freeloaders and thieves

[Simon Bar Sinister]

essential reading: http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/letter-to-emily-white-at-npr-all-songs-considered/

thank you for your time.

[Glory13666]

I agree!!! I can't say that I've never downloaded music without paying but it's rare. I want to pay the artists!!! If I don't want to pay, I'll just listen to it on youtube but that of course has it's limitation so if I decided I like something, I buy it. I've also taught my 13 year old daughter that she needs to pay for music she wants even if her father thinks it's just fine to steal whatever he wants. If she wants to buy a new song, I can easily find something for her to do that will earn her $1.29 in less than 15 minutes. I like to get paid for going to work and deserve it.

[Class-Punk]

I don't quite buy this. The suicide references were a bad choice and hurt the strength of the essay setting the tone for blatant guilt-trip that ignores the present crappy economic situation.

I doubt that the Free Culture movement as the writer puts it is ever going away because of how popular it really is. From my perspective it comes down to people's choices and revenue, so the only way to pay independent artists more is to direct the stream of money to the middle class.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Coffeenated

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I do like the sentiment , but the concept, like the gramaphone its becoming fossilized. Unfortunately the bit-radiation theory of information dissemination has come to pass. The future of artists payments comes from commissions, concerts and advertising, and will not come from direct payment for the work itself for long. The media itself will evetually all be "free" in the sense that payment is a by product not an entry fee. This will eventually go for all non-interactive digital entertianment media unless some fool proof , inexpensive , uncrackable cyber-lock is discovered (which is unlikely).

[Slogo]

One of those issues that has my sympathies with one side and practicality with the other side. The internet completely changed the rules in a way nobody could imagine. People do hurt from it (as they do with any major technological development). The truth is, in 1999 when I was downloading music onto my 11th grade science class computer via Napster, nobody could've imagined that it would get so huge.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

One of those issues that has my sympathies with one side and practicality with the other side. The internet completely changed the rules in a way nobody could imagine. People do hurt from it (as they do with any major technological development). The truth is, in 1999 when I was downloading music onto my 11th grade science class computer via Napster, nobody could've imagined that it would get so huge.

True.

Also many acts have benefited, smaller acts that would have had ZERO chance of becoming anything in a for-pay traditional big-label no-internet model have turned into working for a living artists via the "music itself is free" model.

Sort of a mixed bag.