I Steal, Therefore I Am

I am going to treat this week’s blog as more of a confession.  I am the sinner, and you are the priest.

“Forgive me Father for I have sinned.”

“What brings you here?”

“Well, I illegally download a whole bunch of shit from the Internet including music, videos, and other copy written materials.”

“Ah, well my son, ten Hail Mary’s and all your sins will be forgotten.”

    

     I will present two sides to the argument of said illegal materials, one from a musician’s perspective the other from the consumer.  First, I was a local musician here in Detroit for the better part of 10 years.  I stress the term local, meaning, unsigned to any record label or management.  My band produced four albums.  Many of the albums were sold via shows, and through PayPal.  Songs from these albums were offered on various websites for free download with permission from the band.  Later, it came to my attention that a few songs were found on various p2p networks such as Limewire, and Kazaa.  Reiterating the term local I took this as free exposure and distribution of our music.  So what if others were sharing our songs for free, the more people that heard us the better!  Then someone pointed out that one of our CD’s had been uploaded to I TUNES.  It wasn’t anyone from the band, so who was the culprit?  I still don’t know, but our disc is still there and someone is reaping the profits from music I created.  Sure there is money being exchanged, but the artist, meaning me isn’t seeing any of it!  Disappointing yes, but again I was never signed to a label, and I never expected music to put food on the table.  I can understand why people like Lars from Metallica get upset at p2p networks.  My band was never on the economic level of a Metallica, so there is reason for him to be upset.  If the material is copy written the owners should be paid for the use of that material.  Artists like Dangermouse, and Girl Talk run into a slippery slope when they mash-up pre-existing works. 

 Creative work has value; whenever I use, or take, or build upon the creative work of others, I am taking from them something of value. Whenever I take something of value from someone else, I should have their permission. The taking of something of value from someone else without permission is wrong. It is a form of piracy. “Piracy”

     Here’s where I become a hypocrite.  Not only have I used p2p networks to acquire music, but throw videos in the mix.  Let me start from the beginning.  First, in the early days of piracy, I would order my three weekly videos from Netflix.  I had a program on my laptop which allowed me to copy the movie, and burn it to a writable DVD.  Gasp!  This went on for quite a while, and I didn’t feel any remorse.  I was of the attitude, “They movie studios, actors, and production companies make so much money, what’s the harm?”  I wonder how many others said the same thing?  Next, we move on to p2p, yes I have used these as well.  Limewire, Kazaa, Napster, you name it.  Again, did I feel bad?  Nope, but my music collection sure flourished!  Present day torrents are my new thing.  I am of the attitude why pay 10-20 bucks a pop to see a movie at the theater when I can just watch it on my computer?  I often question my ethics, but I always fall back to, “they make enough money!”

“A person may use the copy by playing it, but he has no right to rob the author of the profit, by multiplying copies and disposing of them for his own use.”

OOPS!