Ummmm... right on! If reason and/or rationality accounted for anything in the moderation of the comments on this site, I'd like to see a "5" next to this one.
Okay. Your over simplification of a complex issue has riled me.
The artists (or the record company) own their recordings and have the right to do what they want with them. Middle class white collar theft is no less theft than any other kind of theft.
To clarify: theft is when somebody takes something from me and, as a result, I have lost that something forever (or at least until it is returned to me). Downloading digital info is not the same thing. It just isn't. I'm not saying it's good or bad, just different. We are never going to see a satisfactory resolution to THE NAPSTER PROBLEM until we insist on discussing it rationally. This is new technology that our various legal, ethical and moral systems never saw coming. Let's admit as much and seek higher ground.
Ahhh... but have you ever been moved by a game? And I don't mean moved to tears of frustration. Every medium has its strengths and its weaknesses. One HUGE strength that gaming has over movies is, of course, the interactivity. Go see an Ahnuld Schwartzenberger film and you get to see some middle-aged Austrian guy run around killing people. Play a round of UNREAL and you get the supreme thrill of doing the running and killing yourself.
Am I the only one who's noticing that action movies just aren't as much fun as they used to be?
"While I can't verify that claim, I will note that they are vigilant in making it clear that they respect your privacy."
Okay, I'll buy that for now. The problem that I see is more to do with what happens down the line when there's more than just one or two manufacturers in the game, when everybody must have a TIVO style homeplayer, when one particular brand is suddenly far cheaper than the rest... because part of the deal is that the CONSUMER chooses to trade a little privacy for a cash saving... and so it goes.
Touche. Music is music. It will always find a way to emerge from human souls. As for the music industry... all I can say is, thanks guys for helping spread the word but it seems to me that you're just becoming far more trouble than you're worth.
I need a Rolls Royce - cause it's good for my voice. (T-REX)
Hmmm? The lovely Ms Rand. The most frightening thing about her ideas is how readily they seem to appeal to a certain indentifiable demographic mindset; specifically, a young fairly well educated man or woman without much in the way of a sense of humor who happens to have come from a reasonably well-off background and is troubled by all the inequality in the world.
If everything revolves around one's apparent integrity, then poor people are really just getting what they deserve, right? Gee, I feel better already just having written that down.
... the reason why prices are what they are is that money is intercepted by several layers of middlemen, each who marks it up a percentage ( so the cost rises exponentially with the number of middlemen ). The record company is just one such layer.
Yes and no actually. It's fairly standard practice for bigger record companies to own at least part of any number of the distributors, retailers, shippers etc that all grab a piece of the cash action.
The classic abuse of this is the record company that advances an artist the cash to record an album, but then insists that the artist use a recording studio that the company just happens to own (at least in part). So the cash goes right back into the company coffers and the artist still has to pay it all back (with interest) out of future revenues... etc.
Who says there's no creativity in the Record Companies? The crux of it all is, the artist invariably gets screwed in every imaginable orifice.
It seems to me that real achievable interactivity at the Oscars would be along the lines of letting viewers choose between various simultaneous broadcasts all covering different aspects of the event.
For instance, besides the overall (same old same old) Oscars presentation we all saw last night, we should have had a chance to check out the backstage goings-on when things got dull. Back stage at the Oscars is where a lot of the real action is as all the various winners have to instantly face off against a sort of media scrum (a sort of ongoing press conference with constantly changing faces). It's all expertly timed so that as soon as one winner is finished, the next one stumbles in, a little stunned and unprepared. All good fun.
I also think it would be interesting to have a static sort of security cam in the theater's main foyer areas so we could check out who was leaving the show early or taking a pee-break (and during whose speech). This kind of thing is already being done with European Formula 1 motor racing coverage, and elsewhere no doubt.
"The only people trying to give away all artists works for free around here are the people who aren't artists."
Actually, you're wrong on that one. I remember back around 1985-86 when I first heard about DAT tape (the first commercially available digital recording process that provided for pretty much perfect hiss-free duplication). As a dedicated hometaper (and recording artist), my first thought was, "That's it. It's over for the Recording Industry as we know it." Now, 15 years later, I'm glad to see the inevitable finally happening.
Music should be free. Even my own. This kind of open communication really is for the greater good of humanity. For what it's worth, there's still lots of money to be made via live performance, merchandising of non-digital stuff and, oh yeah, working the occasional day-job... like I'm supposed to be doing right now.
Yes, it's true. Ideas are animals. They want to run free. We have as much control over them as we do our children (ie: some, but not as much as we think or hope).
As for artists and their income, let's put it this way: art and commerce have about as much in common as love and pornography (not my line, but it's a good one). We should just accept this and move on. The challenge becomes NOT how to make artists rich but how to keep them well fed, warm, healthy and inspired. We do need them as surely as we need oxygen.
Lots of good & useful ideas floating around in this discussion. Thanks to all involved.
There's a pretty funny poll running at http://www.Filmindustry.com that's linking all of this year's Oscar weirdness (the stolen statuettes, the ballots lost in the mail etc) to "... an alleged conspiracy of angry Canadians."
