Comments on: Pay indie artists and break the music monopoly — Legalize Music Piracy http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/ Full print edition content of This Magazine, Canada's most venerable publication of progressive politics, culture, and ideas. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:58:08 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: The Golden Age of Canadian Country Music « in the wind http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/comment-page-1/#comment-880 The Golden Age of Canadian Country Music « in the wind Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:58:22 +0000 http://this.org/magazine/?p=919#comment-880 [...] This Magazine reported that 30% of the Canadian Music Industry has cut out the big studio middlemen ... [...] [...] This Magazine reported that 30% of the Canadian Music Industry has cut out the big studio middlemen … [...]

]]> By: The Costanza » Blog Archive » LEGALISE IT! - A cocktail of politics, music and lies you can believe http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/comment-page-1/#comment-688 The Costanza » Blog Archive » LEGALISE IT! - A cocktail of politics, music and lies you can believe Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:41:48 +0000 http://this.org/magazine/?p=919#comment-688 [...] that not make a HUGE amount of sense? What this group proposes is to make people pay a set fee of about $3 a month to share, download and keep as [...] [...] that not make a HUGE amount of sense? What this group proposes is to make people pay a set fee of about $3 a month to share, download and keep as [...]

]]> By: D: BitTorrent « Stop Usage Based Billing http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/comment-page-1/#comment-657 D: BitTorrent « Stop Usage Based Billing Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:52:15 +0000 http://this.org/magazine/?p=919#comment-657 [...] own ThisMagazine presented this thought provoking article Pay indie artists and break the music monopoly — Legalize Music Piracy which advocates making the law serve the artists and consumers rather than just the [...] [...] own ThisMagazine presented this thought provoking article Pay indie artists and break the music monopoly — Legalize Music Piracy which advocates making the law serve the artists and consumers rather than just the [...]

]]> By: Robert http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/comment-page-1/#comment-655 Robert Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:50:58 +0000 http://this.org/magazine/?p=919#comment-655 The big label records are spitting venom and threatening all sorts of legal action because they know that very soon, the fight would be lost and some sort of legal file sharing would cut out the greedy middlemen. The labels have always had differences with artists over creativity as they feared they would lose money if the artist sings a song a particular way. In my view, artists and indie labels with some form of legalised sharing would take music distribution to the next level, not these big labels with cheesy commercial success formula. Many artists struggle even after being signed on to a label as they dont earn much off their record sales. Many artists are still virutally unknown to mainstream public due to differences with record labels. I dont understand how these big labels think they can still control everything that comes out of an artist's studio / garage. They have lost already, its only a matter of time before they accept and move on. Nice article. The big label records are spitting venom and threatening all sorts of legal action because they know that very soon, the fight would be lost and some sort of legal file sharing would cut out the greedy middlemen.
The labels have always had differences with artists over creativity as they feared they would lose money if the artist sings a song a particular way. In my view, artists and indie labels with some form of legalised sharing would take music distribution to the next level, not these big labels with cheesy commercial success formula. Many artists struggle even after being signed on to a label as they dont earn much off their record sales. Many artists are still virutally unknown to mainstream public due to differences with record labels. I dont understand how these big labels think they can still control everything that comes out of an artist's studio / garage. They have lost already, its only a matter of time before they accept and move on.
Nice article.

]]> By: Bill Wittur http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/comment-page-1/#comment-640 Bill Wittur Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:59:41 +0000 http://this.org/magazine/?p=919#comment-640 Legislation, the labels and the government should not be involved with this issue. This industry should also be seen as the proverbial 'canary in a coal mine'. Books, movies, TV shows and other content that can be digitized will suffer the same fate. Things like Cancon, the CRTC and other governing bodies have run their course because the value they add is marginal. We have come to point where this is all about connecting the music fan and the musician. Nothing else matters. Ten years ago, I went live with a project (BarChord.com) that would pay musicians based on the volume of downloads and also based on what price they chose. Basically, they would use the site to create an account and a landing page, similar to what you have with MySpace or Facebook. Of course, they could also upload songs and then assign a price to that song. At the outset, we would share revenue on a 50/50 basis, but the more popular the song, the greater the share for the artist (we maxed out at 90%). It was economics at its best (if I can say that and if you believe it would apply to the 'market' of music). Artists loved it (we had nearly 500 confirmed performers on the site), but people refused to pay because 10 years ago, no one was ready to pay for music online. I think the model might work a little better today, but it'd morph into something between what Radiohead did with their model and a pay-per-download model. Of course, if anyone's interested in reviving this angle, let me know! I'm still interested in making it work :) Thanks for the good read. Bill Bottree.com Legislation, the labels and the government should not be involved with this issue.

This industry should also be seen as the proverbial 'canary in a coal mine'. Books, movies, TV shows and other content that can be digitized will suffer the same fate. Things like Cancon, the CRTC and other governing bodies have run their course because the value they add is marginal.

