> > 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.
>
> 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?
No, no. I am quite opposed to violating copyright. It is the author's
choice as to how they license the product. It is my choice as to whether
I purchase the product. Nothing gives me the right to violate the
copyright or the license. If I don't like the license, I have the choice
as to whether to purchase it (and accept the license) or to pick another
option.
I was speaking of how the four tenants of free software have infiltrated
the rest of my life:
1. The freedom to run the program for any purpose
2. The freedom to study and adapt the source code
3. The freedom to redistribute the program
4. The freedom to improve the program and release
With regards to music, freedom #3 is the one that bothers people the
most. The ability to share the music with friends, family and your other
devices.
However if the music industry was like the software industry, it would
be illegal to adapt riffs or even chords from one song and use them in
a song of your own. It would most certainly be illegal to practice a
commercial song. (This would be freedom #2.)
Freedom #1 also doesn't exist in the music industry with traditional
copyright, as you need to pay careful attention to licensing of the
music played at commercial establishments. This one doesn't impact me
simply because I don't own a commercial establishment. While the RIAA
have repeated tried to make it illegal to make mix tapes, it isn't
realisticly possible. If such things became illegal, this freedom would
also impact people more.
Freedom #4 exists with some of the Creative Commons licenses. I've heard
that NiN's "the slip" album is available in separate tracks so DJs (and
other folks) can remix it. I've heard such things are available for some
of the Magnatune artists, too. (Though I don't know how the NiN folks
have done the licensing for that. It is an example of where that freedom
becomes important to people.)
Cheers,
--
Steven Black <blacks@indiana.edu> / KeyID: 8596FA8E
Fingerprint: 108C 089C EFA4 832C BF07 78C2 DE71 5433 8596 FA8E
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