just not an online route. It's easy, free and invisible.

Perhaps what I've gleaned from this discussion is a concensus that , for the
most part, the whole music distribution system... at least all options for
getting a single track, (except directly from the artist)... 'stiff' the
artist. 

After reading the link Fred provided above it appears the iTunes IS AS MUCH
OF A RIPOFF for artists as most other solutions. I'm not surprised. So,
iTunes is legal and feels like there is a token payment to the artist, but
it still stiffs them.

Most things in life are more complex than they seem and the answers, if
there are any, are nuanced. In this case there is a 'legal' issue about what
is going on online and also the 'moral' issue of whether artists actually
get adequately compensated by their distribution system. Then perhaps there
is a more symbolic moral stance about NOT doing certain things in certain
ways.

While consumers can, perhaps, influence the 'fairness' of the music royalty
system, it is a business arrangement between the artists and their business
associates, yes? They create all that together in whatever way they do that
just as we do with out clients and distributors. 

So the answer that has come up most often in the group is to use iTunes
because it is 'legal', has the appearance of propriety, makes token payment
to artists and sends 'the right message' to the children. Thanx.

Keep them cards and letters coming... especially if you can answer the
question about why download sites even exist if that is all illegal? Which
was the question I would have asked had I been clearer. Thanx for bringing
me to greater clarity.

(Let's not get into the software version of this discussion... I still use
Win2K because it's not locked to one box. <chkl> Some would see that as
'wrong' and others as 'heroic.' <g>)

Merry Everything and Happy Always 

David




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