Does culture really want to be free?

[wemblee]

Does culture really want to be free?

Are new media companies "digital parasites"? The author of "Free Ride" tells Salon piracy is killing art
By Scott Timberg

Over the last few weeks, Salon has been looking at the destruction of the creative class by the Internet, the recession and a transforming economy. A new book, “Free Ride,” by the

Comments

[castalianspring]

Right now, the single biggest problem with CD sales is all the stores where you used to buy CDs are closed. Well, what caused that? Well, people started buying songs online. That became a problem because people were only buying singles instead of albums and they weren’t spending a lot. Well, why did that happen? Because piracy put so much downward pressure on prices that you have to take any deal, whether it’s a good deal or a bad deal. It’s very hard to separate these things. Any study where people say this has nothing to do with piracy is a bunch of bullshit.I think this whole paragraph is bullshit and needs citations. I still see CD stores around, though I do wonder how they stay afloat. IMO, the reason people don't buy CDs as much anymore is that CD technology is too far behind the player technology. Why do I want a bulky, easily scratched or broken object to hold only a small amount of music when I can have a tiny mp3 player that holds much more? Why would anyone want to buy a whole album if they only like a few songs off it?

[superfan1]

I want to give your comment so many thumbs up and hugs right now. <3

[castalianspring]

Heh, thanks. I have LOTS OF FEELINGS on this topic.

[anolinde]

Also, CDs are fucking expensive. A lot of them are $14-$18 now. =/

[snarksnarklaugh]

but everyone argues about stuff like a 4-year-old.
lol Truism if by everyone you mean Congress.

I think the movie industry fought copyright issues the smartway by using the technology that makes it possible to make it hard to steal or copy their product. I think people could protect their content with say product code like what comes with software but they may lead to them using free content instead. E-publishing would be a good place to use that.

I think tv has gotten better because it got rid of soap operas.lol I think what makes it better is that the people who make tv now have a lot of feedback from their audience or potential audience. Real Housewives isn't appealing to everyone but the people who love it are thrilled that there are twenty of them.

There's a lot of good points made in this article.

[kitanabychoice]

I have mixed feelings on this article. I think the interviewee has definitely thought out parts and has some good points, but I think that when it all boils down to it, media companies are really just angry that they're losing some money.

Although I think his statement about record companies not being able to make music videos anymore is kind of like fearmongering. I don't think that record labels are losing so much money that soon they won't be able to make MVs.

I need to come back and re-read this when I am more coherent. Brain is dying. x_x

[anolinde]

I don't think that record labels are losing so much money that soon they won't be able to make MVs.

Yeah... and I would imagine that they make decent money off of advertising when they post them on YouTube? Especially when the videos get millions of hits. More online hits = more exposure = more people purchasing the songs on iTunes. I would assume, anyway.

[baked_goldfish]

That became a problem because people were only buying singles instead of albums and they weren’t spending a lot. Well, why did that happen?

On the other hand, instead of saying, "Eh, I'm not buying an entire shitty album for one song," people buy the one song. I do think iTunes and the like influence the creation of albums (vs. the creation of a collection of singles), but dude's ignoring the positive effects discrete song sales can have for a musician.

You see that happening with newspapers already. Third, I think the whole system suffers. Google News is not as useful if there’s not as much news to Google. I mean, Google is an information search tool, right? It’s not a moral issue. But the problem you’ve created, you create a very powerful incentive for somebody to create a better search engine. You eliminate [the] incentive to create better journalism. That is a problem.This is a...weird and overly simplistic understanding of what's happening with newspapers and the news media in general, one that does not take into account the

[stephantom]

There is the argument that countries with copyright steal culture from countries or peoples without copyright, and then copyright that stolen culture. Why the ass is any story about Pocahontas copyright by Disney? Did Disney create that? No, they stole someone else's story, turned it into a musical, slapped an Anglo law on it and made money off it. Same with Mulan, did Disney create that? Copyright has its place, but the idea that countries with copyright "create" more culture than countries without is specious.

Ha, I really enjoy this argument. There are so many stories that do not have a clear answer to the question, "Who does this belong to?"

I still think artists should benefit from their hard work, but I think people really do get caught up too much in thinking that any one person or corporation owns any given idea.

[maladaptive]

There is the argument that countries with copyright steal culture from countries or peoples without copyright, and then copyright that stolen culture.

The US used to be that country - or rather, we didn't have any international treaties because we were a net importer, so we'd bring in novels from Europe and go wild. US authors would violate copyright all the time because who cared about people from across the sea.

Then we became an exporter and suddenly that stuff mattered to us.

So it's kind of a true argument, except that it's not a matter of who has copyright and who doesn't versus who has the means to "create culture" (I believe he means media, because a lot of culture is uncopyrightable and is often free to consume) but rather, who's signed on to the Berne Convention.

[homasse]

This guy strikes me very much as a "everything looks like a nail when all you have is a hammer" type. I mean, the point about the news getting shittier? I'd blame that a lot more on all the media getting conglomerated into a giant mass of Rudolph and Koch-owned blobs than just on falling sales. They are dying for a lot more reasons than just digital news, and GOOD