Music (Makes the People//Come Together... Yeah)

The music industry is a scam.

No, really.

Since time immemorial, musicians have made a living through performing their music (and also having a wealthy benefactor). Recording music, and selling the recordings, was never an option. Once a piece of music was released into the world, it became the audience's.

Yet the artists were fine. I may or may not be overemphasizing the 'alright-ness' of the musicians. Also the scamming.

In this video, Lessig claims that audio recording has stifled creativity. It is true that all creative work is derivative. While he may be exaggerating slightly (because copyright hasn't completely stifled creativity), he does touch upon the fact that, intitally, there was a lot of resistance to the concept of recording. Change produces resistance; it always has and it always will.

But people eventually became accustomed to recording. Life went on.

And so life shall go on with the rise of digital piracy and copyright issues. The art of music itself isn't in danger because of digital piracy; it is merely the music industry which is stuck in a bit of a rut. Music will simply go back to a model where musicians make the majority of their money from their performances. People like Trent Reznor understand this, actively telling his fans to download his music online, and releasing free EPs.

Then again, one of Trent Reznor's backstage demands is two boxes of corn starch, so let's not hold him up as the pinnacle of objectivity, here.

But nothing really bad will happen. People are still buying albums, despite everyone (and their neighbour's dog) having a high-speed internet connection and the know-how to download music. Madonna's 'best of' album, Celebration, still hit Gold in the U.S. That's over 500, 000 albums sold. For a 'best of' album.

P.S., click here (lady talking about blogging from the beginning of the course be damned). Not specifically tied in to what I talked about, but an interesting enough link about the effect of copyright on the commons and on consumers.