There is a fundamental, philosophical problem with music and technology. It’s just that simple. I don’t think music will be “all that it can be” because the change that is made possible by technology is not being embraced by the record labels. I actually respect that copyright-holders want to remain in control of their own destiny, in particular when you consider that “music labels make no money on touring, radio, or merchandise, which leaves the company particularly exposed to the negative effects of file-sharing”, but it does not help when this is the starting point of negotiations and discussions, via Ars Technica:
Testimony today in Capitol Records, et al v. Jammie Thomas quickly and inadvertently turned to the topic of fair use when Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG, was called to the stand to testify. Pariser said that file-sharing is extremely damaging to the music industry and that record labels are particularly affected. In doing so, she advocated a view of copyright that would turn many honest people into thieves.
Pariser noted that music labels make no money on touring, radio, or merchandise, which leaves the company particularly exposed to the negative effects of file-sharing. “It’s my personal belief that Sony BMG is half the size now as it was in 2000,” she said, thanks to piracy. In Pariser’s view, “when people steal, when they take music without compensation, we are harmed.”
Pariser has a very broad definition of “stealing.” When questioned by Richard Gabriel, lead counsel for the record labels, Pariser suggested that what millions of music fans do is actually theft. The dirty deed? Ripping your own CDs or downloading songs you already own.
Gabriel asked if it was wrong for consumers to make copies of music which they have purchased, even just one copy. Pariser replied, “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy’,” she said.
Wow. Really? Doesn’t that make the wide majority of music consumers thieves, then? I have not bought a record in years, and hearing that only makes me more likely to never buy one in the future…
More importantly, if that is the baseline for discussion, man, why bother talking about things, don’t bother wasting your breath and remain a criminal! Let me explain what happens when you don’t think closed but in fact open up. Here’s a graph of our daily video streams, since we went viral and allowed users to embed clips anywhere online:
Not bad hey?
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