Mixed Blessings

[lilmissnever]

If I were a superstitious sort, I might be a little worried about 2008. They say that the way you begin the year is an indicator of how the rest of your year will pan out. If I were superstitious, I would just go ahead and christian 2008 the Year of the Death Cough

Comments

[rivetpepsquad]

Feel you. I had the hardest time in the WORLD with my own well-documented vow of silence. Nearly killed me.

Need to borrow the note pad?

[lilmissnever]

Only if I can write in the blood of those who would taunt me in my weakend state.

[rivetpepsquad]

I would like to encourage this behavior.

[lilmissnever]

The taunting or the stabbing and writing in the blood of the unbelievers? This is a key distinction.

[rezendi]

Something for you to read while you're recovering.

I have no mouth but I must STAB THOSE WHO TAUNT ME

[lilmissnever]

Yes, that did come to mind while I was writing this post.

[edge_of_within]

You're telling me you seriously met an indie record label owner (I'm just assuming you weren't at a party with the head of WMG or something) that supports what the RIAA is doing? That's insane. For your amusement - EMI (the smallest of the majors) recently walked away from the RIAA - they're no longer funding them. Too much bad publicity.

[lilmissnever]

Record label owner: I am a rich, rich man, but there are people out there stealing my product. I should be richer.

See also: They're thieves. Thieves should be put in jail.

I will not deny that I have benefitted from this man's richness over the years. I have consumed untold quantities of his champagne. Nevertheless, he and I disagree on this issue and it does not look as if either of us is going to give ground any time soon.

[voxsjournal]

Record label owner: I am a rich, rich man, but there are people out there stealing my product. I should be richer.

That's one way of looking at it. The other way is that the songwriter is being completely fucked, and he's probably not as rich as the record label owner. Publishers make money off of authors, too. That doesn't mean I steal books.

We've talked about this before. I don't think we're ever going to agree.

[lilmissnever]

I am deeply suspicious of the capitalist notion that no amount of money is ever enough. This is almost certainly why I would never be any good in business, nor should I ever own a record label. That doesn't mean that I should have the right to arbitrarily decide how much money is enough for my record-label owning friend, but I found the sense of entitlement in that declaration grating and I think that sense of entitlement was central to his argument. I could be misrepresenting or deliberately misunderstanding his argument because I disagree with him - I don't know. He is a reasonably articulate man and he can fight his own battles.

There is a difference between an mp3 of a song and a printed book. Making another copy of the book costs money. Making another copy of the mp3 costs nothing. If the book was an e-book, making another copy of it cost nothing, and research suggests that the people who copy these free e-books spend 4.5 times as much money on physical books than the average reader

[lorigami]

*not laughing at your description... no, really, not...*

in all seriousness, I hope you feel better soon.

[doomkty]

I hope you get better soon!
I guess we'll climb another time then, as I am still dealing with the end of a massive post NYE recovery effort, and pretty much drooling at my desk;p
in the meantime, I recommend you just turn that phone off ;)