I agree entirely with your "insight". It touches on perhaps my biggest concern with our over legislated culture: the fact that the more law becomes a game based on absurdly complex, contradictory, confusing and unjust rules (as opposed to ethical notions of justice) the more cynical we all become. A little cynicism is not a bad thing but too much of it will kill our culture. Let's keep it simple. Let's keep it sane. Home taping is killing the music industry... and it's fun.
I agree and I'm not even American. Problem is, what will you if you receive a threatening note from a lawyer? What kind of stand are you willing to take? This is how these PROFESSIONALS wield their power. It would be expensive (in time and money) to fight them in a legal way. No question.
And the MUSIC INDUSTRY thinks they can win people back from MP3. Good luck, my dinosaur friends. You are going down hard and no one will mourn your passing.
Reminds me of certain bullies I remember from high school.
Slashdot Mirror
The artists (or the record company) own their recordings and have the right to do what they want with them. Middle class white collar theft is no less theft than any other kind of theft.
To clarify: theft is when somebody takes something from me and, as a result, I have lost that something forever (or at least until it is returned to me). Downloading digital info is not the same thing. It just isn't. I'm not saying it's good or bad, just different. We are never going to see a satisfactory resolution to THE NAPSTER PROBLEM until we insist on discussing it rationally. This is new technology that our various legal, ethical and moral systems never saw coming. Let's admit as much and seek higher ground.
Am I the only one who's noticing that action movies just aren't as much fun as they used to be?
Okay, I'll buy that for now. The problem that I see is more to do with what happens down the line when there's more than just one or two manufacturers in the game, when everybody must have a TIVO style homeplayer, when one particular brand is suddenly far cheaper than the rest ... because part of the deal is that the CONSUMER chooses to trade a little privacy for a cash saving ... and so it goes.
I need a Rolls Royce - cause it's good for my voice. (T-REX)
If everything revolves around one's apparent integrity, then poor people are really just getting what they deserve, right? Gee, I feel better already just having written that down.
Yes and no actually. It's fairly standard practice for bigger record companies to own at least part of any number of the distributors, retailers, shippers etc that all grab a piece of the cash action.
The classic abuse of this is the record company that advances an artist the cash to record an album, but then insists that the artist use a recording studio that the company just happens to own (at least in part). So the cash goes right back into the company coffers and the artist still has to pay it all back (with interest) out of future revenues ... etc.
Who says there's no creativity in the Record Companies? The crux of it all is, the artist invariably gets screwed in every imaginable orifice.
No sympathy here for the Record Biz. Not a bit.
For instance, besides the overall (same old same old) Oscars presentation we all saw last night, we should have had a chance to check out the backstage goings-on when things got dull. Back stage at the Oscars is where a lot of the real action is as all the various winners have to instantly face off against a sort of media scrum (a sort of ongoing press conference with constantly changing faces). It's all expertly timed so that as soon as one winner is finished, the next one stumbles in, a little stunned and unprepared. All good fun.
I also think it would be interesting to have a static sort of security cam in the theater's main foyer areas so we could check out who was leaving the show early or taking a pee-break (and during whose speech). This kind of thing is already being done with European Formula 1 motor racing coverage, and elsewhere no doubt.
"The only people trying to give away all artists works for free around here are the people who aren't artists."
... like I'm supposed to be doing right now.
Actually, you're wrong on that one. I remember back around 1985-86 when I first heard about DAT tape (the first commercially available digital recording process that provided for pretty much perfect hiss-free duplication). As a dedicated hometaper (and recording artist), my first thought was, "That's it. It's over for the Recording Industry as we know it." Now, 15 years later, I'm glad to see the inevitable finally happening.
Music should be free. Even my own. This kind of open communication really is for the greater good of humanity. For what it's worth, there's still lots of money to be made via live performance, merchandising of non-digital stuff and, oh yeah, working the occasional day-job
Yes, it's true. Ideas are animals. They want to run free. We have as much control over them as we do our children (ie: some, but not as much as we think or hope).
As for artists and their income, let's put it this way: art and commerce have about as much in common as love and pornography (not my line, but it's a good one). We should just accept this and move on. The challenge becomes NOT how to make artists rich but how to keep them well fed, warm, healthy and inspired. We do need them as surely as we need oxygen.
Lots of good & useful ideas floating around in this discussion. Thanks to all involved.
There's a pretty funny poll running at http://www.Filmindustry.com that's linking all of this year's Oscar weirdness (the stolen statuettes, the ballots lost in the mail etc) to "... an alleged conspiracy of angry Canadians."
I agree entirely with your "insight". It touches on perhaps my biggest concern with our over legislated culture: the fact that the more law becomes a game based on absurdly complex, contradictory, confusing and unjust rules (as opposed to ethical notions of justice) the more cynical we all become. A little cynicism is not a bad thing but too much of it will kill our culture. Let's keep it simple. Let's keep it sane. Home taping is killing the music industry ... and it's fun.
I agree and I'm not even American. Problem is, what will you if you receive a threatening note from a lawyer? What kind of stand are you willing to take? This is how these PROFESSIONALS wield their power. It would be expensive (in time and money) to fight them in a legal way. No question.
And the MUSIC INDUSTRY thinks they can win people back from MP3. Good luck, my dinosaur friends. You are going down hard and no one will mourn your passing.
Reminds me of certain bullies I remember from high school.