What's Wrong With Free Stuff?
Jul 30 '00 (Updated Aug 07 '00)
Quick question, who, reading this, wants to work for free?
Since I can't see a show of hands, any takers can e-mail me at the address listed on my home page. I'm not holding my breath.
One follow-up, why do you expect recording artists to work for nothing?
That's what Napster is, a way to get commodities that other people worked to produce for free. It's a sneaky and illegal way around copyright protections - it's stealing, plain and simple. Proponents say "it's advertising," and at worst, no more theft, than say taping a hit song off the radio, or a first run movie off of Cable TV.
No it's NOT! You can dupe a tape for yourself or a friend and though it's still stealing, ("All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication is a violation of all applicable laws") it's probably not worth the industry's time and effort to investigate and prosecute. Now if you were to share it with a million "friends," (or 20 million, as Napster does) you'd probably be bagged for "recording piracy." Besides, established artists don't need to give their work away to "advertise" their product. And commodity is the operative word here. Commodities cost money...they cost money to refine, produce and distribute. At every level, labor is expended and all people want to be paid for their labors. All of that labor is part of the final cost of the commodities we purchase, from gasoline, to health care to music and video recordings.
Imagine some enterprising chap setting up an alternative site to Epinions, where viewers could read your opinions without Epinions getting any hits or credit, thus cutting YOU out of your hits and your royalties. We've all heard people around here screaming over miscounts, slow counters, etc. If your epinions royalties matter to you, why do you think recording artists shouldn't care about theirs?
Music, books and films are commodities. They're Real Estate in every sense of the word and every offering is the result of years of effort on the part of that artist. Years spent learning their craft, dealing with the inside politics of their chosen art form, not to mention the efforts of various editors, recording engineers, producers, wholesalers and retailers. Why shouldn't these people be paid for their work?
My Favorite Arguments In Favor of Napster Piracy
(*) "It's about time someone broke the stranglehold of the recording industry, which has allowed a privileged few to oppress the masses."
Yeah, how dare those greedy artists, producers, editors and engineers expect to be paid for their work, right? This is hypocrisy, unless it's being said by a slave. If you don't work for free, than you shouldn't expect anyone else to either.
(*) "CD's & Videotapes only cost a few cents. Why should record and movie companies be able to charge $15 to $30 for them?"
Oh yeah, the cost of the vinyl, the plastic or the tape is the only real cost, right? Wrong! The real costs are two: (1) the labors of everyone who worked on these projects. Those who wrote it, performed it, packaged it and distributed it...and (2) the consumer demand for that particular artist. All artists are NOT created equal. That's why artists like Sting, Limp Bizkit or Everclear sell millions of CD's and some artists sell maybe a few thousand. Yes, consumer demand effects price.
(*) "It's a free country!"
This response is too brain dead for words. "Free country?" Since it costs money to produce the things we buy, who should pay? The government? See, that's not a "free country," that's Utopia and like the Unicorn, Utopia doesn't exist. The "free" in free country refers to economic liberty, as in free enterprise...not free stuff.
So far, no one has successfully devised a method to give away free stuff without first making the people who produce that free stuff work for...well...for free. Kinda like SLAVERY. But then those folks (SLAVES) need free stuff, like food, clothing, housing, entertainment, etc and now clothiers, grocers, restauranteurs, farmers, builders and entertainers...ultimately ALL of us must be enslaved by a master that can make us work for free and distribute what we produce. Government? Please! Government can barely deliver the mail, let alone micro-manage an on-demand economy. No one has yet found a way to make the commodities we buy for free and as for slavery, trust me on this one, that's a very bad idea.
(*) "When I bought albums back in the sixties, they cost only $2.99, now they cost $15 to $18 and that ain't right."
Duh...Ever hear of inflation? Since Real Estate values tend to keep pace with inflation and Staten Island (where I grew up) is the Real Estate I know best, consider that the average house on Staten Island, NY, back in 1968 cost about $40,000. Today they average $300,000! Hmmmm...that's a factor of a little over 7. Let's see, 7 X 2.99 = $20.93. That $16 CD looks more and more like a bargain doesn't it?
I know this isn't going to convert any Napster supporters, but perhaps I could encourage you to be a bit more honest. The next time you want to justify your Napster use, instead of spouting inane pseudo-economic rationalizations and absurd, even fatally flawed social theories, just say, "Look, I don't care how much it costs to produce these products, I want them for free. No matter who it hurts, no matter who gets deprived of income, if it's for free, it's for me." You'll feel better and besides, who's gonna argue with that kind of logic?
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Epinions.com ID:
jmk444
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Member: J Michael Kearney
Location: New York, N.Y.
Reviews written: 87
Trusted by: 90 members
About Me:
Staten Island born fireman (South Bronx) and I write - occasionally coherently.
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