Letter to Emily White at NPR All Songs Considered.

[greenminer]

This is making the rounds on the net. Pretty good read, IMO.

full blog post

The fundamental shift in principals and morality is about who gets to control and exploit the work of an artist. The accepted norm for hudreds of years of western civilization is the artist exclusively has the right to exploit and control his/her work for a period of time. (Since the works that are are almost invariably the subject of these discussions are popular culture of one type or another, the duration of the copyright term is pretty much irrelevant for an ethical discussion.) By allowing the artist to treat his/her work as actual property, the artist can decide how to monetize his or her work. This system has worked very well for fans and artists. Now we are being asked to undo this not because we think this is a bad or unfair way to compensate artists but simply because it is technologically possible for corporations or individuals to exploit artists work without their permission on a massive scale and globally. We are being asked to continue to let these companies violate the law without being punished or prosecuted. We are being asked to change our morality and principals to match what I think are immoral and unethical business models.

Edited June 18, 2012 by greenminer

[KRAM1]

Excellent response from David Lowrey to Ms White's acknowledgement of her theft...and that's exactly what it is...theft. How anyone can even remotely justify ripping off artists is beyond me. Where I work we do a lot of IP (Intellectual Property) work and have written one of the most quoted papers on this subject in the US (and the world). It was written in 2007 and is entitled "The True Cost of Sound Recording Piracy to the U.S. Economy". You can find a link to it on our website at www.ipi.org if you care to look it up.

In 2007 it was determined that the US economy loses $12.5 billion annually due to piracy of sound recordings (still think stealing a song off the Internet is small potatoes?)

As a result of the piracy the sound recording industry loses 71,060 jobs and of this amount (bear in mind this was in 2007) 26,870 jobs WOULD have been added to the economy without the piracy.

Because of piracy US workers lose $2.7 billion in earnings annually.

As a consequence of piracy in sound recordings state and local governments lose a min. of $422 million in tax revenues annually...and $291 million is lost in personal income taxes from the artists and others and $131 million is lost in corp. income and production taxes. (Take that Warren Buffett when you want rich folks to pay more...maybe you should focus on the music pirates and get all those new taxes!).

So, think about all this when you next think it is OK to STEAL songs from the Internet through whatever means possible....you are as much a criminal as any other thief who steals others property...justify it if you will, but it's illegal and you are a thief if you do it.....fun stuff facts are, right? Anyone care to look in the mirror...any of my more liberal friends yelling and screaming for higher corp. and rich people taxes ever download a a song without paying for it? Hmmmmmmmm...and, you conservative types who support free enterprise and lower taxes...ever steal a song????? Both you folks are part of a very big problem and are guilty of theft. Might want to think about that going forward. Truth hurts, huh?????

[Quoner]

Spotify is awesome - and legal. Plus, when you absolutely need to find a quick copy of Ginuwine's "In Those Jeans," it only takes about 10 seconds.

[KRAM1]

Spotify is awesome - and legal. Plus, when you absolutely need to find a quick copy of Ginuwine's "In Those Jeans," it only takes about 10 seconds.

Yes, and while it does not give the artist a very nice cut of revenue, it does pay the artist something. Which, of course, is much better than having the song stolen.

[Quoner]

Yes, and while it does not give the artist a very nice cut of revenue, it does pay the artist something. Which, of course, is much better than having the song stolen.

True. I guess I am on both sides since I pay for satellite radio and Spotify Premium and still try to buy albums of the bands I support, but the model has changed even beyond piracy. I have no idea how to figure it out, but, much like newspapers, I wish the powers over the industry were doing more to adapt than punish.

One addendum -- agree with the premise Spotfiy needs to evolve, but the only way to start that process is to pay for it. It's a bit self-serving, but I'm honestly at a loss for some of the relative morality for all this.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Quoner

[Green P1]

It will be a slow painful process, but the day is coming sooner than later when producing and selling music becomes a zero sum financial endeavor.

[MeanGreenTexan]

It will be a slow painful process, but the day is coming sooner than later when producing and selling music becomes a zero sum financial endeavor.

Yep. Then all that we'll have is our old favorites and crap like the "Hide ya kids, hide ya wife" remix song.