Slashdot Mirror
Novelist Blames Piracy On Open Source Culture
joeflies writes "CNN published an article entitled 'Digital Piracy Hits the e-Book Industry.' It quotes the following statement by novelist Sherman Alexie: 'With the open-source culture on the Internet, the idea of ownership — of artistic ownership — goes away. It terrifies me.'"
The article also points out a couple of interesting statistics for a "slumping" industry beset by piracy: "Sales for digital books in the second quarter of 2009 totaled almost $37 million. That's more than three times the total for the same three months in 2008, according to the Association of American Publishers," and "consumers who purchase an e-reader buy more books than those who stick with traditional bound volumes. Amazon reports that Kindle owners buy, on average, 3.1 times as many books on the site as other customers."
When has CNN ever been considered to be an objective news provider?
Well the thing is that a non-trivial amount of people on Slashdot aren't software engineers or the like. Many of them are unemployed college student types. They've never had a real job, or have had nothing but a menial job. They haven't really given their position much thought, it is just a kind of general parroting of the "Information wants to be free, man!" slogan without real consideration. They've never had to support themselves so the consideration of how one does so hasn't really entered their mind.
Great point. I mean unless you count that his entire article is wrought with quotes making that assumption, and he makes no attempt to correct it. I guess he could disagree with them all but never state that in his article. It happens all the time, an author presenting only one side of an argument and it's the side to which he doesn't agree.
You are the one making assumptions. I have no reason to "justify" behavior in which I do not engage. I do like to actually understand what I am reading and assess if the claims hold water. In this case they don't.
A: Plenty of poeple in the world still ask the question "Who the hell is Dan Brown"
B: Maybe I heard of him, but I haven't given him any thought lately. Most people have heard of Ford Motor company. You might want to inform them that they are just throwing their money away advertising, because nobody explained that to them apparently.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
With the negro culture on the Internet, the idea of ownership — of artistic ownership — goes away. It terrifies me.
P.S. By "negro" I mean "peer-to-peer". I was just tossing terms around and expecting ya'll to come up with something profound for yourselves. Hope I didn't offend anyone. And if I did, who care about some damn negros, anyway?
Oh the MARKET.. the great and good MARKET... the same invisible hand that nearly bankrupted itself out of greed and stupidity.
And... who said you can't make a living off people enjoying your work? Are you *THAT* fucking stupid and lacking in a imagination - you should definitely be writing Harry Potter novels.
I'm talking about people who write books, write or make music, movies, etc. If you have a family or want a life or good health you can't spend your time on the road touring nor can you afford to spend all your free time producing content for which you earn little income.
You are ignoring the basic fact that most people who write books and write or make music don't make a living doing it.
Your few friends and acquaintances are not proof of anything and they don't refute what I wrote. I too have friends who still involved in music production, bands, books and the like. They'd love to do it full time and at one time they did. They never had enough commercial success (i.e. income) from it to justify continuing to do it as anymore of a hobby. None of that was because of piracy. Creative arts are tough businesses.
Piracy becomes an issue for those who've been able to have enough success so they can do if for a living. The vast majority of these folks will never get rich, and that's not their goal. They want to make enough to be comfortable and take care of their loved ones. Sharp increases in piracy are a threat to them because they don't have much margin to work with - especially the song writers and authors who don't get paid to perform. Most of what I listen to or read is produced by these folks. I don't listen to the "big names" much or read their books.
Your statement that "most of the people" would do it event if there wasn't going to be a "big paycheck" misses the point unless you think a "big paycheck" is $80 to 100 grand a year. It's not. You also don't account for the drop in production and quality that occurs when you have to spend 40 to 50 hours a week in your day job to make ends meet.
Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok