Comments for 300 Songs

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by davidclowery

davidclowery — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:27:13 +0000

we PUT our songs on Youtube. Napster TOOK our songs and shared them. Sean Parker became a billionaire. The fanning brothers became multi millionaires. nothing wrong with that. except that they originally made their money off of pirating others intellectual property.

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by davidclowery

davidclowery — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:25:17 +0000

sorry. the first one is verbatim.

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by kdennis57

kdennis57 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:31:56 +0000

Thanks to David for the post, and for the comments. They are giving me a lot to think about on the issue of libraries and music.

The vast majority of my music collection has come from used stores (physical cds) and the library (digital copies). (Note: I bought two copies of The Palace Guards on cd last year.)The artists see no money from used cd retailers. The artists get their percentage of the library sales. Hundreds of years of retailing art second hand is a human commercial mainstay, and the artist almost never sees a penny. Not commenting on the morality of it, that’s just a fact.

I remember when blank cassette tapes carried some sort of built-in surcharge, an acknowledgement that duplication of copyrighted works was the product’s most likely use. An early attempt to get some money for the piracy – I wonder how many artists actually got their cut?

Sony has a program called Freegal (unfortunately, it’s ending) with my local library to provide free mp3s of their artists to library card holders. I’ve downloaded the limit (sometimes 3 songs, recently 7 songs) weekly. If a giant major label is giving their stuff away, where does that leave the artists and little labels?

So to the comment about the wealth of new young kids and their bands springing up in the “free” soil of the internet music world – I agree, that’s the future. The cream will continue to rise to the top, and hopefully playing live will let the music breathe. I go see Cracker/CVB/Lowrey as often as I can, and usually buy a cd at the show. Because I know those guys have chosen to follow their hearts and souls, and that path rarely leads to the bank.

I’ll quit copying the library cds, and use those listens as auditions for the new stuff available by bands working the field today. Thanks again for the thoughts.

(I also have a band, and the music has been free for years – http://www.thekevins.bandcamp.com

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by meatballer2000

meatballer2000 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:21:57 +0000

@STEVE – yeah the internet really seems to be a help for artists on the very bottom end, with getting exposure, and such. Then it seems if you get to be a medium size artist, it really hurts you. I think it probably on balance helps more than hurts the mega-big artists.

Yes, David I’m probably just talking out of my ass on the last one. I know the first part is true, and trust you on the second. The third seems logical enough, though, considering the media onslaught and “BUZZ” that we have to endure about these Gaga’s and such.

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by Samantha Weiss

Samantha Weiss — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:52:51 +0000

David, please tell me that your creative mind came up with most of those excuses and that people aren’t really that stupid. I am trying to remain optimistic about the future!

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by Eddie Hill (@adingo)

Eddie Hill (@adingo) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:31:02 +0000

On the other hand how many people check out new bands with filesharing or youtube? I would never have known Cracker beyond “Low” if not for napster. Instead I checked them out, learned how great they are, and have since bought all their albums and seen them and David and Johnny live close to a dozen times. Youtube for sure isn’t a substitute for albums, it’s a substitute for the radio. File sharing is used by some people, not all, to investigate bands they may be interested in. Now if you like the music and never go buy the songs then I’m with you…

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by Leo Lyons (@lleolyons)

Leo Lyons (@lleolyons) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:11:01 +0000

You know what really galls me – the fact that some of the worst freeloaders are musicians themselves, People I know who make a living – some good some not so good out of playing, recording and selling music. It is as if they belong to some elite club who are absolved from paying for music because they need it for research purposes.
It is a thorny one – basically it exposes the lie that we are all lovely at heart. I buy music but I can afford it. If I couldn’t would I steal it? I like to think I wouldn’t but I am not sure…..
I also think we have to expand the argument beyond music. I am a photographer – well ex-photographer as I can’t make a living at it anymore – so don’t get me started on unlicensed use of my photos on the web. Huge corps like BMG and AOL use my photos for free even though I own the copyright and they totally ignore any attempts I make to get them to pay for it. They know I can’t afford the sort of lawyers I am going need and they ‘require’ all sorts of proof that I own the photos according to their terms and conditions. They are not willing to give me proof that they own them.

The whole thing is very depressing and I don’t know what the answer is – especially as there as so many fuckwits with the sorts of attitudes Mr Lowery lists.

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by chrisrathman

chrisrathman — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:54:52 +0000

Actually the libraries buy a single copy and can only have that one copy in circulation at any particular time. Libraries are a time honored tradition in most civilizations. But the original questioner should’ve gone and asked the question of the boss. Library Science people are probably more aware of Copyright than any other paid profession on the planet.

And the answer to the question is that copying material gathered from a library is illegal with the exception of exemptions of fair use. IANAL (nor a Library Scientist), but I’d say that copying CDs from the library violates copyright – even for library employees.

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by Christian T

Christian T — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:50:20 +0000

I do feel bad that the 100+ I’ve spent on my cvb revord collection is less than it cost me to buy all the albums on itunes

Comment on #78 No more bullshit. The top 10 lamest excuses for stealing artists music by Christian T

Christian T — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:48:22 +0000

Libraries are considered exempt as illegal file sharers for some reason so technically no, but the artist only gets the money from the album that the library buys.