Nobility, shmobility....

[wheelieterp]

So I have been playing on-line footsie with this local guy: chatting, giggling, flirting.. you know.. the fun stuff...(We have actually met in person before, but I don't think he remembers). He works for one of the big (maybe THE biggest?) recording companies, and in the course of our banter, during which I was making fun of one the artists his company handles, I mentioned that I had illegally downloaded some of her stuff. Ha! Ha! Me naughty!! Tee hee, giggle, right?? Yeah.. Not so much... His response? He may lose his job of 19 years because of illegal downloading.... SMACK! Right in the face with a real world consequence..

Now mind you, I know that the entertainment industry is a multi bazzillion dollar industry, and this particular silly, vapid, yet danceable Latina pop sensation with an awesome voice and belly shirts to die for is not exactly going to go hungry from my poaching of two lousy songs from limewire, but there are principles at play here. I am the guy that does not buy new things because of the exploitation of labor... I am the guy who rallies against corporate greed and the damage that it does the environment and to humanity. In my neo-hippy, stick-it-to-the-man way of thinking, pirating music was tantamount to being a digital Robin Hood, right? Two problems with that line of thinking....

Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. In those days, rich meant nobility, an insulated caste of folks who lived on the backs of peasantry who had no rights... You think we got it bad these days, folks?? HA! I am not sure it ever really was, but FOR SURE in this day and age, there is no way to steal from the Lords (industry) without it having direct effects on the common dudes and dudettes.

The second problem with that logic?? Yeah.. Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave it away to help the poor. Me? Yeah... I stole from the music industry and gave it to my iPod; which, despite my best efforts at anthropomorphizing, is really not giving it away at all. It's keeping it... Where's the nobility in that??

I removed Limewire from my computer. Lesson learned.

Comments

[ladyinthecanoe.livejournal.com]

See, I also like to think I can stick it to the man whenever I get the opportunity to do so. The music thing, though, I've always been a little hesitant about. I know the record companies get the bulk of the profits while the artists usually get screwed (and I hatehatehate that the cost of a new CD is so freakin' jacked-up), but like you illustrated, I'm never really sure who gets fucked over if I lift what I listen to. So I try to go the Amazon used goods route when I can, definitely use the library's catalog, and borrow from friends otherwise. I feel pretty okay doing that.

The only CD I ever outright stole was Nellie McKay's latest. But that's only because her label (Sony) pulled it from the shelves a week before it was due out and weren't planning on letting her see the light of day under their name ever again. She's parted ways with them, and I do plan on buying her album when she releases it on her own, so I'm okay with that one transgression, too. Plus, I did it from someone else's computer. I ain't stoopid. ;P

[patrock.livejournal.com]

I have always been wierd about people thinking that the price of a CD is too much. A CD, if its not abused, can last you the rest of your life.

Something that makes me happy costs $16 and it will continue to make me happy for a very long time, thats cheap.

[ladyinthecanoe.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that $16 really isn't that much for an investment (and I will certainly shell out if it's something I know I will enjoy, but can't otherwise get and just can't live without), but the thing is with me is that the price for them just hasn't gone down from that "base" in years upon years, when record companies have been promising that it would. It just kind of rankles me. But I most definitely see your point.

[patrock.livejournal.com]

It definately has been an empty promise on behalf of record companies, given that also the price of manufacturing a CD since then has drasticly dropped.

Though after having done all the work that goes in to making an album from the ground up: writing music, recording, artwork, manufacturing, marketing, selling .... a few times now ..... I am much more sympathetic to the record label end of it all.

[drwhore.livejournal.com]

He may be losing his job because the music biz is in sucky mode but its not all about illegal dowloading. Digital music technology is changing the way people consume music. People now buy only a couple of songs per album (from iTunes, etc.) instead of the whole album which is also related to the fact that most albums only have a couple of "good" (meaing catchy hit songs) per album. However, the big record companies are fighting this technological revolution tooth-n-nail and apparently aren't willing to change their marketing/distribution paradigms. The music biz has its own responsibility for the decrease in sales but they would rather blame the consumer for illegal downloads than make the appropriate changes to their business structure.

[patrock.livejournal.com]

This is what started it all: In 1996, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law. This act deregulated media ownership, allowing a company to own more stations than previously. Clear Channel went on a buying spree, purchasing more than 70 other media companies, plus individual stations.

Sometimes I see downloading, legal or not, as an essential way of distributing and marketing my music. Other times I see it as a complete depreciation of something I call Art.