If you pirate music, you're downloading communism!

[Steve Pond]

On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:53:33 -0700, you sent through the ether:

>But how about if thousands of internet users started downloading those
>beautiful pictures on your website. Wouldn't you want to be paid a little
>something? Wouldn't you like to have a choice?

That's not really the same, the images on my website are uploaded at a
resolution that won't print larger than about 2" across, if people
want to buy proper prints there's only one place to get them. 

Record companies have only themselves to blame for letting the music
genie out of the bottle, if they'd acted quickly, and priced
competitively every record company would have an online store and
itunes wouldn't exist.

But record companies were too welded to selling slices of plastic at
gigantic profits.

It's all moot anyway, I think we're in a transitional phase, the
obvious end game is an annual "media fee" which will give you access
to all music on the servers controlled by whoever is charging the
fee.. 10 mergers down the line and that will be one server and one
fee. (Ditto movies) the concept of "owning" music is outdated.

Smaller bands will survive by playing live and offering value added
content on their own website's, forums with active band members and
daily/regular blogs from the band themselves, discount live tickets,
merchandise etc.. think of it as philanthropy.. Like Hawkwind? £5 per
annum straight to the band for access to the good stuff on the website
is a) cheaper than an annual CD release, and b) gives the band 500%
more than they got 10 years ago if you bought their annual CD release.

My comment was prompted more by my own experiences which are that
record companies release my music "officially" and I never get paid. I
call it theft.

The Calvert Carlisle MP3's we've been giving away for 10 years on my
website are being released by Voiceprint soon, have Fred or I been
consulted? asked to supply sleeve notes? offered a free copy? entered
into any sort of agreement?  Nope. 

I hope it shows up on the Torrents the day after release.

-Steve