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NYT Promotes File Sharing
aisaac writes "An article in today's NYT comments intelligently on filesharing. Key points: downloading music is not illegal, peer-to-peer enables this useful and legal activity, and a list of good places to find good music online (including the American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress. The Induce Act is briefly mentioned without analysis, but the article does not mention that some of the Act's sponsors and cosponsors have expressed a willingness to consider ammendments to restrict the application of the Act. (This according to a letter I received from Senator Sarbanes.) Let's keep the pressure on!" A Congress call-in day is being organized.
Within Epitonic's huge roster is at least a song or two from some major-label acts, among them the New York band Secret Machines, the Texas band Sparta and the English bands Radiohead and Spiritualized. But independent bands like Bright Eyes or Godspeed You Black Emperor are every bit as good.
Whenever I see the word "intelligent" included in the summary of an article linked from Slashdot I cringe. This time I was absolutely shocked to see that the article was not only intelligent but insightful and informative. I hadn't been directed to Epitonic before but I am sure I will poke around there some more. I have become a big fan of "alternative" bands that have been making it to the radio scene as of late (Secret Machines, Velvet Revolver, and Modest Mouse to name a few). Modest Mouse allows the taping and distribution of their live performances and it's apparent that the Secret Machines don't have much of a problem with getting their sound out there. Nothing gets me more interested in purchasing tickets to see a show than when the bands distribute their music for free.
The article mentions my all time favorite, FurthurNET, as a viable alternative to other P2P networks which harbor many files that probably shouldn't be there. FurthurNET is great when you are looking for something more "headsy" like DSO, Phish, or the Dead. You might have better luck looking for other stuff on torrent sites out there (like the now seemingly defunct sharingthegroove.org).
Support the bands that support the free distribution of their music. It's already working!
...but downloading copyrighted materials you don't have permission for that belong to someone else is. Let's not forget that a lot of the anti-copyright sentiment around here magically disappears whenever we have a GPL violation article.
It's nice to finally see a journalist who is at least moderately informed on this issue. More coverage like this will be needed though to bring greater understanding to the majority public. The Hatch'esque philosophy of absolute IP supremacy over legitimate use of technology will do great harm to innovation if it's adopted by the masses. The xxAA orgs would like nothing better than this, but ultimately the consumer would lose.
The RIAA also has been quite effective in making it sound like the Internet and P2P will end music. The reality is it may put an end to the current music industry where profits are reaped at the artists' expense but those who are musically talented will continue to create new music. The most likely end result is an entirely new music distribution mechanism, one that pays the artists fairly. More and more bands are starting to offer Mp3s online, both for free and for small payments. The more people who know about this and start taking advantage of it, the quicker the current crooked practices of the music industry will fail. It might even lead to more good music being out there. :)
If authorized downloads were all that was file-shared, file-sharing would be a non-issue.
The issue revolves around unauthorized sharing, and this article isn't about that.
Here's what I do: Bitty Browser & Andromeda
The debate over filesharing networks a close analogy to the gun-control debate. In other words, here they are saying that the means (e.g., guns or file-sharing) are not at fault, it's the motivation (e.g., for violent crime or stealing music). The opposite side of the debate is, of course, if we remove the means, then we disable the criminal.
I bring this up only to point out how Congress reacts to these types of questions. That is, the means can be held accountable (i.e., gun registration, bans on some firearms). We could see uncontrolled filesharing networks banned based only on how the RIAA is framing the debate.
"Actually, this article doesn't promote filesharing at all, but rather legal sources of authorized downloads and/or streams."
So, those aren't...um...files? And people aren't, well, sharing them? Could you possibly explain what is different between sharing files and filesharing?
So far only a few people have signed up for the Congress Call In Day. Come on Slashdotters, shouldn't you all be protecting your right to own a computer? Where is the Slashdot effect on this one?
Actually you can hear a song for free in many other places (i.e. radio, TV). But how about this scenario:
No one downloads the song via P2P.
Radio plays it once. 10,000 people hear it.
Ten people buy it.
Instead of:
Million people download it via P2P.
Thousand people like it, so the they buy it.
Not to mention that it cost $100,000 to get it played on the radio in the first place.
...richie - It is a good day to code.