This past Thursday, the New York Public Library held a “sold-out” forum on the question of “who owns culture?” The stars of the show were Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy and Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessing, the author of Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity.
The New York Times quoted Lessing as saying “freedom to remix, not just words, but culture” was critical in the development of art. At one point Lessing asked, “What does it say about our democracy when ordinary behavior is deemed criminal?”
Tweedy and his band Wilco famously streamed their album “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” over the internet, after being dropped from their record label Warner; ironically, they were then resigned by Warner subsidiary Nonesuch after the internet release proved successful.Tweedy expressed no sympathy for artists, like cyber narcs Metallica, who complain (or pursue law suits) against downloaders. “To me, the only people who are complaining are the people who are so rich they never deserve to be paid again,” Tweedy said.
The P2P technology continues to be assaulted in US courts by greed-driven coporations. Wendy Seltzer, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Wired magazine that lawsuits against those who trade or enable the trading of copyright music files online will continue to have little effect on P2P traffic.
Seltzer also said the MGM v. Grokster case now before the U.S. Supreme Court could very well determine the future shape of copyright law as it relates to the internet.
While P2P networks remain legal in Canada, as the battle against this technology intensifies in the US, effects are sure to be felt north of the border.
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If the record companies would sell CD’s at say $5.98, instead of the hugely inflated $17.98 and higher, they would make MORE money by selling many more CD’s.
They, and some selected artists are greedy capitalists fucks hiding beyond the fake issue of downloading and blaming their lifeblood – the fans. Savvy CD buyers will often by a whole CD if they download a song and they like it.
Unfortunately, many incredibily selfish rock groups are frankly no better than the lords of captialism that control them. What I find repulsive is the selling of rock songs to Madison Avenue thereby associating them forever with a product line; then the songs are played so many times that makes one want to scream for mercy. Neil Young has been speaking out on this issue for over 20 years.
Creativity in the rock world has never been more at risk, and it’s mostly due to oceans of money that the corporations and selected rock stars (a small but influential group) are making. Rock has been hijacked lock, stock and barrel, and is being marketed to the masses via cars and computers. The revolution, from a rock music perspective, is being televised, marketed, and sold to the highest bidder.
pmm