2008 Woodie Awards
Sharing files
By: Brian McLean
Issue date: 3/17/08 Section: Voices
We'd like to discover and share as much music as possible, yet we wouldn't like our favorite musicians to be impoverished.
The current state of affairs, unfortunately, has made illegal options unnecessarily appealing to many fans, who have neither the cash nor patience to tolerate woefully inadequate traditional models. These fans create an insurmountable obstacle for the RIAA; their drive constantly outpaces its lawsuits.
The one-to-one download-to-sale ratio, still touted by the RIAA in its distorted legal justificatory framework, fails to note that, instead of purchasing the album, a potential downloader likely would never bother to listen to a musician at all.
Combined with the fact that a music file's self-replicating nature incurs no direct, physical cost, this paints a far less ominous picture of illegal fire sharing. And let's not forget the promotional benefits for artists, either.
That said, the "free information" rhetoric has yet to adequately establish a way in which artists can earn a reasonable income. But rather than continue warring against file-sharing technology and fans' desires, a legal model can embrace them.
And in many ways, this is what last week's music conference has taken into account. We, for once, seem closer to a sensible alternative.
news@cm-life.com
The current state of affairs, unfortunately, has made illegal options unnecessarily appealing to many fans, who have neither the cash nor patience to tolerate woefully inadequate traditional models. These fans create an insurmountable obstacle for the RIAA; their drive constantly outpaces its lawsuits.
The one-to-one download-to-sale ratio, still touted by the RIAA in its distorted legal justificatory framework, fails to note that, instead of purchasing the album, a potential downloader likely would never bother to listen to a musician at all.
Combined with the fact that a music file's self-replicating nature incurs no direct, physical cost, this paints a far less ominous picture of illegal fire sharing. And let's not forget the promotional benefits for artists, either.
That said, the "free information" rhetoric has yet to adequately establish a way in which artists can earn a reasonable income. But rather than continue warring against file-sharing technology and fans' desires, a legal model can embrace them.
And in many ways, this is what last week's music conference has taken into account. We, for once, seem closer to a sensible alternative.
news@cm-life.com
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