Slashdot Mirror
ISP Filters & Copyright Extension Defeated In EU
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Last November, EU regulators in the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education began looking at how culture affects the economy and recommended a 'balance between the opportunities for access to cultural events and content and intellectual property' saying that 'criminalizing consumers so as to combat digital piracy is not the right solution.' Industry lobbyists, of course, immediately sprang into action to try to turn that around, writing amendments that would set up mandatory ISP copyright filters and extend EU copyrights to match the USA's life-plus-70 term. Thankfully, the committee rejected all of those amendments: 'Clearly, they're not going to let the ITRE or the European recording industry push them around, which is great news for Europeans. Now if we could only get the US Congress to show as much spine as the French (ouch).'"
Disney have a lot to answer for. Veto all Disney products :-)
If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
You don't understand. Those cheese-eating surrender-monkeys CAVED IN to the Evil Terrorist Content Pirates[tm].
Clearly we must support our patriotic "content producers" to defeat the evildoers.
</SARCASM>
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
And technology will eventually allow for immortality. Governments should be praised for planning for the near-future.
The worst response reward goes to Barbara Boxer. When I contacted her regarding proposed legislation that was intended to further erode fair use and hand more of the public rights to the media companies I got a form letter in reply. That form letter thanked me for my letter and let me know that Barbara Boxer was listening and fully intended to support the legislation that I was writing about (and against).
I don't expect any representative to do what I wish - but it would be nice if they took a few moments to actually READ and maybe THINK a little about what the people they supposedly represent are thinking. Ms. Boxer has clearly identified herself as being on the side of further abuses by the media companies - I don't know about other "representatives" but this one clearly does NOT represent the people who elected her.
When it comes to (gagh) "intellectual property" our Congress is either on the take, or just doesn't care.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Stopping the already insane copyright system from becoming more insane is a good thing, but it is not the same as actually trying to make it less insane.
1. The copyright must be registered
2. An actual person must be named (just like with patents)
3. Death of the registered person means death of the copyright (you can't encourage dead people to make new works no matter how hard you try)
4. At time of registration a term can be chosen, and an appropriate fee paid.
5. A reasonable number of extensions (say, three) are permitted, provided a new fee is paid.
6. A set of standard royalties for a common class of work (say, songs) should be decided, and made available to anyone who cares to pay the standard rate.
7. Willful royalty evasion justifies reasonable punitive damages (say, 3 times the standard royalty), nothing else does.
8. Indoctrinated fair use should be ratified by international treaty and be recognized as a means to end a complaint pre-trial.
And that's about the bare minimum needed to make copyright fit for the intended purpose of encouraging the science and the useful arts. It still doesn't make copyright just but it would at least make it something people would be willing to respect.
How we know is more important than what we know.
This past November, EU regulators in the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education began looking in earnest at Europe's cultural products and heritage as an engine for economic growth.
/.er's have for discussing culture and IP economics I think a few might suffer through it :)
I came acrossthis video the other day. It talks about the economics of culture. I found it thought provoking and figure it will add to the discussion.
Disclaimer: the lecturer is an Austrian School follower and the talk was held by the von Mises Insitution, so most people, including myself, will disagree with a lot of points. Also, it is long, but given the dedication
I got a catholic block.
Let me guess... You don't understand how free software can be big business.
Let me make a second guess... You don't understand why indie producers make a profit on sites where you can also download their music.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I would hazard a guess that about 1/4 to 1/3 of the /. ppl here HAVE produced creative work that IS sold. So, let me take a guess..... you are a fool that buys into either MS's or RIAAs crap.
Although this is far from as important as a vote on a EU directive, I think this is good news.
Unfortunately there is no information on exactly which amendments were rejected. In particular I was worried about amendment 80 (which TFA implies is rejected), amendment 82 (extension of protection time for related rights), and amendments 81 and 83 that looks like a requirement that educational institutions should proliferate the propaganda of MAFIAA.
As for the extension of copyright protection time: This is the same in Europe as in the USA. But in the EU the protection of recording artists and whoever makes the recording is limited to 50 years. There has been big pressure in particular in the UK to extend this, but this has been rejected as not being helpful to cultural development. I am glad that this first attempt by the copyright lobby to force EU member countries to adopt legislation they do not want has failed.
Oh, BTW here is a link to the prosed amendments voted on tuesday.
Maybe when we listen to a song, the first thing we see isn't money, it's emotion.
PS: I am a musician by the way.
Actually, a fixed term would simply be better in most respects. Then you KNOW when it'll be over, period.
Have you ever tried to figure out when a copyright expires? You have to figure out when the copyright holder died, which isn't exactly easy.
While I certainly hate life+X copyright terms, I could live with the copyrights outliving the authors so long as I knew when the copyrights would die.
Politicians in the USA are not stupid, just uneducated and inexperienced.
...to... Islamic clergy death goDma.
... it is not a problem for US.
EU politicians serve the national interest, US politicians serve private interest.
The public/citizens hope that the national/private interest will provide some trickle-down benefits.
So, US citizens get neither national/personal security, nor economic/infrastructure stability.
Dogma4US is a sacrificial religious cult, much like Catholic
As long as you (citizen) suffer/sacrifice and not me (politician/plutocrat)
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
Fuck yeah im a pirate!
all for me! scrEW EVERYONE ELSE!
i took some lessons from big business..
STEAL ANYTHING THAT IS NOT NAILED DOWN!
GREED IS GOOD!
I WANT MINE!
HUMAN LIFE IS WORTH NOTHING!
EMPLOYEES ARE NOT WORTH A DAMM!
CONTENT CREATORS ARE FOR BENDING OVER THE TABLE!
ALL THAT MATTERS IS *MY* BOTTOM LINE.
LOOT, PLUNDER, STEAL!
EMBRACE, EXTEND, EXTINGUISH!
HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS!
So fuck you. and fuck all the companys who taught me this lesson. I know no loyalty now!
What... that wasnt the lesson i was supposed to learn from big companys? well shit. someone should tell them to change their tactics. because thats exactly what they are teaching me. And i'm a quick study.
The drugs which killed Health Ledger are the ones sold by white guys - in suits.
As much as I agree with the fact that current copyright-laws are too restrictive and ridiculously long, the fact is that we do not live forever and achieve immortality through our children. If I create a copyright, I sure as hell want my children to at least be able to profit from it, even if I suffer an untimely death.
One thing I believe about the law is that is should follow nature, and it is natural to extend copyright beyond a lifetime (though not necessarily longer than a few generations (ca. 30 years)).
37 million constituents. Hundreds of thousands of letters. You do the math.
GPL uses copyright law to give it teeth. BSD is effectively anti-copyright and would survive fine without any copyright law.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
This might change once I have kids, but I'd rather my children to become wealthy or not based on their own merits, instead of being spoiled with wealth that I've earned. I'm serious--aside from the costs of raising them properly and sending them to college, my kids ain't getting shit from me. Any money that's left over after I die is gonna go towards the Phil Welch Memorial Library, in memory of my dedication to learning, naming things after myself, and meritocracy. If I die before they're properly raised and sent to college, then it'll go to the Phil Welch's Kids Support And Education Fund, the remainder of which will be donated to the Phil Welch Memorial Library after they graduate.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
I think there's been a fairly significant number of exceptions.
So if I work in a coal mine and suffer an untimely death, should my children continue to receive my salaries?
Seriously, what the fuck is up with this shit? Can't we do something about these 'nigger' trolls OTHER than reading at +1 only? This nigger stuff is either spread by immature 13 year old fucktards who giggle when someone says penis, or anti Slashdot trolls on someone's payroll out on a mission. And what gives you the right to disrespect the dead!
My advice to you, 'nigger' trolls:
Stop being a moron, you're wasting precious moments of your life that you will be regretting on your deathbed, which if Heath is anything to go by may not be when you are 70. Either way, get a life and FUCK OFF!
Also, I realise I'll be modded down for feeding trolls and being off topic, but I feel I have to speak up, as if nothing happens soon I'm leaving Slashdot for good (and no doubt many others).
http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
"If I create a copyright, I sure as hell want my children to at least be able to profit from it, even if I suffer an untimely death."
Then, like most people, you can invest some of the money you make during your lifetime, from copyrighted works or otherwise, and leave that as part of your estate. Life insurance helps as well.
