[wellard]

While I will in no way going to defend copyright infringement now that I am able to pay for things. And after reading not just Yoricks posts but stories from other people in the industry I feel much sympathetic anger. I would like to point out my experience on the subject.

My family and my upbringing was totally none musical, apart from a few albums lying around the house (sound of music / glen miller ect). I suddenly discovered the record lending part of my local library where for no fee I could borrow 2 albums a week. All of a sudden 12 year old me was open to the wonderful world of music. Being free I was able to indulge into a totally eclectic mix. Dylan, Sabbath, Tony Bennet, Seekers, Deep Purple. taping the ones I liked and even the ones I didn’t I always listened to the full album twice.. Theft? Maybe, but you could look upon it as an investment by the record industry, because over the years I have paid back tenfold what I took, not just in replacing many of those crummy tape recordings with my own but also hundreds of new records and concerts along the years. Would my love and investment in the music have been the same without me making those tapes, I think not.

Of course these days I never buy those dodgy CD from local markets and petrol stations that the record companies down here are very lazy in chasing, but I’m not convinced that teenagers swapping music is the end of the world either Yorick. Take my local Woolworths petrol station. Why is it selling CD for $5? Are they real? I don’t know but who is there to check it out?

The industry is changing for good or bad and you are no doubt hurting Yorick and for that I am sorry. However some of the facts are that a CD costs nearly $30 now down here and the liner notes are usually piss poor compared to those available in Europe and USA. (Yet you the artist still get paid … the rubbish sum of 30 cents!!!) How can kids afford this? How can they have the same access to the wondrous world of music that is out there that teenagers once enjoyed? It may be safe investment for a teenager to buy the latest Powderfinger album but can he afford to buy something more obscure and risk wasting his money? All the teenager hears from many artists is how the record company rips them off; they don’t see all the good hard working people behind the scenes. They, the teenagers, just see that there favourite artist is making just cents out of a $30 CD. It not a great incentive for them to buy is it? Hence the rip from the net. Maybe the industry (music mags) should show more of what goes on behind the scenes than just the total focus on the artist? To many teenagers it would be like giving to Thailand children’s charities buy buying Nike footwear, the same ratio ends up in the artists pocket.

Yorick theft is wrong, the fees artists’ get is wrong, what is the answer? I do not know, but change has to come. Big change, but the young music fan is not the enemy they are the future. They have to be embraced not demonized. They (teenagers) want to try/or get MP3 music from the net so the industry has to change and change bloody quick to service that need at the right price.

Oh for the Answer *sigh*


edit because I spent to much time listening to records rather than my spelling homework

[ 02-06-2004, 07:15 AM: Message edited by: wellard ]