Re: [microsound] let the music play

[pelagius pelagius <pela_gius@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: tad <tad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> So it was actually the "violators," in this case a major U.S.
> corporation, that got the "artists" to back down. Hardly the rosy (and
> inverted) picture that the EFF offers!

I fear that this is what's happening again as the tech industry promotes 
file sharing and anti-copyright rhetoric in an attempt to keep the flow of 
free content going through their networks.

Excellent post by the way.  It's great to bring a little historical 
perspective into the discussion.

Personally, I had a little problem with a couple of the "premises" at the 
beginning of the EFF statement and in particular the creative issues brought 
up by #3...

> Third, the fans do a better job making music available than the labels.

This is an absurd assertion.  In this situation the artists have no control 
over the presentation of their work.  File sharing systems are full of music 
that is poorly encoded, mis-named or incomplete.

> Apple's iTunes Music Store brags about its inventory of over 500,000 songs. 
> Sounds pretty good, until you realize that the fans have made millions of 
> songs available on KaZaA. If the legal clouds were lifted, the peer-to-peer 
> networks would quickly improve.

If "legal clouds were lifted"?  Of course it's easy to amass millions of 
songs if you do it illegally!  If you work through legal channels, get the 
artist's permission and pay the owners of the publishing rights then yes, it 
is much slower and more difficult to put music online.  This is one of their 
"premises"?  To me it just sounds like a bit of childish impatience and an 
easy way to pooh-pooh the success of itunes.

> Fourth, any solution should minimize government intervention in favor of 
> market forces.

Sure, if you're a dogmatic libertarian.

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