> On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 11:58 AM, Joe Auty <joe@netmusician.org> wrote:
>> Steven Black wrote:
>>> Heh.
>>>
>>> I realized that fundamental tenants of freedom were seeping in to other
>>> areas of my life when I realized I was actually willing to not listen to
>>> music not licensed in a manner I was comfortable with.
>>>
>>> What is the difference between charging $400 vs $40, when it is the
>>> fundamental practice that is flawed?
>>>
>> Just what are your "fundamental tenants of freedom", Steven? Is it your
>> right to decide on behalf of the author how much their work is worth?
>>
>> --
>> Joe Auty
>> NetMusician: web publishing software for musicians
>> http://www.netmusician.org
>> joe@netmusician.org
>
> I won't speak for Steven, but I'll share what it means to me and thus
> what I believe he meant.
>
> The fundamental tenets of freedom are the freedoms to use, study,
> re-distribute and modify. See freedomdefined.org for a more thorough
> walk-through of how these apply to cultural works such as music.
>
> And yes, it's my right to decide how much an author's work is worth.
> When I don't buy a work I've decided it's worth nothing, when I do buy
> a work I've agreed with the seller that it's worth whatever I pay.
>
Exactly...
Look, I'll just be candid here (and I'm not only addressing Steven or
Simon here), I'm generally at least a little left leaning, so consider
what I'm about to say as not being overly Republican/Conservative
influenced, even though it will probably sound so in terms of economic
philosophy...
This sort of discussion about freedom in the context of intellectual
property adds an unnecessary layer of complexity here, I think, and this
is coming from a guy who generally enjoys complex and nuanced opinions
in general. All of this sort of language seems to me like a dressed up
way of basically acknowledging the power and benefits of a free market
system.
That is, like Simon has said, it's your right to decide how much
something is worth to you, and you vote with your own dollar. If
something is overpriced yet in demand, this invites competition. If
something is overpriced and not in demand, nobody is making you buy this
product. This is simple supply and demand economics.
Where things get rather murky is the exploitive relationships of the big
record labels and their musicians/bands, but it bothers me that some
would decide on behalf of the artist that the CD they produced is not
worth $15, and so therefore they are going to steal it instead. There
are any number of reasons why an artist will work with and/or stay with
record label x, but ultimately it is their choice to work with the label
under their contractual conditions. There are a lot of things I would
like to change about these relationships, but it is not my place as the
consumer to do so. It is my right to not buy this music for $15, but
that is as far as my rights go. With the increase of independent record
labels that are generally less heavy handed than the big ones, I grow
less and less patient with rational that relates to why it is okay to
steal music.
I don't condemn people that don't pay for all of the content they use,
as I don't myself (particularly with movies). We each have our own
comfort level and the "things that we do" that are based on personal
decisions, whether it is downloading everything you can get your hands
on for free, or simply taking copies of music you borrow from friends.
However, I must say that I do sometimes have difficulty with the way
some people phrase certain justifications about their rights and
freedoms that often seem to be cloaked in quasi-intellectual babble.
Just my two cents, and to be clear, I'm not making any accusations
relating to anything anybody has said here, I'm just speaking in very
general terms...
> Simón
>
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--
Joe Auty
NetMusician: web publishing software for musicians
http://www.netmusician.org
joe@netmusician.org
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