Re: in a quandry

["Peter T. Chattaway" <petert at interchange_ubc.ca>]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003, Wes Morgan wrote:
> I would argue that sharing music is actually a moral good, all other
> things being equal, because art should be shared. Real, inspiring, great
> art (<- official OtR content) should be shared with as many people as
> possible. I dare you to find one true artist that disagrees.

You want official OtR content?  I'll give you official OtR content!  Apart
from the copy of _Patience_ that I "won" at Greenbelt '94, my first
exposure to OtR was from a mix tape that someone gave me in the late '90s,
and then someone on this list forwarded me some bootleg mp3s (which were
from concerts and the like, not the albums, so I guess they didn't
directly undermine album sales or anything), and then I downloaded some
mp3s from OtR's web site, and then ... well, then I went to C2K and bought
all of OtR's albums (from Linford himself) in one fell swoop.  All that
free music had burrowed into my brain and I just had to own my own.

> But I would argue that outside of that law, sharing music is not an
> inherent moral wrong (just like walking).

Indeed, the very notion of an individual artist "owning" a song is a
pretty recent idea, I think.  How many authentic "folk" songs have known,
identifiable authors?  How many of them were ever copyrighted?

--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments; only afterwards do they
   claim remembrance, on account of their scars. -- Chris Marker, La Jetee

---------------
Unsubscribe by going to http://www.actwin.com/OtR/