Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for April 07, 2011

So Jimmy has gone completely neo-con. Now he just needs a faux country career.

Was he in Country Strong?

Real conundrum; in historic “record label” ripoffs vs. “starving artists”, fan reaction includes bypassing both, sharing via venues like bittorrents and the (some now-defunct thanks to RIAA legal assaults) ‘piracy’ sites, de-monetizing the music.

More recent developments include musicians forming their own micro-labels, posting directly to places like iTunes, and free samples (such as one song/album) on their Websites.

Probably more to come, as imaginative makers continue to develop solutions.

There are Makers, Takers, and Fakers. While we often show some facets of all of them, I prefer to be a Maker.

I miss winding my reel to reel for the 3AM playing of Magical Mystery Tour in its entirety on FCC banned “Pirate 104.” Put it to the Man!

This is really getting to be annoying-this comic strip and especially the current story(?) line. Doonesbury or should I say Trudeau-get a life and get creative again! You’re beginning to sound like what Jane Pauley’s old man must have sounded like.

woowie: A steady diet of content interesting to one of us would end up boring all of us. Just relax and go with it.

I love downloading $1 tunes. I spent so much on cassettes and cd’s only to find that there was only one good song.

GT sets up a false premise. A true”fan” doesn’t steal music from the person he’s fanatic about. Someone who demands something for nothing defines the behavior of a moocher, not a supporter.

Amen to that, Nemesys!

pbarnrob, nemesys–it strikes me as pointless to argue morality when we’re dealing with a technology question.

The underlying (and possibly moral) issue is, how do creative people profit from their creativity? The current system of copyright, based on the concept of “intellectual property” and per-copy royalties, is one way to do this–a way that arose in response to, and is heavily dependent upon, specific properties of printing technology.

Digital technology breaks the copyright model because it doesn’t have any analog of the printing plate, which makes the copyright model both profitable and enforceable. It is foolishness, and ultimately counter-productive, to ignore this change in the underlying situation.

Copyright as we know it had a good run, but just as the intellectual property model arose in response to a revolutionary new technology, eventually another system of turning creativity into profit will emerge in response to the new technologies.

(If you’re interested in a more detailed explanation of the history and possible future of copyright, there’s a lengthy pontification in my blog: http://danielcstarr.blogspot.com/2009/12/lengthy-pontification-about-copyright.html )

“it strikes me as pointless to argue morality when we’re dealing with a technology question”

puddleglum, this is nothing new. I dealt with the same issue in the middle 80’s, when as working as a Caldor’s floor manager (remember Caldors?) I had to deal with scuzzes every day who bought albums, taped them onto TDK cassettes, and then tried to return the albums. Sorry pal, exchanges for the same album only, even if you did scratch the first one and tried to pass it off as defective.

Technologies change daily, but the “morality of mooching” discussion is timeless. People who steal your copyrighted materials aren’t your fans any more than people who break into your home and steal your furniture are your friends.

Thumbs up to vanpelt and Nemesys.

One problem with current internet tech is the 1 per cent model. That is that content is free, except for those few who opt to pay for premium content. There becomes an expectation for those who are satisfied with free, that everything should be free if its of lower quality. Its then a short jump into creating your own free version of content simply because its ok elsewhere.

Everything is free now, That’s what they say. Everything I ever done, Gotta give it away. Someone hit the big score. They figured it out, That we’re gonna do it anyway, Even if doesn’t pay.

I can get a tip jar, Gas up the car, And try to make a little change Down at the bar. Or I can get a straight job, I’ve done it before. I never minded working hard, It’s who I’m working for.

Every day I wake up, Hummin’ a song. But I don’t need to run around, I’ll just stay home. And sing a little love song, My love, to myself. If there’s something that you want to hear, You can sing it yourself.

’Cause everything is free now, That’s what I said. No one’s got to listen to The words in my head. Someone hit the big score, And figured it out, That we’re gonna do it anyway, Even if doesn’t pay.

–Gillian Welch

Always gotta keep a sharp eye out for pirates.

money is money; on both signs of the fence!

I wonder if Mr. Trudeau is being tongue-in-cheek with Jimmy’s assessment of why musicians take those jobs.

Fan’s shouldn’t rip off their favorite artists! That’s the label’s job.