Piracy or the Next Big Thing?

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Aug 28th 2008

The age-old battle of copyright and artist freedom keeps clanging away in the distance, and are we any better off than we were when DAT machines were castrated in the 80's? I read a report this morning about a UK band called "Show of Hands" who claims they are dependent upon so-called pirates who download their music and share it with friends. This isn't much different than Trent Reznor making his music freely available online (and my wife reports the show here in town didn't look any smaller than the ones in the 90's -- possibly even bigger since Reznor has a new legion of fans younger than us). But the music industry sticks by the mantra "a download is a lost sale, and that is theft." Or, as TorrentFreak puts it, "there is no such animal as 'piracy as promotion.'"

Oh really? This sad, antiquated logic continues to do one thing and one thing only: bolster sales of the top-paid performers while creating a chilling effect on artists who would love innovative promotion but fear free samples will incur the wrath of the mighty RIAA, or worse. It's one thing to send the FBI after some poor schlub who leaks some Guns N' Roses tracks, or sue the bejeebes out of hundreds of college kids, but it's quite another to threaten fair trade when artists (who own their own content, thank you) decide to market in ways they see fit.

The only ray of sunshine could be recent rulings regarding Creative Commons which might allow savvy artists to provide music in the manner they see fit, without the RIAA calling fans of the artists a bunch of pirates. Arrr, matey. At the end of the day there has to be some middle ground, but it's a pity the RIAA and other enforcement agencies see the world in black and white and tend to pull their concepts of ownership from the days when TV's were also monochromatic.

Tags: copyright, creative-commons, piracy, riaa

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

T said 9:45PM on 8-28-2008

Are you advocating committing a crime (privacy)? Or are you pushing for change in the laws?

Adam said 12:35AM on 8-29-2008

are you sure the artist owns the rights to their work?? ... I don't think that's totally true ... i could be wrong though.

Peter said 7:01AM on 8-29-2008

Adam - The creator of the work always owns all the rights to it unless they have sold or transferred them to someone else. The only other case where they wouldn't own them is a "work for hire" situation. If I pay you to create a work then I own the rights. Of course in work for hire you usually have a contract that spells out the transfer of rights.

If an artist isn't associated with a label then they probably own all the rights to their music and can distribute it any way they want.

No1 said 6:58AM on 8-29-2008

The music industry has it wrong at a very basic level when they think that a lost sale is theft. If I decide that a band sucks and I won't buy a cd from them ever again, did I just steal whatever crap they come up with? No!

If someone downloaded a track (even illegally) and then decided not to keep it, yes they did not have permission to download it, but is it a lost sale (as in theft, as in cheating the company out of money)? No! It's not very different from going to a record store and listening to a cd only to decide against buying it (apart from downloading it). Imagine if every store charged people with theft every person who didn't buy enough of whatever they looked at in a store!

If you heard a track on the radio and then didn't buy the record you also surely need to be thrown in jail, right?

In fact they should just make a law that requires banks and credit cards companies to hand over all financial information to the music industry, so they can tax you what they feel like!

Peter said 7:09AM on 8-29-2008

No1 - "If I decide that a band sucks and I won't buy a cd from them ever again, did I just steal whatever crap they come up with? No!" That's not the point. The real question is "If I think a band is great and I download all their songs for free, have they lost sale?"

Continuing your example, suppose I go to the store listen to a track from a CD, decide I like it, and then go home and download everything. Is that a lost sale?

While the original linked article talks about people who listen to a pirated song, love the band and then support them by buying their CDs and going to their concerts, I think we all know the vast majority of illegal downloading is done to avoid paying for the music. People hear a song they like, download the song and never support the artist in any monetary way.

No1 said 5:39PM on 8-29-2008

Yes, if people download a cd and keep it and play it instead of buying it (online or from a store) then that is both illegal and wrong.

My point is that EVERY download isn't always a lost sale. People could might just want to preview a cd without standing in line in a store, or might even have gotten a falsely named download. Technically they could have thought they downloaded a new linux distro or a game patch, and got music (or something worse :-).

Victor Agreda, Jr. said 9:33AM on 8-29-2008

Peter, all good points. I think there's a huge opportunity for change here. Technology is the quintessential paradigm shifter (sorry for the buzzwords, but it is true). We've just gotten to a point where instead of embracing change certain organizations want to stop the change because it is far easier to disrupt something you don't understand than let IT disrupt your traditional way of operating.

So yeah, I have little doubt "most" BT traffic and other p2p traffic would involve copyright violations. Maybe copyright needs an overhaul? Maybe there's a big opportunity for content creators to use that to their advantage? But who would know? Until the MPAA, RIAA and producers catch a clue, stop the fear and embrace the tide, they'll never learn to surf. Keep falling off the board and drown in the currents -- way easier to do.

Stagnation and decay are easy, they are the natural order. Humans fight entropy, that's part of what sets us apart (or our potential, anyway). When I see us laying down and letting the moss grow on our brains, stifling innovation, that's where I call foul.

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