I came across your blog on Technorati. Nice site layout. I will stop by and read more soon.

Mike Harmon

Interesting to say the least. I have heard this on the news lately. I have a feeling that most of the good, new stuff won’t be available for download until the cd’s sales wane. Much like a movie going to DVD. I don’t think people want to be forced to pay for a lot of crap that they wouldn’t download in the first place. So forcing a charge would be unpopular! I personally buy the cd if I have a chance to listen online first. Especially if it’s an artist I like. I like to support the artist, but unfortunately others don’t and hey, who doesn’t like to get free stuff? I use music all the time in my profession and it’s usually stuff that’s hard to find. I’m not going to buy a movie cd just for one piece of music, if I can get it from the library or download it online. I use to tape music off the radio for crying out loud! Maybe people can choose what they pay for….as in a bundle or individual, but give people a choice. This could really work, and the artist definitly deserves more money in their pockets.

I just read the article on how to try and get the world’s population to pay for the access to the music available on the internet in an attempt to pay artists what they are rightfully owed.

First, I completely disagree with taking students to court for doing the exact same thing the business men in suits are doing behind closed doors or the ladies in the 24 hour strip joints do. What I am trying to say is that everyone has done it, knows someone who does it or has received it “after the fact” from someone. Why not focus where it would have the most impact. Instead of focusing on the meek and meager, focus on the internet companies who allow it to be done across their broadbands, wireless or dial-up connections. I can promise you that if they were targeted and knew the penalties for allowing it to be uploaded, downloaded or transferred they would halt that traffic. You don’t need a degree to understand simplistics of money and income. Hit those who have money where it hurts most…their bank accounts.

With technology as advanced as it is these days, this is not a “hard solution” to come to. If the Police can trace an ISP to criminals, with the right legal documents, music companies could trace illegal uploads/downloads of pirated music to specific ISP’s. This would make the Internet providers sit up and put their “hard earned money” to appropriate use. It would force the companies to become more responsible as to what is passed across their sites.

These are the people who have the means, knowledge and disposable time to find solutions instead of allowing our musicians to have to sacrifice yet another way for their art by losing money they’ve earned, or should have earned for their finished products.

So please, stop putting blame on the little people. The ISP’s are enabling them to do what is being done in pirating music. Place the blame on who is truly at fault. We blame liquor stores for selling alcohol to drunks. We blame cigarette companies for selling cigarettes to lung cancer victims. We blame drug dealers for the kids that wind up in body bags from over dosing. Why are we so hesitant to blame internet service providers for this?

I think the idea is a great one and it would go along way to address some of the current issues that artists all round the globe are facing. We live in a world that instant gratification is the way and this may work so people can still get their downloading fix without having to leave the comforts of their living room(and needing to pay for transport, seen the gas prices, and bus passes, wow). I think there will be always be a minority of people who want the fix and challenge of taking something for nothing, just like when you get people sneaking into concerts without paying. There are always going to have those that get off on beating the system. The beauty of technology is though that there is such a tremendous opportunity for education, teaching people about all the hard work, sweat and tears that making music is. Econoline Crush certainly taught me alot that I was totally ignorant about and I am a fairly honest person. People are stealing and not even knowing it’s stealing. Most people are good though, and it is just a matter of letting people know what it is like I think and they will make the right decisions. I do not understand economics, but I know music is a power to be reckoned with in a good way. And it’s about love, most people wouldn’t rip off an industry that is loved, and maybe that is something that has gone haywire too. I don’t know. The beauty of music is it touches everyone in their bubble, in some way. I hope that never changes.

be well.

I find it interesting, Griffin’s makes sense, but my questions is how are artists fairly compensated?

If level of compensation were to be based on tracked number of downloads for instance, as a consumer I would be conflicted. Currently if I hear of an artist, I would borrow from a friend or use the internet to check them out, but I only pay for what I feel is worthy of the investment. However, if the library were open via the internet and I were already paying the monthy fee regardless of quantity downloaded, the logical step would be to simply download anyone you’ve heard about to give it a listen. Great for consumers, but how do we ensure that artists are paid for the quality of their art opposed to being paid simply because the media made a big deal about some up the skirt photo published and comsumers only downloaded because they thought they recognized the name probably can’t even remember why, but as downloads are “pre-paid” why not check it out?

Would this then put artists even further at the mercy of trashy “entertainment” media or are we too far gone that way already?

I don’t think that there is any chance of him winning honestly. It is a good idea for trying to reclaim the music industry but there are so many sources of getting free music that nobody wants to bother with the legal aspect of it. Nobody really cares that they are breaking any copyright laws or “stealing” music, as well as movies or software. You rarely see any consequences from doing it. So instead of investing more time into figuring out how to get people to pay for it again, maybe figuring out a better way to enforce laws that are already in place would be the better option. I would hazard a guess that the majority of people have an illegal copy of something on their own computer.
I don’t really know that much about how, or even if, open source software providers make money. To me they seem like they have the right idea. Nobody wants to pay for what they get for free already. Could this same idea of open source be applied to the music industry and still make money for the artists?
Artists need to get creative in their own ways, to get people to want to pay for things. We went from records, to tapes, to CD’s… (All of which people still buy) to the internet… it opens up a whole world of possibilities. If people like an artist enough they will pay for what they are offering.
I don’t think that paying an ISP for music would solve the industries problems.

When we talked at dinner Jim clarified that he is essentially offering the ISPs a “promise not to sue”.
It doesn’t legalize all P2P.
x

Enjoying the blog…

Now - I think this is completely off track. If this type of mandatory fee comes through I think it will be a big mistake and cause more trouble than it’s worth.

- Anyone who owns a copyright that could be violated by internet pirates would have a claim against the pool of money… so it would be spread very thin. (eg. movie studios, book publishers etc.)

- It would be an enormous deterrent against people actually paying for music, traditional music retailers would be hurt and therefore would probably oppose it or want a cut of the money to themselves.

- People will treat this as a free license to download whatever they want because they’re paying the fine regardless. Why would I spend another 99c at iTunes for something they already forced me to pay for on my internet bill?

- This comes off as the record industry asking the government to force ISPs to restore their revenue stream rather than adapting to changing customer expectations… the old business model is quickly dying and they’ll have to adapt or fade away, just like any other business.

well every time I meet people here, I’m sure they are very young and don’t know what to say, that’s why they write weird stuff