I still don't see how ISP filtering for copyright information would work at a technical level. Every piece of data transmitted would have to be collected, reassembled, and compared against a huge data base then cross referenced against a valid supplier list. The required computing power at all network nodes is just laughable.
I know you were being snarky but seeing as I don't know much about the music industry could you elaborate on how they make money by giving away their product? T-shirts?
For software I understand the business model, but in the free software business model you're not really selling software (because you're giving it away), you're selling support. How do you sell music if you're giving it away? How do you provide "support" for a song?
Flamebait?? Huh?? I'm not trying to start a flamewar, I'm just at a loss to communicate my frustration with Slashdot lately. If you're gonna mod me down, at least do it sensibly, like Offtopic or something.
http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
What many may not realize is that copyrights in music are typically owned by the record label, not by the artist... so taking as an example a recording artist from the 1960s whose albums are still in production... LONG ago that artist ceased to receive any revenue from the continued sale of their album. Their record may be taken out of print and reintroduced without even informing them, much less consulting them or asking for consent.
A few, notably Robert Fripp of King Crimson, fought the legal battle to own his copyrights and assumed responsibility for his back catalog and any music he does from now on. The fruits of this in Fripp's case is a frugal income which suffices to keep his small company of five or so employees operating. A small independent business. Plumbers make more money, and with fewer headaches.
An early copyright expiration would chiefly mean that recordings would be released to public domain sooner, adding insult to injury for the artists who have already been robbed once of their financial interest in the work they created.
You could use Profanity Blacklist, though it will block your own posts also... since you are just as much of a foul-mouthed cretin.
Ok, first off, take a look at this. How should the law follow nature in this situation?
Everyone would like to know that their children will be ok after they're gone.
If your copyrighted work is worth anything to society, then your children - and/or maybe their children - can benefit from that, for a start.
Which bothers you more, the idea of life being relatively hard for your children or the idea of strangers profiting from your work at your at your children's expense?
Firstly, 'nigger' is not a profanity, although it is an offensive word depending on the context. This context is what I find offensive.
Secondly, this is one of the few posts where I swore, so the Profanity Blacklist wouldn't affect my ability to get a message out there.
Thirdly, I'm glad you enjoy berating and insulting random people online, I'm sure it gives your life a warm happy feeling.
Sorry, I was trying to link to this.
First, if you offer free music on your website, people come to your website rather than The Pirate Bay to get your music for free. Then you get hits for the advertising on your site and get paid. Then, because your music is free, you get a fan base faster than you would have otherwise and sell them concert tickets, merchandise, physical CDs with liner art et al, etc.
Yepp! We were there to crush the Roman empire. We were there to defeat the Spanish. And we crushed the feudal system, the British Empire, the Third Reich and the communists. Now we'll get the copyright monopolies too.
If they are nice, their heads will be gently cut off. Otherwise they will not be so lucky.
Politicians in the USA are not stupid, just uneducated and inexperienced.
The US politicians are incredibly smart. They work in an incredibly complex ever changing system in a melting pot of a country to get elected in a crazy election system, and make and pass incredibly complex and sophisticated laws.
The problem with the american system is not their intelligence, it's morals and their motivation. They write laws for the corporation, not for the people. They haven't written a real law for the people in a long time. All that matters to the politicians is who's lining their pockets.
Bush is probably one of the dumbest people all around I've ever seen in a political position, but he's great at shmoozing with people to get fundraising and then staying on message despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He has skills to get elected, he just doesn't have much of any other skills I desire in a politician. Then again, to be a smart politician in the US, that's all you really need, isn't it? That's not that dumb to realize what you have to do to make it as a major leader in the US huh?
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
It's nice in theory. In reality, people already do this, and all the indie bands also have day jobs.
Now if we could only get the US voter to elect a Congress that will show as much spine as the French...
But this isn't a matter of spinelessness. It's more of a matter of just plain corruption.
What?
Actually I dont understand how 'I Dont Believe in Imaginary Property' gets all these articles approved.
tagsalmostaslongassummary
Anyone got a light for my sig?
"and all the indie bands also have day jobs."
Oh no! That's so horrible! Poor people.
