"Although the corps make a good argument about compensating intellectual creators, does this justify the complete elimination of freedom online?"
Corporations compensate intellectual creators for making them money, not for making music. Artists are paid relative to the revenue work brings in, not for the work itself, which is why money is what the entire industry and many artists are all about. I don't want to hear musicians who are in it for the money anyway. So no, they really don't have a good argument.
I believe that people want to do the right thing, i.e. compensate artists for their work. If we agree that this is true then we must conclude that something is wrong with the current system or there wouldn't be such widespread illegal activity. Sony is fighting up a cliff. Culture will never, ultimately, subserve itself to those who would make money off of it.
I think that widespread free swapping of music files is just a temporary rebellion against the current obsolete system of distribution and marketing, and that it will give rise to a better way, hopefully in which artists and producers are compensated directly for their work rather than for the money they make, as they will no longer need record companies to market and distribute their music. I don't think most people would be comfortable if they thought that freely acquiring music would go on forever. People are waiting for a new solution. Sony obviously isn't going to provide that.
Sony is right in that MP3 sharing is wrong but I am willing to take part in it if it replaces Sony Music with "Artist A Music" and "Artist B Music."
Slashdot Mirror
"Although the corps make a good argument about compensating intellectual creators, does this justify the complete elimination of freedom online?"
Corporations compensate intellectual creators for making them money, not for making music. Artists are paid relative to the revenue work brings in, not for the work itself, which is why money is what the entire industry and many artists are all about. I don't want to hear musicians who are in it for the money anyway. So no, they really don't have a good argument.
I believe that people want to do the right thing, i.e. compensate artists for their work. If we agree that this is true then we must conclude that something is wrong with the current system or there wouldn't be such widespread illegal activity. Sony is fighting up a cliff. Culture will never, ultimately, subserve itself to those who would make money off of it.
I think that widespread free swapping of music files is just a temporary rebellion against the current obsolete system of distribution and marketing, and that it will give rise to a better way, hopefully in which artists and producers are compensated directly for their work rather than for the money they make, as they will no longer need record companies to market and distribute their music. I don't think most people would be comfortable if they thought that freely acquiring music would go on forever. People are waiting for a new solution. Sony obviously isn't going to provide that.
Sony is right in that MP3 sharing is wrong but I am willing to take part in it if it replaces Sony Music with "Artist A Music" and "Artist B Music."