Music and Work

Okay, so I'm being forced to reconsider my position on music "file sharing"--otherwise known as piracy.

First, let's just say that the whole "find, promote, record and sell" star system is dangerous. It results in things like this. And this.

Occasionally groups manage to dodge around the system, although that's increasingly rare. But some groups also break free from their corporate fetters and become genuine musical groups in their own right. That group started out working for Pepsi, too.

But in the current star system, established acts are paid hugely to produce pap: Witness these guys. They ran out of good original material with this album, and everything since has been derivative and generally sub-par. But as one of the most ancient groups with all members surviving, they've achived a certain "Godfather" status. They still make a bomb (oops--sorry Mr. Ashcroft).

As far as I can discern, what this leads to is a culture where the truly new and interesting has to fight until it becomes established. Then it has about a year of life until it gets co-opted.

Canadian groups, frequently unable to claw their way into the much bigger US market, often display a refreshing unconcern for commercial success, and hang onto their market by consistently producing good stuff. This guy was in the music business for twenty-five years and more before he "broke the border". Although I much preferred his work with this outfit, I still watch his site for his charity and humility--he's a good man.

These guys never worried too much about their sales in the south, while this group never really recognized any difference--witness that particular article.

But as far as online "piracy" is concerned, well it's like this:

Sometime around the time Napster got started, I remember hearing a discussion on music piracy with Steve Tyler and Joe Perry. The quote I remember is from Tyler:

"What no-one seems to have considered is that two guys sat around one day and one of 'em said 'Hey, let's make a service that lets people pass music around!', and that at some point someone must have said: 'Wait a minute--isn't that stuff copyrighted?'. And at that point, somebody said 'Screw 'em'. "

I was quite sympahetic. After all, I've got copyrighted stuff online myself. But then this happened:

Two weeks ago I had to prepare twenty-five CD's of my work for display and promotional purposes. The stated price on the spindle of CD's was around $13.00. At the till, however, I was told that because of the "Blank CD tax" (also called the Blank Media Levy) of 21¢ per disc, I actually was faced with paying around $19.00. That is, I was taxed $5.25 on a $12 purchase. Add in the 14.5% sales tax and that comes to quite a sum (I don't yet know if the levy is included in the taxed price, but come on--what government wouldn't?).

If I buy an ordinary CD for $10.95, how much goes to the band? I don't know, and I no longer care. This CD fee goes straight into political pockets, and those of recording industry moguls. The bands whose material is stolen don't get anything anyway.

So here's my little message to the Music Recording Industry. Arr!* Avast ye swabs. I hereby declare my intention to filch and pillage music howesomeever I see fit. Yo, Hetfield! Here's to you! And remember, guys--you helped make this possible by endorsing the blank media fee in the first place.

While you're wasting your precious time anyway, check here for an interesting disclaimer note. The "missing" words people have been bitching about are "under God". Note that the letter of explanation also totally fails to mention those two words.

Of course neither did this until the mid-fifties, when McCarthy reigned.

A good article about that same document, along with the reasons for its subversion.

* Here's where that came from.