Kazaa Going to Court

msim writes "According to the The Sydney Morning Herald" Kazaa will be going to court after their appeal to the Federal Court was dismissed. The case will be going ahead on March 23rd"

Comments

Face the music?

[Baldorg]

More like facing the Disk industry am I right?

Re:So...

[Deflagro]

You know that's not so much funny as it is interesting. They want to crack down on all this evil P2P stuff but, it CAN be used for legal means. I have a telephone but it doesn't mean I make prank calls all day long.

I dunno, just liked the comment and have no mod points.

Re:Say cheese!

[Dashing Leech]

Kinda like CD-R manufacturers are making no attempt to curb illegal activities using their products. Or car manufacturers. Or gun manufacturers. Or knife manufacturers. Or chainsaw manufacturers. Or computer manufacturers. Or ... oh, I give up. How about all manufacturers of products that can be used for illegal activities, which is just about everything.

Copyright owners ..

[BorgDrone]

"This represents a massive victory for the copyright owners," he said outside the court.

And that's exactly the problem, the latest CD I bought says on the cover something like : Copyright(C) 2004 $RECORDLABEL instead of Copyright(C) 2004 $ARTIST.
They are always babbling about the artist not getting paid bla bla, while their only concern is their own bank account.

The fact is, tools like KaZaa have shown we don't need record companies anymore, and it has them scared shitless.
Regarding the artists not getting paid and this whining about how it 'hurts' music: there is no need to pay them for download music, for several reasons.

• Artists can earn money by performing (concerts and such), mp3's should be seen as advertising their trade. This happened all the time before the record companies stepped in, artists exchanged songs and travelled from city to city performing them in public, and getting paid for it.
  
• If you're in it just for the money, I really don't want to hear your music anyway. Art should be created for the love of the art, not for monetary gain. Paying 'super stars' exorbitant amounts of money hasn't done their music any good. Look at the great artists from the past, Van Gogh didn't have a pot to piss in. What are rappers going to do ? Switch from music about 'the hood' and how hard life is on the street to singing about why it sucks to pay several million in income taxes ?
  
• The only music that will die together with the record companies is 'produced' music. They won't be missed, really. My life would be just as complete without britney spears and the backstreet boys.
  

Re:Copyright owners ..

[shark72]

"If you're in it just for the money, I really don't want to hear your music anyway. Art should be created for the love of the art, not for monetary gain. Paying 'super stars' exorbitant amounts of money hasn't done their music any good. Look at the great artists from the past, Van Gogh didn't have a pot to piss in."

A couple of issues here.

First, I don't think anybody can say with certainty that 100% of the music they love was created by people who had absolutely no monetary motivation. There is an important difference between being a musician solely for the money, and the chance of wealth being one of the reasons why you've pursued that career.

If you can look at the highlights of your music collection and truly say "all of this great music would still be in my hands if the record companies did not exist," I'd like to see your record collection!

I am well aware of the fact that for four years now, we have heard "P2P has made the record labels obsolete" or "P2P will make the record labels obsolete pretty soon." Just as in indie film circles it was claimed that the Internet would eliminate all the problems that plague traditional indie film distribution. Today, there are excellent resources for indie filmmakers and musicians to use the Internet and low-cost technology to record, mix, produce, distribute, promote, market and sell their work -- and many do -- but the record labels still continue to sign new bands. There are a lot musicians out there who desparately want a recording contract, but can't get one. Completely separate from the issue of choosing the chance at wealth vs. relative poverty, there is the issue that many musicians simply don't want and don't have the skills to run their career as a business. They'd really rather just focus on playing their music, and let the bean counters and the marketing, engineering and sales geeks at the record companies take care of the rest.

As an adjunct to that, it's also been predicted for several years now that there would be a mass exodus from the record labels as major acts opted not to re-up their contracts and instead moved to a solely Internet-based distribution mechanism, where they would rely on the honor system and concert revenues to pay their mortgages. While I've seen some bands release additional material via the web, as well as some bands who went this route after they were dropped by their label, the popular opinion from musicians still seems to be that if you have a record contract, it's in your best intrest to keep it.

The other issue is that you mentioned Van Gogh as an artist who created some great work despite living in poverty. But Shakespeare, Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms and innumerable other greats of the last millennium became wealthy men from their work. Reading the biographies of many of people shows that, yes, they were motivated by money. Sadly, greed is not a concept that was invented in the 20th century.

Re:So...

[iminplaya]

...do you think that you should be held liable if you did make prank calls all day long?

Maybe the "prankster" should be, but not the telephone company for providing the technology.

Re:So...

[Nurseman]

However, following your own analogy, do you think that you should be held liable if you did make prank calls all day long?
but I think a better analogy is should the phone comany be held liable if the customer made prank calls ?

Re:So...

[fireduck]

but I think a better analogy is should the phone comany be held liable if the customer made prank calls ?

and following this analogy, if 99% of all calls were prank calls, should the phone company be required to do something about it?

A musicians point of view.

[polyp2000]

Speaking from a musicians point of view, I cannot understand why the record companies havent used file-sharing , and other internet technologies. Every single illegally downloaded mp3, could be turned into a marketing advantage.
Plus, it would give record companies a lot more control over content than they have now.

MP3's should be treated like radio broadcasts, one should have to get a license in order to share the files. Its up to companies to find out how to generate the revenue streams, either charge for downloads, or provide other subscription based benefits that traditional P2P systems dont currently provide. All that is needed is a better product, and by that I dont mean better artists (but that wouldnt be a bad idea) I mean that they should provide a service that pisses all over everything else.

My personal belief is that these days the way to make real money is through real physical products, not through arbitrary file formats such as ogg or mp3. Through not just CD sales, but from the T-Shirts, the posters, the ticket sales for gigs, subscriptions to fanzines etc.

I am truly surprised that the record companies have not yet realised that instead of turning every 12yr old, boy-band lovin' girl downloading the latest cheesy pop number into a criminal. They should try concentrating on selling more Merchandise.

Record companies should also realise that its the "Proper" bands, who write their own tunes, who innovate and create their own boundaries, that are the ones that are going to be more than a novelty or fad. They are also the ones who will sell more tickets for gigs, and at those gigs people will buy merchandise.

Yep, and it wouldnt be a bad idea not to screw the real artists over when it comes to royalties either. And while im ranting, for gods sake, lets see the end of these dreadful "Pop-Idol" TV shows !

On that note , If you want some free, legal MP3's from an original band.. Please click my sig and download at will, and please god! try not to slashdot my humble computer :)

Nick ...