Daily Archives: March 5, 2002

Mar 5 2002

Courtney Love’s Speech

I found this speech made by Courtney Love on why she supports Napster-like technology.

What is piracy? Piracy is the act of stealing an artist’s work without any intention of paying for it. I’m not talking about Napster-type software.

I’m talking about major label recording contracts.

It’s not the artists that have a problem with the MP3 revolution, it’s the record labels.

Look at it this way. There are two kinds of musicians, and they should get paid for very different things:

  1. Composers
  2. Performers

###Composers

Composers write music. They should be paid for the copies of their scores that are used by others in performance.

###Performers

Performers perform. They get paid to perform.

###Notice who’s missing?

The record companies. The music industry changed during the 20th century, and the musicians have gotten screwed. Record companies developed that own equipment that’s far too expensive for most musicians to afford. They also have the money to produce mass quantities of recordings for the public to buy. Because of this, they exact a toll on the true artists.

With the MP3 revolution, everything is in place for the record companies to go the way of the horse drawn carriage. Musicians can now get their music directly to the consumer who can later pay to see a performance. This scares the record companies to death. They see the writing on the wall.

Mar 5 2002

Steve Jobs Gets a Grammy!

In his acceptance speech, he blasts the music industry for its attitude towards the digital revolution.

##I’ve Paid Enough

The lesson of Napster, which popularised unauthorised music-sharing on the Internet, had more to do with convenience than the fact users could get music free of charge, in Jobs’ view. “We believe that over 80percent of people are willing to pay,” he says. “But there is no one offering you a choice.”

Exactly!

I own many CDs that I used to town on cassette tape, that I used to own on LP. I’ve paid enough! I’m not going to pay again for the priviledge of getting music into an MP3 player! I should be able to rip music from my legally purchased CDs into an MP3 player. Period!