[LAU] <OT> 'Sir' Elton John (a.k.a. Pennyhouse with rolls) wants to shut down the web <off topic>

[Paul Davis]

On Fri, 2007-08-03 at 17:06 -0400, Chuckk Hubbard wrote:
> On 8/2/07, Paul Davis <paul at linuxaudiosystems.com> wrote:
>         On Thu, 2007-08-02 at 09:24 -1000, david wrote:
>         > Vince Werber wrote:
>         >
>         > > On a lark I surfed over to Matt Drudge's web site
>         (www.drudgereport.com) to
>         > > see if there was anything new on the ASCAP lawsuits and lo
>         and behold...
>         > > There is a story about Sir Elton wanting to shut down the
>         web because he
>         > > thinks the web music people are in some way causing a
>         problem with music... 
>         >
>         > Sir Elton is just mouthing the fundamental RIAA issue with
>         the web.
>         
>         good grief, did you even read/listen to what he had to say? it
>         has
>         absolutely nothing to do with the net as a
>         distribution/retail/exchange 
>         medium.
> 
> Well, what he said has nothing to do with that, but why he said it...
> Well if it was someone who wasn't senile I would suspect they had
> ulterior motives, but with him who knows.

thats ridiculously insulting and unnecessary.


> I think there is music that gets produced and sold now that could
> never have made profit in the 80's. 

could be. but most of its not making a profit in the naughties either,
just like most music in the 90's, 80's and before.

>  One other result of increased communication, including the internet,
> is that people with similar non-mainstream interests can find each
> other. 

if they can be bothered, between playing WoW/guitar hero/katamari,
texting friends on their phones, and popping yet another DVD in one of
the many players at home.

>  Now certain musicians can have an audience that never could have
> found their audience without the help of large corporations before,
> and large corporations had no reason to help them.  I think of Beck as
> being this way. 

Beck? Beck predates the rise of the internet. Wikipedia says "He first
came to wider public attention with his breakthrough single "Loser", a
hit in 1994,". 1994 ... i was just getting the insides of Amazon started
in 1994, i think that can be said to predate the internet as that term
is commonly understood today, or at least be contemporaneous with it at
a time when audio-via-dialup was not practical.

>  I'm not sure how much role the internet had per se in his obtaining
> contracts, but the general increase in communication technology
> definitely helped.  Primus comes to mind as well: they could only turn
> a profit by appealing to 1 out of 10 people in a million groups. 

never heard of primus, which i guess proves your point.

> Also, in some ways, creativity works better with individuals.  Once
> you start collaborating on your vision, it can get diluted. 

true, to a point. but the real masterpieces often involve people who are
already very very good collaborating with others. and there are many
skills in music making that are better/deeper/quicker learnt by playing
with others.

>  It always amazes me when people can pull off some huge project
> involving dozens of people that retains some really quirky creativity.
> "Being John Malkovich" comes to mind, and Southpark.  How do some
> visionaries keep the producers from reigning them in?  

generally, by either self-producing or finding very like-minded
producers.

> I don't think that art produced by isolated individuals is generally
> worse than that made by people who are "out there". 

its nothing to do with the quality of the art. its to do with the social
role of art in bringing together artists and audiences in varuous
combinations.

--p