IIRC, the standard excuse for life+70 was that it was the Berne convention. The phrase "harmonization with Europe" was used to defend it. So what's all this about the US being the one driving life+70? Yes, it was Bono, Valenti et. al., who drove it; but life+70 wasn't their original creation, was it?
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Even that would not kill copyleft for "professional" software. The FSF already has copyright assignments on file, and could easily afford the FSF. Same goes for corporate sponsored software like SAMBA. Depending on the details, it might mean that anonymous cvs access would be cut off, which would be annoying but survivable.
It would kill off copyleft for most hobbyist software though. I think this is an acceptable price for a more sane copyright regime. And I say that as a card carrying FSF member.
I am French, you insensitive Clod !
I have a day job too, and so does everyone else I know. Why should amatuer musicians be exempt from working like the rest of us ?
You response to point 1, 4 and 5 just shows a different opinion. You think it is good that millions of trivial "works" are removed from the public domain every day. The GP (and I disagree).
Point 2 demonstrates a frighteningly narrow view of privacy. The "right" of a worker in a big corporation not to get credit for his work is equated with "all of privacy". Scary stuff.
Point 3 is fairy tale, both the person who build boats, and the person who design boats for a living, sell the boats/designs. There is no boats left for their children to inherit. If they want to secure their children, they better get life insurance. In that they are similar to the 98% of us who work for a salary. All of us get paid once for our work and skills, not the rest of our life when people use the product of our work and skills.
There is a tiny truth behind point 3, a small number of musicians can actually live by their old royalties. But even for musicians I would not recommend this as an alternative to a proper retirement plan. It is very rare.
Point 6 and 7 shows that you are unaware that standard royalties are existing practice, think music radio.
Point 6 also shows an inability to distinguish between imaginary and real property. Even if you could license the design of a Mercedes for US$ 20.000, an actual working car would be far more expensive. You cannot drive around in imaginary property, you need real property for that.
So, to summary: Unlike the GP you believe putting zillions of trivial stuff under copyright is a worthy goal in itself, you are woefully unaware of how the real world function in many aspects from boat building to royalty, and you are unable to distinguish between the real and the imaginary.
It's fairly easy to build up a fanbase like that. The Swedish Band Machinae Supremacy, which plays something they call SID Metal, offer most of the songs that don't make it on their albums as free downloads on their site. They offer some of the songs that do make it on their albums there, as well. For example, their last album was released in two versions - one from their website, one via retail*. Someone who has bought one version can go to their site and download the tracks he didn't buy.
This has gotten them my attention. I mean, free music! What's not to like about that? You listen to your free music, you like it and then you decide that you want to support the band that was nice enough to entertain you for free. And they have a new fan.
Yeah, I shamelessly plugged them. They deserve it. Not onl for their muic but also because they show that a band can make a decent living without subscribing to the MPAA's "omg copying is teh evul" stance.
* They did that because they and the publisher couldn't agree on which tracks should go on the album.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Copyright in France is already at life+70 years over here and has been since 1957.
The EU law is the same since 1995.
Thankfully, there are very few lawsuits for illegal downloads as the rights
holding golden slugs often lose them because judges are not that stupid and have a right to make law (jurisprudence) just as much as the bought and paid for politicians.
The americans (thank you Bill Clinton!) signed the Copyright Extension Act without any debate
or record of who voted for it. If that isn't corruption of democracy I don't know what is.
It's the same all over the western world, money talks and the rest is more or less ignored.
Just like the drug laws, even though they are a complete failure and the repression
is a waste of police resources, they keep being enforced even though they are absurd and do not stop people who want to get wasted from doing so.
Even if you really, really like doing it, being a musician is work. It's not unusual for a gig to "start" (i.e packing the van) at 2 in the afternoon and finish (turn out the lights, pull up the duvet) its 2 in the morning. Yes a 12 hour day, maybe 2 hours with the buzz on stage. The rest is work. Selling CD's at the gig can be the difference between eating and stopping "work". The audience sharing the music can make it unviable.
If it's out of copyright, then ANY corporation, not just the one delaying deliberately, will get free access to the work. And since the copyright is the only reason why there's any profit in "art" production and profit is the only goal now of corporations, why would they bother with it now?
you make no sense
"Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.
It's been 45 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment"
See, now. This is why I won't register with slashdot. your coding skills are shite and your website evident of this.
