It certainly is according to the Police State… I mean, MAFIAA… And don’t think they’ll stop with major label music. They want to own indie music too because, in their words, “it denies us a potential sale”.

neo styles, how do you get the time to post here? i thought you were busy sucking hollywood cock 24/7

If an (excellent) pianist decides to entertain 100 people for free by playing pieces from Bach to Bartók, is there infringement? What is it, 99 years for public domain? Why not 10,000 years? Or two years?

Say a group of outstanding musicians with ears like Dumbo decide to play some Bon Jovi tracks that sound EXACTLY like the tracks on the album. They do so in a open-door garage with no one else present. Infringement? The mailman walks by and listens to one song with pleasure. Infringement?

In the analogue era, people would make a copy of a record to tape, or tape to tape, no big deal. The digital world has changed the paradigm, and the leeches are freaking out, because they’re losing their grip on being able to continuing doing what the Motown record industry did to many artists, for example. Look at Michael Jackson, worth more dead than alive, with the vultures circling around the spoils. (Not that Michael himself didn’t pinch a song here and there from other artists, allegedly.)

Another poster offered an excellent example which I also espouse. Go to any decent restaurant and order a meal. If there is something you don’t like about it, you can send it back and order sometime else. Buy virtually any “product” and most of the time there is a period in which you can return it, “no questions asked.”

If Hollywood wants people to buy their “products,” they need to stop producing crap. Has anybody noticed we live in what I call the REMAKE AGE? Everything is a friggin’ remake. Our lives are a remake. A rehash. Let’s warm up and stir the leftovers from 10, 20, 30 years ago. I will bet there are thousands of excellent scripts floating around that NEVER stand a chance of getting one read by a production company, no contacts, no money no chance. So if a scriptwriter wants to make his movie, he has to produce it himself. The endless list of unnecessary remakes of movies and series. Unnecessary because for the most part THE ORIGINALS STOOD ON THEIR OWN and there was nothing to improve. It makes me want to puke. Get Smart, Bewitched, Shaft, Batman, Superman, Miami Vice, Mission Impossible, Day the Earth Stood Still, on and on and on… And you expect people to PAY for this crap!? Stop using movies to attempt to brainwash people in accordance with the latest bogus agenda, whether it’s “arabs are terrorists,” “global warming” which is now “climate change” because the earth is cooling (humans are evil carbon-generating monsters), earth is warm, fuzzy and cuddly), etc. How about producing excellent STORIES of whatever genre, and laying off the FX, remakes and, above all, the both subtle and blatant official political messages for a while. Change the damn business model.

But no, after the global serfs have been fleeced by their ravenous bureaucracies, the corporate “art” (ha) industry wants them to shut up and hand over whatever pennies might still be left in their pockets to consume whatever garbage said industry puts on the shelf. Ain’t gonna happen.

You know, I think that people should be able to go to a theater, watch the play or movie, and then make a monetary contribution of their choice ON THE WAY OUT, if they enjoyed it. That model should really provide a feel for what works and what doesn’t. THAT is the ART MODEL.

And movie credits should include a statement along the lines of “If you’ve watched this movie for free and enjoyed it, and can afford to do so, please purchase a copy. Your support will assist in the production of quality cinema (or music).”

Sorry for rant. EOM.

Exista Partidul Piratilor in Romania, si va vrem, piratilor.

http://partidulpiratilor.ro/

Artform just as emty of any real substance as their arguments. Let them starv, come over to the dark side, we hav cookiz. :-)

You guys should really stop being fed eminem and 50 cent by these people and then be arrested for it. Its a trap. Thats not even music its a “product”

PS: “people become artists because they think they can make money by selling it” – yes, because your shitty ‘democratic’ society binds the individual to work for existing, for money, money, “the GOD of Capitalism”, not to work for Creation.

PPS: SUGE PULA tuturor ‘piratilor’, cacarez de jder avortat, ca habar n-ai de romana, dar te dai rotund si ‘democratic corect’, diaree umana ce traiesti in lumea ta schizofrenica, plina de minciunile ‘americanilor’.

I have been working in the music industry for many years and personally know dozens of artists who’ve signed with these leeches only to have their creations tied up in red tape, literally stolen from them, and haven’t seen a dime for their labors. It’s time to change the rules.

Many artists have realized that with today’s technology you can record your album in a private or home studio for a fraction of what it cost ten years ago, and with the huge audience available via the internet you can promote and distribute your music without the need for a major label. If you are an artist, you owe it to yourself to research systems like iTunes and TuneCore before you sell your soul to a corporation that has no interest in your art except at the dollar level.

And if you are a consumer, check out the vast amount of music available on the web made by independent artists. You might find music that you like better than what’s on that overpriced, over hyped CD.

Keep buying into the old system and the stagnating entertainment business will continue to crank out expensive, “marketable” pap. Cut out the middleman and the old regime will fall, and just maybe the art of music will evolve and thrive again.

Sorry, slightly off topic rant I know…I’ll go away now.