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Good arguments, Appro. Wish I wasn't running out of time. I'd love to address each issue and hit this ball back and forth a while.
You wrote: peer-to-peer sharing really makes it difficult to say how it should be done.
That is the current problem in a nutshell.
You propose a Performance Royalty, ala ASCAP or BMI. Those were intended for broadcast. . .which it could be argued that Gnutella, Napster, etc. is a form of broadcast. . . however unlicensed it is. . .that is fine. . . and personally, I would not be against a Performance Royalty. Though I doubt the Record Companies would roll over and accept this, because it essentially aces them out of the picture. . . so you can't blame them either.
But the picture you paint of the entire Record Industry wishing to "Squash the New Technology" until they can "control it". . .is a sweeping generalization. I am part of the Recording Industry and a voting member of the Academy. . .yet I don't want to squash it. And I can assure you that many others don't want to squash the technology. We simply want to know that making music for a living will still be possible in 5 or 10 or 50 years. That's all.
Sidebar. . . .
As a composer, I've been ripped off my entire life. It is extremely difficult to get proper pay from the advertisers, and makers of various creative media. . . who want to pay once for original music, then own it for a lifetime. . .forcing us to police the airbands for violations. . .then prosecute when we find them. I have never sold a single note to anyone outright. [I own all my copyrights.] Instead, I license my music for use over specified periods of time in pre-defined markets. You pay per market per 13 week periods. Go 14 weeks, you violate our agreement. Play it in another market, again you violate the agreement. What I do is the norm. . . same as a patent. By doing so, it protects my creative efforts from being diluted, exploited or stolen. And the laws support this arrangement.
As for comparing Napster to Prohibition. . . I just don't see that at all. The Record Industry as a whole has no problem with technology. It has a problem with people taking its competitive products and publishing them without permission or license. . . . putting everyone with a computer into the publishing business.
IF this were "allowed" to continue at the current rate of growth. . .within about 5 to 10 years there would be no music industry. . .book industry, movie industry or software industry.
Is that what you want? Is that what anyone in their right minds want?
Has anyone stopped long enough to consider the consequences?
Each week, I used to receive dozens of tapes from bands wanting me to produce them . . .and songwriters wanting me to record their songs. . . I'm talking about as many as 100 per week. . .more sometimes. And the rule in the industry is this. . . if we reject 100% of what comes in. . .we are correct 99% of the time. As harsh and rude as that sounds, it is true. [Granted that the tapes were low budget. . .A pro can still make great music on a low budget] Of all those tapes received over the years. . . none of them were good enough for me to wish to keep somewhere special. . . .every single one found its way to the trash can eventually.
The truth is that music without professional production is simply terrible. Likewise, books without Editors that a Publisher bring to the process are hardly worth the time to read. Movies made by amateurs are often like watching home movies. . . it takes the genius of the Director, coupled with the razer blade of the Editor to make a movie a hit.
Destroy the Record Industry. . . and you will destroy music.
That much I can guarantee. Same thing with the book, movie and software industries.
OK. . .since I'm out here on my limb. . . here is how I REALLY feel. . .
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Over the past 20 years, we have slipped into a Dark Ages of the Arts. Passion has been replaced by Commerciality. Emotion has been replaced by Cool. The Dramatic has been replaced by Sex. And the Artistic Element by Fashion. Destroying the industry is not a road back to Expression. Rather it is a multi-lane highway toward Mediocrity.
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Rande Is |
