Off: CD Promo

[Jonathan Jarrett]

On Fri, Sep 02, 2005 at 09:27:22PM -0400, Paul Mather typed out:
>
> An interesting take on moral distancing, there, and I'm sure similar to
> the one used unsuccessfully at Nuremberg. :-)  My view is that it takes
> two to tango, so if you're going to froth at people selling promos you
> should a) be consistent and froth at all promo sellers (and not exempt
> some on the basis that they're waiting a tactful amount of time before
> doing what you otherwise consider to be a rip off of the band); and b)
> probably not buy them yourself (because there can't be a sale without a
> purchase).

        Is that a careful application of Godwin in the hope that this
thread will die? ;-) If not, I'm not sure I've made myself clear. It's not
the wait that I was ausggesting helps the moral case of the seller of the
original promo-recipient who sells it (though I guess selling it once the
relevant article has dropped out of the charts is probably better than
E-Baying it while the band is still gunning for a place... ). I was saying
instead that once you've bought the thing, whether or not you should have
done (I'm not sure what I think about that) are you really expected not to
sell it on if it becomes surplus? Shouldn't you expect to recoup your
costs if you sell something that you bought which maybe shouldn't have
been for sale?

        It's application of the traders' principle, you see, give away
what was given and sell what was sold. To my mind the original recipient
of the promo and subsequent buyers/sellers are in different ethical
positions because of this.

        But it's only philosophy of course.

> I've bought a few promos down through the years (I don't think any
> Hawkwind ones, oddly enough), and I certainly don't advocate those that
> sell them be shot in the head.  Hopefully, there a certain consistency
> in that stance. :-)

        I don't advocate shooting anyone in the head, so the fine
gradations of my morals don't really show up well here :-) Yours,
                                                                  Jon

ObLP: Golden Earring - _Moontan_
--
        Jonathan Jarrett                Birkbeck College, London
                 jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
        --------------------------------------------------------
  "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away." (Tom Waits)