STEAL ANYTHING THAT IS NOT NAILED DOWN!
I propose one small alteration-
Rule #1 - Anything that isn't nailed down is mine!
Rule #2 - If I can pry it loose, it isn't nailed down
I am not stubborn. I am right!
The report will be voted in Plenary.
The proponents of internet filtering still have the opportunity to collect 40 signatures of MEPs to table some amendments for plenary. Or get a political group to table them.
Don't worry, the war is only starting.
The bad thing that isn't mentioned, is that some countries in the EU already have adopted the US life+70 years term. For example in Germany, it is exactly the same rule. Making copyright law univeral across the EU would be a great success if it would decrease this term, but actually I don't think the EU has done much for its citizens in terms of copyright or ISP filters. The article is simply wrong about this because many things that are mentioned haven't actually been decided yet.
The strength of a civilization is not measured by its ability to fight wars, but rather by its ability to prevent them.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
A lot of software doesn't require support, or atleast not the amount of support that'll make you a living.
The support model only applies to complex software packages. Small, well-documented products cannot profit from a support model.
Imagine game developers giving away the games for free and trying to make a profit from a support model. Most reasonably well-built games require very little support if any.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
(f/x: inhaling sound through pinched lips: pffffffft)
Hey man, don't bogart it.
lol, you brought me out of my depressed stupor by your lucid and rational comment. That makes sense I guess, thanks mate
Again, thank you!
http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
This has gotten them my attention. I mean, free music! What's not to like about that? The fact that it's Metal ? But the idea certainly has merit and we'll hopefully see more of this. Although in this case they appear to be working with a record company that was enlightened enough to let them do this. I doubt many artists have contracts that allow for this kind of thing.
The other problem is that this so far mostly seems to work for people who already have a bit of presence on the market (usually established with the help of a conventional record company). If I were to start a band tomorrow with my neighbours and create a website with free music, nothing much would happen (regardless of the quality of the music).
There just would be no reason for someone to stumble upon that particular site. Some kind of active promotion would have to take place in the background. However that takes both time and money which newcomers don't have. So that part would theoretically be the job of a record company. Most of which aren't really keen on that "free music" idea. Unless you're already an established player in the market and can push your weight around.
So there's a bit of a chicken and egg problem there unless some sort of major restructuration of that industry eventually takes place (which will presumably happen some day, amidst much screaming and kicking).
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
The other problem is that this so far mostly seems to work for people who already have a bit of presence on the market (usually established with the help of a conventional record company). If I were to start a band tomorrow with my neighbours and create a website with free music, nothing much would happen (regardless of the quality of the music).
There just would be no reason for someone to stumble upon that particular site. Some kind of active promotion would have to take place in the background. However that takes both time and money which newcomers don't have.
Enter the whole Facebook/Myspace/whatever thing.
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
We are facing the same problem.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2601/125/
There is another model - You don't gig in the traditional sense - except very selective to your tastes (local club you like etc). Instead your primary audience is world-wide - you use online venues - such as Second Life - to expose people to your music and earn a few bucks (I've been to quite a few of these - and it is really cool to be able to interact directly with the artist - and the artist has an appreciative audience that is actually interested in the music, rather than a captive one that is only there to drink beer and pick up women - not to mention dealing with club management that primarily wants to sell beer and stiff you on the proceeds).
This way:
1. You can keep your day job while you see if the demand is viable enough to think about music as a primary occupation.
2. You can spend more time writing and recording music, rather than packing the van - which means more recordings for your fans.
3. You can sell your latest CD for a set period of time (until your next CD is ready), then give away your previous recordings, and perhaps a few teaser tracks from your current work; competition is fierce so you can't demand premium prices when people can download headliner tracks from iTunes for a buck - without driving your fans away. The consolation is you don't have to share any of your profit with a bunch of middle men.
4. Merchandising is easy online (T-shirts, Mugs, etc...) and again, most of the profit goes to you.
You're not going to be mega rich unless you're really popular and can drum up enough volume to make the buck-a-song and merchandising model scale, but at least your music can enrich your life in other ways without driving you insane or into the poor house while you pursue that goal (if that is your goal - some folks are happy to let music be a hobby rather than a job).
