To Burn or Not To Burn
Note to the Feds: This post is purely in the realm of the hypothetical. Please don’t arrest me.
So… where do we now stand on the issue of music sharing? I know that downloading song upon song for free is bad. I know that looting CD shops and directly stealing music is bad. And I know that listening to street musicians in Madison is bad – but that last one is probably a whole other debate.
What about the occasional music swap among friends, though? On the one hand, it’s kinda stealing and probably kinda illegal. On the other hand, however, we have the following points (not all of which are my own – thanks, moxie!):
1. Musicians apparently make most of their money off touring, not album sales. Sharing music encourages more people to see the shows of these musicians and thus actually means more money for the poor, beleaguered independent musicians.
2. CDs are too damn expensive.
3. Engaging in music swapping means creating a general music buzz. Said buzz then increases album sales. Everyone is better off.
4. Swapping is considerably better than looting.
5. Music swapping is very entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurialism is very American. Americanism is very good.
So… where do we now stand on the issue of music sharing? I know that downloading song upon song for free is bad. I know that looting CD shops and directly stealing music is bad. And I know that listening to street musicians in Madison is bad – but that last one is probably a whole other debate.
What about the occasional music swap among friends, though? On the one hand, it’s kinda stealing and probably kinda illegal. On the other hand, however, we have the following points (not all of which are my own – thanks, moxie!):
1. Musicians apparently make most of their money off touring, not album sales. Sharing music encourages more people to see the shows of these musicians and thus actually means more money for the poor, beleaguered independent musicians.
2. CDs are too damn expensive.
3. Engaging in music swapping means creating a general music buzz. Said buzz then increases album sales. Everyone is better off.
4. Swapping is considerably better than looting.
5. Music swapping is very entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurialism is very American. Americanism is very good.
posted by OleNelson at 9:36 PM
2 Comments:
I'd like to add #6 - said music-sharing benefits me personally. So that's that. QED and all.
Let's start putting together the list for MusicSwap '05 v2.0:
Weezer - Make Believe
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
love the swap. what's wrong with getting together and sharing. there should be more of that in the world. so i'm down with part two.
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