We have come to point where this is all about connecting the music fan and the musician. Nothing else matters.

Ten years ago, I went live with a project (BarChord.com) that would pay musicians based on the volume of downloads and also based on what price they chose.

Basically, they would use the site to create an account and a landing page, similar to what you have with MySpace or Facebook. Of course, they could also upload songs and then assign a price to that song.

At the outset, we would share revenue on a 50/50 basis, but the more popular the song, the greater the share for the artist (we maxed out at 90%).

It was economics at its best (if I can say that and if you believe it would apply to the 'market' of music). Artists loved it (we had nearly 500 confirmed performers on the site), but people refused to pay because 10 years ago, no one was ready to pay for music online.

I think the model might work a little better today, but it'd morph into something between what Radiohead did with their model and a pay-per-download model.

Of course, if anyone's interested in reviving this angle, let me know! I'm still interested in making it work :)

Thanks for the good read.

Bill
Bottree.com

]]> By: Louis http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/comment-page-1/#comment-635 Louis Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:21:56 +0000 http://this.org/magazine/?p=919#comment-635 So you are caught downloading a song from a particular artist (or uploading) and fined... $20,000? Now, who gets that money? The government or the artist? ... "We caught you downloading his/her music, so pay us!" I don't call that very justified. But I do like the SAC idea. If I were to release some of my artistic work (not just music), it would be very comforting to know that I could share it freely and I would be compensated in the end anyway, without a record company dictating my direction or taking most of my profit. So you are caught downloading a song from a particular artist (or uploading) and fined… $20,000? Now, who gets that money? The government or the artist? … “We caught you downloading his/her music, so pay us!” I don’t call that very justified.

But I do like the SAC idea. If I were to release some of my artistic work (not just music), it would be very comforting to know that I could share it freely and I would be compensated in the end anyway, without a record company dictating my direction or taking most of my profit.

]]> By: Chaussette http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/comment-page-1/#comment-629 Chaussette Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:45:57 +0000 http://this.org/magazine/?p=919#comment-629 Lawrence Lessig floated the idea of a levy in his most recent book, Remix. First, we must acknowledge that to do so is to have the content producers enlist an agent capable of forcibly extracting revenue from their customers, with concomitant precision and efficiency. This agent also ultimately sets the ceiling for gross revenue. Design, implementation and maintenance of the infrastructure is also likely to consume a significant portion of the proceeds. Finally, there is the question of how to divide up the booty. As I am sure we are aware, we already pay a levy in Canada for blank media, whether we use it to record copyrighted data or not. That's simple: tax the physical object. How do you do that with Internet traffic? Regulate TCP ports? Regulate hosts? How do you know the contents are copyrighted? Deep packet inspection? Cryptographic signatures? When does the content turn from just data to copyrighted content, like random stripes of a partially-downloaded torrent which are totally useless to the consumer? How do you appeal a fee that was levied in error? If we want the government to subsidize artists, it may make sense just to increase the federal arts budget and take the fees out of our income tax—keep it transparent, economical and not worry about the minutiae. Lawrence Lessig floated the idea of a levy in his most recent book, Remix. First, we must acknowledge that to do so is to have the content producers enlist an agent capable of forcibly extracting revenue from their customers, with concomitant precision and efficiency. This agent also ultimately sets the ceiling for gross revenue. Design, implementation and maintenance of the infrastructure is also likely to consume a significant portion of the proceeds. Finally, there is the question of how to divide up the booty.

As I am sure we are aware, we already pay a levy in Canada for blank media, whether we use it to record copyrighted data or not. That’s simple: tax the physical object. How do you do that with Internet traffic? Regulate TCP ports? Regulate hosts? How do you know the contents are copyrighted? Deep packet inspection? Cryptographic signatures? When does the content turn from just data to copyrighted content, like random stripes of a partially-downloaded torrent which are totally useless to the consumer? How do you appeal a fee that was levied in error?

If we want the government to subsidize artists, it may make sense just to increase the federal arts budget and take the fees out of our income tax—keep it transparent, economical and not worry about the minutiae.

]]> By: Legalization Week continues with rockstars, pirates, lots of lawyers : This Magazine Blog // Canadian progressive politics, environment, art, culture // Subscribe today http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/comment-page-1/#comment-627 Legalization Week continues with rockstars, pirates, lots of lawyers : This Magazine Blog // Canadian progressive politics, environment, art, culture // Subscribe today Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:28:56 +0000 http://this.org/magazine/?p=919#comment-627 [...] day two of what we’ve dubbed “Legalization Week” here, Jordan Heath Rawlings writes about a plan from the Songwriters Association of Canada that would throw open the file-sharing [...] [...] day two of what we’ve dubbed “Legalization Week” here, Jordan Heath Rawlings writes about a plan from the Songwriters Association of Canada that would throw open the file-sharing [...]

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