30 Jun
2010
30 Jun
'10
3:23 p.m.
Hello Dave!
Your argument seems very-very convincing. But is it really?
"Yeh, yeh, yeh, artists made art before copyright. What they didn't make was
as much money as they now stand to make because of it."
So why not make up a law that, for instance, that allows bus drivers to make
more money? Like, make using your car illegal. And if you are a bus driver,
you would also say - "if you'd own a bus, you'd support that law, since
before I did not get that much money, now I have great income". So what? Do
bus drivers need more money? Do musicians need more money? Why? Why only
musicians then? Why not teachers? Why not make up a law to increase income
of washing ladies by making washing machines illegal?
Looking at any law or regulation within that frame is going to deliver the
same result. But I firmly believe that the link between artists income and
copyright is made up. I am saying this because all my professional musician
friends make substantial money and feed their kids WITHOUT selling copies of
their works. I underline this. And I know this as a fact because I often
work with them and know all the deals.
And yes, we can and should count profits of people when they come out of
limiting our freedom. This is a serious question. And if I see musicians
buying houses and a teenager having to pay 15 million because he downloaded
an album from the web, I can and should think that something is wrong here.
But at the end of the day I will tell you this: if a musician makes music to
then regulate it, I don't want his music. Seriously. I would rather give up
all that professional "scene" if it makes not music that spreads around, but
products which are "property". Maybe this is just me, so I am not saying
everyone should be like me. But to me music is a spiritual experience and
copyright ruins that experience and turns art into commerce - unfortunately.
In fact, in my view fields like education, medicine, science and arts should
not be platforms for wealth generation. These fields are too important to be
spoiled by money seekers and when music was not a fortune-making business,
but a calling, composers were those who had something to say. After all,
life can force you to be a bus driver, but nobody forces you to be a
composer if you don't want it.
And, in conclusion, Russia today is basically a copyright-less country. The
law does not really work.
If you want, you can come to Moscow and look around. And see for yourself if
you can find any starving musicians' bodies lying on the streets. And then
you can go around, visit philharmonics, go to local band shows, see what is
going on in experimental, rock, folk, classical scenes. All of those live
without copyright. Bewildering. All those musicians don't seem to notice any
problems. I wonder why.
With respect,
Louigi.