[LAU] ASCAP Assails Free-Culture, Digital-Rights Groups

[Hartmut Noack]

Am 02.07.2010 13:49, schrieb drew Roberts:
> On Friday 02 July 2010 04:21:18 Hartmut Noack wrote:
>> Ideas shall be free and in music they are actually. Actual work shall be
>> attributed and the person, who did the work shall get a
>> compensation/reward for the work.
>
> This is where it breaks down. You don't get paid for your work unless someone
> agrees to pay you.

OK, yes: "reward" is the word if money changes hands. Maybe I should be 
more specific. last year I worked for about 60h to record a song that is 
7min long. I choosed to release it CC BY SA because  seeing the song 
spreading and some 1000 people listening to it seemes quite some reward 
to me. I can do so because:

1.) I made some money writing about working with the software we made 
the song with.

2.) The other guitar-player in the song agreed to release the tune that way.

3.) I cut the time I make music to have time to do other things some 
people agree to pay me for ;-)

>
> Some people get hired to be a fisherman. Some people pay for the opportunity
> to go out  and fish. Some people just go out and fish. They may each put in
> the same number of hours in a day.

This is a very very complicated matter. Only 3 hints on how I think 
about fishing:

- Supertrawlers/Industrial fishing
- Marine Life census: http://www.coml.org/
- Piracy (the kind with speedboats and machine-guns that is...)

If we really take it only as a metaphor it is still linked to social 
issues. Some can afford to go fishing just for fun, even if they have to 
pay for, others make little money fishing all day and do not care that 
much about elegance, the joy of hunting and much less about how many 
fish will survive to be available for coming generations. A single 
blue-finned tuna can be sold for more then 100.000 USD so there is 
fishing and there is fishing.

In all cases one needs the ressources to do it: time and money that is.

>
>> "doing one thing for some time and having no time to do something else
>> in the same time".
>
> But they don't each get paid. Some actually pay. Some get paid. With some, no
> money changes hands.
>
> But, if you don't get hired to make music and ensure your pay before you make
> the music. You can make it and hold on to it yourself until you get paid. If
> it is difficult to do that, that is life in a free world. Asking for chains
> to be put upon everyone else to make this easier for a musician is asking too
> much. Especially when the chains already in place are so burdensome and yet
> still not good enough.

In this I agree.

The chains in use today are anachronistic and more a burden than 
something helpful. But still creators shall have the right to choose how 
their work is spreading. Even if it is the old bad way, they choose and 
that choice should be respected.

To break the rules will not change them. It will only provide assertions 
for more enforcement, more control, more trouble and less progress for 
everyone.

Who wants to break the old system of ASCAP, GEMA and the like should 
promote better alternatives. And such alternatives will only be 
powerfull enough to break the old ways if they can persuade creators to 
use them. Radiohead made much more money with the nearly free downloads 
of In Rainbows(1) than they ever made with an album released the old way.
Thatś some persuation I'd say ;-)

But of course they get all the download-donations because they where a 
big industry-act already. So a new and better system should also provide 
ways to make artists that release freely heared worldwide. Big concerts, 
videoclips, airplay etc etc etc.
And payment to allow them to work fulltime, with adeaquate equipment....

best regs

HZN

1: man, was I disappoited by In Rainbows, I did not download but bought 
it Vinyl, listened trice or so and then put it on my "stuff to sell at 
ebay"-shelf....

>
> all the best,
>
> drew
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