I guess the problem with music copyright can be compared to magic tricks
(honestly, just watch me go)
What are most peoples first reactions to a cool magic trick?
- Cool [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]
- Can you show me how to do that?
- I gotta show this to (insert name of a friend)!
Now magicians keep their tricks secret, so they will tell you that NO, they CANNOT show you how to do this, and NO you CANNOT show it to a friend. And because magic is complicated you are outta luck.
But with music (be it sheet music or recorded) it is a lot easier, so you just have to watch the artist during a gig and you can learn how to play a certain song, and even show it to a friend (by the way, would that be illegal? [img]graemlins/uhoh2.gif[/img] ). You could even learn how to play the song and play it for yourself (and you friends) the whole time without buying a sheet or the record (copyright infringement?), and you could record yourself playing that song (COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT!) and listen to it with your friends.
It's only a small step from here to copying the whole song from the CD, and many people do it because they conceive music as something abstract, a feeling, something you don't have to subscribe to.
Another example:
I read a joke in a newspaper and god am I LMAO right now
Later on I tell it to a friend who breaks down in laughter too.
Now answer me, is it copyright infringement IF
- he remembers the joke and thinks of it every other day, because it's so funny ?
- he writes down the joke, so he doesn't forget this masterpiece ?
- I write down the joke for him ?
- I simply xerox the newspaper page for him ?
It's the small line we cross between things we remember - which is undoubtedly free - and things we keep stored mechanically that is the trouble with the whole copyright issue.
The problem is, that due to the copyright laws the music industry has evolved to a point where it can only survive if these laws are upheld, so if they fall a lot of heads will roll at first, but I rest asssured that music and artists will emerge a lot stronger and a lot more respected from this turmoil when it's over.
[ 02-05-2004, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: Faceman ]