Re: [microsound] mp3 redux

["walrus and the carpenter" <chewybach@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cool off. It's all going to your head and coming out wrong. Your arguments
deny biology and nature...something you nor I can stop. Nature is a massive
copying mutating machine that blows your rationizations to fragments. What
about evil? Get used to it because it's in everyone's genes. Do you think
that every executive and artist out there in the world is god's little
angel? Of course not, neither are they all devils. But the most proactive
and reproducing groups are the most successful. Redundencies are completely
necessary in humans and most definitely in nature. To deny this is like
fighting a war on some drugs. If you really want to fight piracy close down
every reproducing plant in the world...call back every cd-recorder, make the
rain go away and make the sun shine for all of us. But i'll be the first to
go on record and say that your ideas about nature are a moral blasphemy
towards god's creation just as the illegalization of plants/nature is a
paradox of capitalism and freedom's natural biological functions.
----- Original Message -----
From: "jan.l" <jl@xxxxxxx>
To: "microsound" <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 4:50 AM
Subject: Re: [microsound] mp3 redux

Why should anyone need to report their income or lifestyle to you? Why do
you need this information? Do you see yourself as material for at strong
leader (maybe in uniform?) that knows everyone elses best and you will then
decide who gets what and which lifestyle you think they should adher to?

Personally I dislike shorts. Lets join forces. I can shoot anyone wearing
shorts and you can beat artists until you get all their income statements
and decide what they can have for dinner tonight and which one are allowed
to have a car or wife & children.

All these rationalisations for stealing IP are becoming more & more
ridiculous. Why not just relax, look at yourself in the mirror every morning
and say "I am a greedy little thief" and then to hell with it and continue
saving your money by copying all the stuff you want. Heck, even the RIAA
might go for that deal ;=)

You are trying wildly to separate out certain people/activities in society
as some kind of paria - free for everyone to hunt down and capitalize from.
In this case composers/musicians. Next week? Taxi drivers? Homosexuals?
Muslims?

Is it o.k. to do just anything because technology makes it possible? Is it
o.k. to shoot liberals just because we have the technolgy (guns)? Is it o.k.
for every pervert to listen and watch their neighbors make love just because
the technology to secretly spy on them is available? Is it o.k. for Dow to
ignore Bhopal just because they can get away with it?

Still you *can* have your file-sharing within todays system without making
everyone using it a greedy little person. Simply make your case to the
artists/composers/musicians and if it is as good as you say it is .. they
will come in droves and happily surrender their IP to anyone who needs free
content to improve their site-profits (morpheus, kazaa and whatever sites
there are). Some may not give up their IP rights and work for nothing  -
but why not just ignore those few and let them have their way - just let
them grumpily sit in their corner guarding their stuff.

>There's a moral point that continually comes up regarding downloading -
support
>the indie labels if you download. This indie boosterism doesn't do it for
me.
>As much as I'd like to lend a hand to other artists, this capitalist world
>forces me to be more practical. There is an idea that artists should be
able to
>earn enough money from their creative endeavors to support themselves and
their
>families. I would love to be a part of that (sometimes questionably)
enviable
>group; however, I doubt many people aside from the superstars and other
>major-label-supported performers are doing so. To those list members with
CDs
>out, remind us if the income from sales of your CDs is your only or major
>source of income. If it is, would you be kind enough to tell us not your
>income, but a self-assessment of your standard of living (lower-class by
>American standards and proud of it, comfortably middle-class, rich-as-hell
and
>not done yet)?
>
>The continuing death of labels (such as Strictly Rhythm
>http://www.discjockey101.com/oct2002.html) means that labels aren't keeping
up
>with the times. They are offering an obsolete product. Some people continue
to
>promote packaging (case, liner notes, hand-drawn/printed art) as a
>justification for the production of CDs. However, it's arguable that these
are
>contributors to environmental problems. The mining of the aluminum at the
core
>of the CD destroys wildlife habitats, the solvents used in sputtering the
>aluminum disc with plastic are toxic, the use of the plastic in the cases
>supports Bush's oil empire, the cardboard in the sleeves brings down more
>trees, the manufacturing process uses too much electricity which wastes
>resources, the selling of the CD in stores through distributors promotes an
>inefficient delivery system, and so on. Why buy such a product when it is
>available, minus all drawbacks, for free on the web? There is the moral
>argument that I should buy it because not to is stealing. However, if
buying it
>means supporting and affirming all of the aforementioned ills, wouldn't
>downloading be at least in morally neutral territory?
>
>The only arguments I hear on various lists are moral ones. Why do all
writers
>ignore the economic side of this, imho, primarily economic issue? What is
the
>product that an artist can provide that is compelling enough to buy? I have
a
>well for my water; why would I pay the city for their water system? Live
>performing is one aspect. Jello Biafra moans about the
>artists-as-traveling-minstrel, and given the poor environmental conditions
of
>most venues (cigarette smoke, drunken spectators, competition with the
>meat-market background), I can see his point. Those of you who are selling
CDs
>and performing live, what is the breakdown, percentage-wise, in the income?
>Steve Albini writes (http://www.negativland.com/albini.html) that for most
>major label bands, the CD is already a vehicle for promoting a tour (the
only
>real source of income).  Interestingly, farmers have been facing a severe
>downturn in the price of their commodity. Without subsidies, farming in
America
>isn't profitable. The same goes for American manufacturing. In our world,
>everything has become too easy to make and so there is too much of it. Core
>economic issues are being challenged in ways that haven't been before.
>Capitalism relies on scarcity and unlimited resources (sounds absurd from
the
>start, doesn't it?). We are rapidly facing the end of scarcity (at least
for
>many information-based products) and the end of unlimited resources (oil,
land,
>wood, others).
>
>So the real question is: how can artists make a living at art in this
economic
>situation? For me, donations aren't a viable answer; I already find the
>Salvation Army guy at Christmas to be a nuisance. What is a compelling and
>morally-superior product that an artist can produce to make a reasonable
>income? While it's clear that the problems with capitalism are
long-standing,
>it doesn't appear that other viable systems are forthcoming. I realize it's
a
>little OT, but can anyone recommend recent writing (preferably web-based)
>discussing these problems? Anyone know any outstanding articles on gift
>economics?
>
>Renick
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Everything you'll ever need on one web page
>from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts
>http://uk.my.yahoo.com
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>website: http://www.microsound.org
>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org

------------------------------