Re: "art" & money, was: amanda palmer

[Mech <mech@m3ch.net>]

At 3:43 PM -0700 10/7/09, Miko Biffle wrote:
>
>  > next: who should compensate them?
>Whoever decides that they would like "the product" for themselves. 
>This is basic commercial business ideology. Please don't suggest 
>that what's mine should somehow be available to other's FOR FREE, 
>without my authorization. That's called THEFT or PIRACY.

Wait a second: I think we're going off on a -- while perfectly 
valuable -- tangent, it is a tangent nonetheless.  Not to drop the 
main topic entirely, I don't think the crux of the main argument has 
much to do with piracy per se.

Rather, I think we should remember that what we're truly dealing with 
is the simple and easy commodification of music and "art".

In recent years, technology has made it easy to produce music on 
one's home PC that is technically far superior to anything that was 
readily produced in professional studios only a couple of decades 
ago.  This has enabled many, many, many, more people to realize their 
musical aspirations than has been possible at any other time in 
history.  We all know that already, and I think very few of us view 
it as a bad thing.

The problem, however, is what happens to that music once it has been 
produced.

Well, a lot of it is put out there for free, as a labor of love. 
This, for better or worse, has created a glut in the market.  You can 
download hours upon hours of high-quality music without ever even 
being asked for a cent in return.

So, the issue is not an audience that demands, "Give us your music 
for free or we will pirate it anyway."  No, the issue is rather that 
the audience is saying, "If your music isn't free, then we'll just go 
download music from Joe over there, who *is* giving it away for free."

The argument deals with the de-valuation of music, not whether it's 
being "stolen".

And, like I said, the threads on piracy are valuable and should 
continue as a side-discussion.  However, I believe that de-valuation 
of music (and "art" in general) is a more difficult -- as well as a 
more important and long-ranging -- issue.  So I, for one, don't wish 
for that point to get lost in a wash of anti-piracy sentiments.

Thoughts...?

        --m.
-- 
_____
"beyond this window, night is shuddering and the earth grinds to a halt
    beyond this window, something unknown is watching you and me...."