I've toured with bands before as a roadie, and a sound and light tech, and I'm a musician myself - so I know what that is like - not fun beyond the first few gigs...I like the freedom that the internet and associated new technologies provide. Particularly as I get older (I'm in my 40s now).
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
About as sensible as suggesting that TV would replace live gigs. People like live gigs, real life not second life. Why mention mega rich, most musicians know that they are unlikely to be even affluent let alone rich.
As for the presence: They gain more presence by making commission work (for example, German gaming mag [i]GameStar[/i] occasionally uses their music on special edition DVDs), although I first heard of them before that started - over the internet. Their CDs certainly didn't hit music stores in my area.
Relaxed redistribution rights allow for much broader advertisement, too; for example they occasionally get played on Nectarine Demoscene Radio, a web radio the focuses mainly on chiptunes and related stuff (MaSu is relevant because they have several metal medleys of C64 game tunes). Other radios play them as well, but Nectarine is one I actually know about. Of course being in rotation on popular web radios improves one's visibility - at zero cost, even. Especially when said radios feature a download link for the music they play, which conveniently points to one's website.
So, if you want your band's website to gather attention, you need to use other online services to tell people about it. When you give away some tracks anyway, you can send your stuff to online radio stations as well; no difference. Make videos involving your music and put them on YouTube. Put a link to your site into your Slashdot sig. Explicitly allow people to use your video as background music for their noncommercial stuff as log as they credit you. All those things get you into people's minds. Also, offer to do live gigs for everyone who pays your travel and lodging expenses and maybe a small tip; once you've gathered a bit attention in the 'net people might want you to play at their conventions. Offering to play there for cheap gets you more attention (and a positive image with con-goers). The opportunities are many; you just have to be agile enough to use them. Most of the promotion is actually done by other people once you've got it going.
By the way, I don't know whether MaSu is completely self-sustaining, but they're certainly self-sustaining enough to not fall apart. Their business model seems to work.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
I propose an amendment to your amendment
Rule #3 - If I do manage to pry it loose I get to keep the nails as well.
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
So this makes it OK for you to steal from content creators yourself?
What a tool.
Note to self: Idiots don't read SARCASM tags. Find some other mechanism, such as a clue-by-four for them, so that I'll be compliant with the ADA.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
why dont you niggers get a room and buttfuck there?
(helping things along...)
Uneducated and inexperienced, from my growing up lessons, if you are of no essential value to my mental and emotional health (family! a/o friend!) or physical survival (got your/my back!), then you (a politician/corporatist/clergy... like fellow/broad) may regret never learning and experiencing what is important to others, and this/these other person/s (me or some folks like me) would use the "uneducated and inexperienced" [AKA: Richard Cranium and John Doe] as bait/feed for survival of family, friends, and trustworthy folks. USA/French/Russian revolution .... So, politicians ain't dumb, but fools (without any help) hang and shoot themselves all the time. If push (a history proves) ever came to shove (which is still about 20...30 years from now) ... Darwin awards would be awarded to these plutocrats and their (baby to old-folk) families would like king/zar/... families be genetically eliminated. I hope that such does not happen, because the good and bad will suffer great horrors, but I will not shed a tear for any plutocrat, politician, corporatist, clergy ... family and/or their blood kin. Also, luckily, if it holds off for another 30 years, there is a high probability, I will be dead by a few ears from old age and youthful injuries (You should wink at the bright side of life!).
... stupidity and Chaney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Bolton, Wolfowitz ... many others. Puppets look good, honest, entertaining, but they are always just dumb fucking puppets of "uneducated and inexperienced" fools. Reagan and Bush were proof positive that anyone can be a POTUS (including a Democrat or Independent), the policies and problems simple prove that the rest are really very poorly educated clueless megalomaniacs.
... many others (just in the USA [Russia/China... have their own megalomaniacs jockeying for position]) all are still on track to be world power by dogma4US or W4R3.
Oh, sidebar, Bush (the cheerleader) & Reagan (a sidekick for a monkey actor) had a few things in common
!HAVEFUN! Chaney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Bolton, Wolfowitz
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
You are fycking righteous dude ... the same shit was being passed around during Vietnam. Like it was some seriously heavy shit man, but no one really cared about getting blown-away on some heavy duty major cool shit .... Today, cool shit is money, it is still green, but not any good for smoking just wasting and fycking up people really bad in Iraq, NOLA .... Damn god, I wish the 60s were back for US ... without Vietnam ... like ... that would be like so psychfuckingdelicoutamotherfuckingsight cool, dude it is all just BadBizBuz crap that gets you wasted!
SFMF - !HAVEFUN!
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
This was in response to the parent post regarding the trade-offs of gigging and having a day job. If you are losing money gigging - and/or are complaining about burning the candle at both ends to make ends meet by holding a 'day job', then I suggested an alternative that would provide the satisfaction of pursuing music while limiting the hassles to what you can manage (e.g. gig as much or as little as you want - and fill in the rest using the technologies I mentioned - so you can keep your day job, and still get enough sleep to be functional the next day). On a personal level, I've done enough gigging to know I don't particularly enjoy 90% of the venues that a typical band can book (I've been in dives where the stage was surrounded by a chicken wire cage, and the band, the gear, and crew ended up covered in beer by the end of the night - not to mention the threat of bodily injury -- who needs that crap?)
There are also people that use Second Life, myself included, that enjoy live music in that venue - you're argument is a logical fallacy that, to paraphrase: 'everyone likes live gigs in RL only (not Second Life)'. I've attended 6 concerts in the past month in Second Life - for a fraction of the cost I would have payed, and time lost traveling to the same number of RL concerts. I also got to talk to the artist, and since the crowds were smaller (20 to 70 people at most) - it was a more intimate experience, which allowed the artist to open up about their music and life - more than they would at a club in RL. This aspect is particularly appealing to me as a musician. Now, the simple fact that I, and many others prefer attending Second Life gigs - invalidates your argument.
My experience in this area illustrates that it is doable. To be successful I would argue it needs to be a hybrid model - where you provide a path for your music to travel from pay to free content as time progresses (e.g. sell premium CDs - but also provide lower quality MP3s for free, and/or eventually provide high quality
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
In the 70s and 80s people shared music via cassette tapes. The record companies were up in arms and wanted the practice banned. The courts ruled in favor of mix tape sharing. In that same time period sales of recordings in the new cassette medium were breaking records - even while record sales leveled off (kept alive mainly by the sale of singles). Then along came the compact disk, which sealed the fate of Vinyl records.
Fast forward to today - we are going through a similar paradigm shift as the result of the progression of technologies. Vinyl records can no longer be found at your mainstream record stores - replaced by compact disks. But now ubiquitous computers and digital music formats are changing the way people listen, mix, and buy music. As a result CDs are seeing a decline in sales - even as other formats and business models see an increase in revenue. We are in the midst of these changes - so it is hard to point to irrefutable proof. Nonetheless, if history tells us anything, it shows that the new technologies are shifting the power to control music production and distribution from the large record companies to the individual.
In that environment - if we look into the future and follow current trends out - we can see that clinging to the old model will be a loss leader. Is any mainstream record company pumping out millions of vinyl records today? No - because the changes to technology made that business model obsolete. Similarly, selling compact disks will drop off as the new distribution models shake out. Additionally, I would also argue that more of the profits will be available to artists because the technology eliminates the requirement for a 'middle man'.
Given this trend, you - as a musician - would do better over the long run to start thinking about network distribution, and reducing your costs by building your own recording capabilities.
For established bands this will be difficult initially - it is really easy to let to record label handle all that 'stuff' for the lions share of the profit. But that cash cow is going to dry up - unless they embrace the new business models, which the RIAA so far has been resistant to.
The Grateful Dead were real pioneers in this area (encouraging concert goers to record and distribute their performances). The most recent experiments by such groups as Radio Head, and abandonment of traditional record label by Madonna are just signals that change is imminent. You can either ride the wave, or be overtaken by it. You can't ignore the network and only be a regional band if you want to make a living doing it - with rare exception. As the baby boomers retire to fixed incomes, and the Gen X/Y kids gain affluence you will see this accelerate rapidly.
That is my 2 cents (2p or 2/100th of a Euro...whatever that is; please don't be offended if I ignored your favorite monetary system - yen, peso, shekel etc...).
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain