Author Sherman Alexie's Rants On Colbert Against Ebooks, Piracy And 'Open Source Culture'
from the you-said-what-now? dept
On last night's Colbert Report, author Sherman Alexie spent most of the interview ranting against digital books and how "piracy" was destroying the book business. The whole thing was odd not just because of how uninformed it was, but also because he seemed to contradict himself multiple times. I haven't read any of Alexie's books, but if his logic is so twisted, it's difficult to think that his books are worth reading:He compares the book business to the music business, saying:
"When the music industry went digital, somewhere between 75 and 95% of music is pirated. Nobody makes money off their music any more. Everything is about live shows now."First of all, it wasn't the industry that went digital. Music went online way before the industry even realized it, and one of the main reasons that the piracy rates are as high as they are (and his numbers are industry figures that aren't reliable at all) was because the industry held back for so long in giving people what they wanted: which is exactly what Alexie is now doing!
As for his claim that no one makes money off their music any more, that's obviously silly. He admits that they now make their money from live shows (which is making money off their music). And then later in the interview, he points out that one of the parts he enjoyed most about being a published author was doing live performances and readings of his works. In other words, he already does what he claims happened to the music industry. So why is he so worried about piracy? That's not clear at all.
He also seems rather uninformed about how file sharing has helped some authors.
I'd be really worried if I were Stephen King or James Patterson or a really big best seller that when their books become completely digitized, how easy it's going to be to pirate them.Where to start....? First, Alexie doesn't seem to understand how book file sharing happens. It's not because the industry digitizes the books, but because others digitize those books, and, yes, they're most likely already available on file sharing networks, whether those authors released them in ebook form or not. It's not the official ebook they're sharing in most cases anyway.
Second, as for the claim that it will harm the biggest name authors most of all, Alexie might want to talk to Paulo Coelho. Coelho is the guy who quietly set up operations to "pirate" his own book and saw the sales of his physical books increase massively. Oh, and the book he chose to offer up via BitTorrent, The Alchemist is one of the best selling books of all time. Stephen King and James Patterson, by the way, do not have any books on that list -- though, to be fair, if you combine all of their books, King has sold more than Coelho, and Patterson seems to be in a similar ballpark, probably selling slightly more than Coelho, but both have published many more books.
Then, really strangely, he attacks "open source culture":
With the "open source culture" on the internet, the idea of ownership -- of artistic ownership -- goes away.Now, beyond this just being flat out wrong about what "open source" means or what "open source culture" is, what's the most bizarre thing about this statement is who it's coming from. Alexie is most well-known for his writing about modern Native American life -- and Native Americans aren't exactly known for their strong believe in artistic ownership. In fact, much of the understanding of so-called "gift economies," which are sometimes (though not always accurately) used to describe the open source world are actually based on Native American gift giving culture of tribes in the Pacific Northwest, which is where Alexie is from.
Colbert actually does a good job pushing back on this, in his usual self-mocking manner, pointing out that sharing helps get the word out there, and the only reason he's so famous is because of how easily his content is shared via TV. Without that, he notes, he'd have to just go door to door shouting at people. To which Alexie responds: "I'm a fan of door to door shouting at people." Good luck with that.
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Filed Under: ebooks, open source, piracy, sherman alexie, stephen colbert
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WTF?
B. Colbert seems to get it.. and, as he so often does mocks his guest in an ever so subtle barrage of witty puns and analogies
C. He thinks hes saving our culture by sacrificing himself? thats about as indigenous as it gets I suppose :)
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So head over to iTunes today and tell them you want it. It's also available as a rental, so you can rent it every day between now and Christmas.
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I'd like to know how to mentally classify it so I can get pissed in the right way.
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Oh wait, didn't realize it was you, Derek. Mr. All talk and no substance.
Carry on.
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Eric Flint Still Has It Right
That's a sale gotten because until yesterday, I'd never even *heard* of the lady.
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I hate to mention this ....
At least a part of the interest in the pirated ebooks comes from people who would buy them in that format if they were available. Even more would buy them if they were available at a reasonable price in ebook format.
Refusing to put his books on Kindle or other ebook formats has not reduced piracy at all. Instead what it has done is deny him the revenue he would have received from people who wanted his book in ebook format, but were not able to get it.
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This will annoy someone, but a lot of right-brainers are similarly misinformed about technology. I remember Caleb Carr's ranting and raving about the internet sometime ago. He's another guy whose books I have enjoyed, but I just shake my head when he starts spouting off on topics he doesn't understand well.
If either of these guys were talking about writing, it might be worth listening to.
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I can't view the video
I used to look at the Colbert Nation site a few times a week until they decided they no longer wanted Irish viewers....
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Re: I can't view the video
How can they expect to monetise their product if they do not let people see it?
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Re: I can't view the video
Dah. That's annoying. I originally had the Hulu video (which went up earlier than the CN version), but switched because while I knew Hulu blocks other countries, I thought ColbertNation didn't.
Sorry.
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Re: Re: I can't view the video
Ironically, I hear the pirate bay versions have the adverts cut out.. how kind of them to encourage people to watch the ad free versions.
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So now CMT is not on my list of websites to visit.
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Another Romantic author plea
Cue in music: "Can it be that it was all so simple then?" -- Gladys Knight
This is similar to what Mark Helprin received coverage for when he had his 15 minutes of ill-informed intellectual property policy fame. To understand the theoretical basis (i.e. Romantic authorship) behind Alexie's (and Helprin's) opinions, please see the first half of our post earlier this year on Helprin: http://bit.ly/4wAZVi
And if art is returning to performance in lieu of sales, sounds like authors may be able to learn a bit by borrowing from slam poetry artists, who present their work as a form of performance.
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What??
Mike, have you ever looked into going on Colbert or something like that? I would like to see that.
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Re: What??
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good luck with that
bwahahaha! good one, hands down the 2nd dumbest thing I've heard in the last several weeks (the first being ANYTHING out of Rupert Murdocks cakehole).
Idiocy reigns supreme in the world today, and the luddites are on the march. Soon, we will regress to the early 20th century both technologically and culturally. Good job, morons!
OH and if you show up at MY door shouting and carrying on, trying to be "heard" when you had MANY MANY other valid and less intrusive options available to you and you elected to not take advantage of them, you will be asked ONCE to leave and then you get buckshot up your backside.
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As an ebook author, I have to comment on a piece of this...
Ugh. Alexie, go talk to some of the smaller publishers out there. Piers Anthony has a nice list of them on his website.
It doesn't hurt the big name--it hurts the lesser known authors and epublishing companies far more. That's their bread and butter, and they make pennies if they're lucky. No one gets rich off of ebooks and being an ebook author, and in this economy to pirate an ebook worth $5.95 and have thousands access it with no money going to the author nor e-publishing company is highway robbery at best.
It does NOT help them to sell their books. If they were big name and had books in print, perhaps they could afford to take a hit. But not the indie and small press. Every time you pirate and/or allow an ebook pirate to get away with it, you're harming people and their livelihood. Theft is theft. Pirating has not helped us. When I sell five books in one month and a pirate makes off with giving away a thousand copies of it, do you think that helped me or my publisher?
Unfortunately most of this is ignorance. Some people buy a book and think that giving it away is like being a library. No, it's not. Unless you delete the file on your end, you are making a copy of that file. You are the person who goes to a library, checks out a book, takes it to Kinkos and then xeroxes copies and gives them out to their friends.
It's not just wrong, it's illegal.
A sidenote: Kindle and the Nook help us, not harm us. Those are examples of legal, controlled file sharing. It's the kind where people use torrents that I'm addressing.
End unfortunately well-deserved rant, as I've been a victim of an ebook pirate before as have fellow authors. :(
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Re: As an ebook author, I have to comment on a piece of this...
I think the lesson here is, create something worth buying and people will buy. There are those that will pirate no matter what, but you wouldn't have sold to them anyway.
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Re: Re: As an ebook author, I have to comment on a piece of this...
Just an FYI, I don't pirate anything, books, music, movies, software, etc. and I am not defending those that do.
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Re: As an ebook author, I have to comment on a piece of this...
i'm real happy for you, and i'm a let you finish, but you forgot to mention everytime someone pirates an ebook, god kills a kitten. oh, and piracy supports terrorism.
when you are done crying, check out some of cory doctorow's writing about ebooks and why he gives his away. you might gain a couple of insights into making content work for you in the digital age.
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Re: As an ebook author, I have to comment on a piece of this...
To sum it up, when economics works against you it is easier to call it theft than learn how to use the economics to your advantage. That is what I hear when people start saying absurd things like 'it's not just wrong, it's illegal'. I might instead hear what you would wish to communicate but I guess the message gets garbled by the assertion to reality conversion node of my brain.
Piracy may lose you sales if your fans, that is those who would ordinarily buy your books, fail to realise that you are not getting any money from them. Personally I just spent £20 on two EP's from a band that offer DRM free FLAC files on a name your price model because I felt compelled to reward an artist that is endeavouring to meet demand for the music I like in the format I want. They even offered to send me some CD's because I had paid more than I had to. I declined because they had already given me everything I wanted and I'm not one for pointless overseas shipping, maybe the difference will go towards their next production.
The point to that anecdote is, if you really have fans and they have money to give you and you encourage them to give you money then money you shall get. If they don't give you money then they either don't have it or they aren't fans. If you don't have any fans then I suggest trying something else or looking harder. If all your fans are broke then patience pays dividends, you can still try to communicate with them and perhaps diversify into other areas for income while there is no money to be had there.
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Re: As an ebook author, I have to comment on a piece of this...
Tautologies are tautologies. Dictionaries are dictionaries. Common sense is common sense.
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Re: As an ebook author, I have to comment on a piece of this...
The fact is we can't do that experiment - however it is a fair guess that without "piracy" you would sell even less.
You are trying to have the positive publicity effects of piracy without the free copying downside. Unfortunately you cannot separate the two. You can have both or neither.
What has happened is that "piracy" has given you the illusion that your work is worth more than it actually is.
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Re: As an ebook author, I have to comment on a piece of this...
Brian
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business model
"Piece of art" or not, if no one can get to it, then people don't know they want/need his product. His target audience is just too small. Think bigger Mr. Sherman. Only then will you be able to have a best seller.
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Point of information
I've seen many lecturers, and he is among the best. He can make you laugh and a minute later turn the same idea around with poignancy.
I'm sorry to see he has misguided views about copyright. But all these commenters treating him like he is a total idiot simply because he is ignorant in this particular area come across as foolish. Not everyone is in the binary of genius hero/villainous idiot.
But I suppose we're all trolls when armed with righteous indignation.
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Or in greater detail who is he and why should I care.
As noted earlier the biggest enemy of someone trying to sell their creativity is not "pirates" it is obscurity. If I haven't heard of you I am neither buying your product nor am I pirating your product. So first you need me to find out about you. Then you need to give me a reason to buy. Sometimes that reason can be as simple as letting me feel good about myself for not pirating a product.
As an antectode, I have purchased hundreds of e-books, but I have only purchased one document with DRM, a short story by one of my absolute favorite authors. DRM is an incentive to piracy, not something that prevents piracy.
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Heh..
If the car companies could legally stop you from purchasing stereos from 3rd parties they would... More and more stereos have integrated dash panels that don't accept aftermarket equipment, and even beyond that, many have custom, proprietary adapters inside the panel. It's exactly the same problem.
People pirated television and movies, because they wanted a copy at a price point that was competitive more than they wanted it *free* (though free is nice). Take hulu for example, I'd be willing to pay, say a $0.10 sent micropayment to "rent" an episode for 24hrs. It'd probably be as much or more than they make from the ads, and still be convenient enough for me. Why more studios don't offer this is beyond me.
I have maybe 15 shows I watch a year, with staggered release schedules (usually 6-7 on a typical week). I'd rather pay 10-25 cents an episode on an a-la-cart plan than death with a skyrocketing cable/satellite plan. Offer the first 2-3 episodes of a show "free" with commercials, and make the rest a la cart. The iTunes $1 per episode is imho a bit overpriced, but 10-25 cents as a rental would be far more valuable to me. I don't need to own anything, I do buy DVDs of series I like to support those shows.. but I honestly only watch a given episode of a show maybe twice a decade... I'd rather pay another $3-5 a season every 5-6 years than have to worry about storing the thing.
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I went ape shit especially on the fact that digital books help reduce the demand of paper, which come from trees. This guy Alexie is a Native American, you think he would have seen the positive environmental impact of digital media.
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say what now?!
can you back that statement up at all? some simple logic makes it seem highly unlikely just by looking at what it takes to copy the two versions, one takes a ton of energy to plant and harvest a forest, turn it into paper, then print words on it, the other only takes a small amount of electricity to copy ones and zeroes.
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This would seem to suggest that the paper book is environmentally worse.
"...paper book created 4 times the greenhouse gas emissions of an e-book reader and several times more ozone-depleting substances and chemicals associated with acid rain. Print books needed 3 times more raw materials and 78 times more water consumption than e-books"
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My favorite are the tech people that would fight to keep microsoft. whether through laziness or idiocy, i have no idea. that kind of brainwashing is impossible to overcome.
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His Plan Has Scaling Problems
The oral tradition looms large in Native American history, as it does in European history. The telling of stories "door to door" by bards, or just regular people was how stories traveled before writing.
Then writing allowed a literate class to record the stories, tell them better, store them longer, and spread them wider. Of course, the rich and the churches were able to mostly control the content.
Then Guttenberg invented a game-changer, which allowed books to be relatively cheaply reproduced. This brought a lot more people into the literature market, the information economy of the day. Most historians view this as "progress".
I'll stop the history lesson there, because I've already gone way beyond the level of technological progress Alexie espouses. He wants to stop the clock somewhere shortly after Guttenberg, with a mix of print and, door-to-door oral tradition.
Good luck with that. That business model does not scale very well at all. It turns out that in a world of over 6 Billion, there are a lot of doors. Far too many, in fact, to knock on them all to tell them about your book.
A much better scaling solution is the digital one, with approximate marginal costs of 0 per copy of the book, which can then reach more than a billion digitally connected households. Many will pay, many will not. But more will pay this way than with "door to door", and costs will be relatively trivial.
As Colbert noted, broadcast solutions like TV allow him to speak to millions with no marginal cost. Door to door is simply not a practical solution to address a big market.
"White folks should be ashamed that its taken an Indian to save a part of their culture." Really? Indians should be ashamed that their chief Luddite wants to take us back to the middle ages.
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Not ranting, some truth in there ...
I love that folks are suggesting that he should become an oral storyteller because he's native american ... should all authors have to become performers now to get paid - ridiculous.
Not surprising to find folks on this forum in opposition to anyone wanting to charge for content ... but get a grip, people need be able to get paid, make a living, or those people won't do that job anymore ... and we lose.
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Re: Not ranting, some truth in there ...
Hint: Avoid destroying your own point by not understanding simple words.
"I love that folks are suggesting that he should become an oral storyteller because he's native american ... should all authors have to become performers now to get paid - ridiculous."
Apparently you missed the part where he said he likes to travel around the country reading his books to people. Speaking of reading, you should try it sometime.
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Re: Re: Not ranting, some truth in there ...
If you are referring in part to me with: "love that folks are suggesting that he should become an oral storyteller because he's native american"
That's the opposite of what I suggested. Most people on this site would argue that that is pretty bad idea when artists have the ability to share their works for a marginal cost of zero using digital tools. The digital reproduction will both increase the audience, and generate more sales, AND allow a greater revenue potential for book tours. At a cost of pretty much zero.
It is not we here that suggest he return to the oral tradition, that's Alexie himself. My point was that the oral tradition is a big part of HISTORY, both European and native. History, as in the past. It was bested by Guttenberg, and then Berners-Lee. Artist are free to use the classic tools of storytelling, but cannot live as though the modern tools don't exist. If you don't use digital technologies, you lose out on opportunity, and run the risk of being pwned by them.
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Re: fixed
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Re: PAULO COELHO ITSELF
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Re: Re: PAULO COELHO ITSELF
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All I remember...
Is that a fair assessment of his value as a writer? Certainly not. But when you go on TV and talk about how you're going to fight against "piracy" by avoiding some technology, everything else just goes out the window.
And as for "an Indian saving white people's culture"? I really think he's more in line with the retreating white culture than he'd care to admit. Protectionist, afraid of change, trying desperately to cling to a business model that's on its way out...that may be what he calls "white culture", but it's not the dominant culture. If it was, he wouldn't be so afraid of piracy.
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Not a fan of ebooks
It's just a shame that some artists or content creators or authors or whatever can't or refuse to see the light.
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Re: Not a fan of ebooks
There is, however, a Luddite quality to an author not willing to distribute digitally, not understanding the technology, building strong opinions on bad understandings, and hating digital just cuz.
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Annoyance
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Re: As an ebook author, I have to comment on a piece of this...
Oh wait, no they are not. They are doing quite well and John Ringo just got a new boat. Have fun with them pork and beans. Oh and PAULO COEHLO, you only need to push the button once for it to show up. You might want to hire a 12 year old to explain it to you.
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Books in an electronic format I download free from Project Gutenberg.
Every once in a while I'll buy a PDF from RPGNow.com.
I absolutely refuse to buy anything with most forms of DRM. (Watermarking is OK -- I don't mind it.)
I despise the Kindle.
I wouldn't want Sherman Alexie's book if you paid me. He comes across as a greedy ass that is only really looking out for his own profits. F-em.
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Way to steal the precious intellectual property of Some Dead Author. You make me sick. How can you sleep at night?
I'm glad that Some Corporate Trust still owns the rights to The Great Gatsby, which was first published in 1926 and whose author has since been long dead.
What if everyone downloaded, sorry, stole from this Pirate Gutenberg website? Then the bookstores go out of business. I hope you're happy.
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Heartwarming
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e-Books
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Sherman Alexie
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Re: Sherman Alexie
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Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
Of course, I cannot speak to anyone else's indignation. That's my new favourite word. Thanks!
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Re: Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
My comment was directed towards those who parse words and present them out of context, mock the words as so parsed, and then retreat with self-satisfaction that they are right and those holding other views are not.
In my view one of the points he was making is that of his personal belief that human-to-human contact is quite important, and that eBooks, like many other forms of content exchange enabled by new technology, reduces the opportunity for him to engage in such interaction.
It is also appropriate to note he clearly admitted that the new technology is a "game changer" that he has not as yet come to grips with, and noted that it is something he will eventually have to consider in greater detail. His dilema seems to be how to resolve the tension between digital distribution and his desire to continue close personal, face-to-face contact with his readers.
At this point his "CwF" does not appear to readily embrace that which is typically advocated by many who frequent this site.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
It would be foolish to be so dismissive of the rightful creators of content.
I find what someone initially says, while key, is not nearly as essential as the dialogue and debate that follows.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
You are throwing around accusations that the record clearly does not support.
There are negligible numbers of comments of the sort that simply said "Idiot" or "Moron". By far, most comments (aside from Paul Coolhoo spelling) addressed the weaknesses in Alexie's understanding of technology, economics, or markets. A few debunked a bit of his statements on Colbert, and went on to mention that he was an idiot, or that they couldn't fathom reading his books after that display. However, that is a far better debate than just cries of "Idiot!".
In fact, have another look as I did. Tell me if you still believe that "the debate that follows is nothing more than cries of "Idiot!" and "Moron!"
I think we have engaged in exactly the kind of debate Alexie's opening salvo merited. Exactly the kind of debate you say is lacking. Spiced up a little perhaps by a few bon mots, per Internet custom.
Lastly, you said, "I find what someone initially says, while key, is not nearly as essential as the dialogue and debate that follows." Well, the dumber the original statement, the more your theory holds true.
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Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
I listened quite carefully, and found nothing of value, other than a blatant misunderstanding of technology, culture and economics.
Frankly, my perception of this brief video is that the author has a viewpoint that is highly nuanced and based upon considerations more expansive than merely maximizing his earnings.
Please. Enlighten us on the nuance.
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Re: Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
The author is obviously not a person who deals with technology at any level of detail. He is likewise not a person who seems schooled in economic theory. He is an author. He writes books. He has reservations about Ebooks for the reasons he stated, all the while noting that things are changing and this is an issue he knows he will eventually have to consider.
More importantly, however, he seems to have a concern at the loss of physical contact between an author and readers as books move from physical to digital format. Clearly this is important to him. Revenue maximization is lower down on his list of priorities. Does this diminish "progress"? I guess this depends upon how one defines the term.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
Except that every time someone whines about the loss of the mythical personal element when the latest new technology rises, they're inevitably proven wrong.
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Re: Sherman Alexie
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Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
Remember, this is a Colbert Report interview.
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Re: Re: Re: Sherman Alexie
Evolve or die. I hope he dies so he doesn't ruin another fascinating episode of the Colbert Report on the release of his next tree-killer.
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Walter Bagehot Quote
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Personally, I will never pay for an Ebook for multiple reasons:
First I think books are too important to lock up so only those who have money can afford them, that is why we have Libraries full of the dead tree editions for people to borrow and read.
Second, if I love a book, I can't stand not having the dead tree edition. I only use Ebooks because it is nice to be able to use Ctrl+F and I can't take my library with me when I travel. I also think there is no moral issue with having a paper book and then downloading the electronic version for free, I already bought the $20-30 dead tree edition, why should I have to pay $5-10 more for the electronic bits of the exact same thing?
And finally, the fact that it doesn't cost anything to replicate and you can get the physical version in libraries means that Ebooks are just another way to get access to the text. The fact that libraries are starting to offer the digital bits edition of books only cements this image in my mind. Why aren't all libraries offering all of their books electronically and as soon as any library is doing that what is the difference between downloading it from your local library and downloading it from your local torrent provider?
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Colbert starts in Strangers With Candy -- where he gets paid by a TV network based on ad revenues. Colbert gets a segment on Jon Stewart -- where he gets paid by a TV network based on ad revenues. Colbert becomes popular enough to get his own TV show -- where he gets paid by a TV network based on ad revenues.
Now he's got some book deals where the money is more direct, but let's be fair, "he only reason he's so famous is because of how easily his content is shared via TV" -- fame does not pay the bills. Money does.
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Re:
Don't you think the wider audience of electronic TV broadcast increased the value to advertisers?
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I wouldn't like it, but if people wanted a free version, there's no reason ads couldn't be inserted. Happens all the time in the software world.
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Thank you
You don't address what to me was the most hilarious of Alexie's self-contradictions. He describes the supposedly dire condition of the music industry, where no one makes money off CDs and as a result are compelled to (god forbid) tour the country playing live shows. Then he turns around and says that his old way of selling books -- touring the country making live appearances -- has dried up. He attributes both the expansion of touring as a business model for bands and the diminution of touring as a business model for authors to the piracy of content, but doesn't explain why these industries have experienced essentially opposite effects. Nor does he attempt to explain why the disappearance of a "reading culture" is in any way attributable to the fact that people are reading more books online -- why would anyone be less interested in meeting the author of a digital book than a physical one?
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He did have valid points.
The fact is, digitizing media does lead to piracy. DRM is a poorly considered bandaid that is ineffectual and frustrating. What is going to happen and is happening is simple; we are all evolving to our new, self created & constantly updating reality. There is going to be growing pains and it's completely healthy for people to question all aspects of it, simply so we can try to get it right.
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Alexie is NOT Wrong
Of course, all our music is available on iTunes and several other digital distribution services but guess what? Our digital sales are less than 10% of our physical sales. To me, that says that people will not pay for a digital copy of something when it holds no advantage over a free digital copy. i.e. Once it is torrented, and this album was torrented within 48 hours of release, people are just as happy with free mp3s as with ones that cost money.
As for live music, only big name acts can make a living from doing concerts. Most of us are lucky to find someone to cover our expenses. The reason for that is in part because the internet has taken away the intermediaries who once facilitated the rise of an unknown band. The 'net might be good for getting you started but once you reach a certain level, it tends to strand you there, unless what you are doing has a broad appeal. i.e. It is a great tool for the major record labels. Where once they had to spend money on a dozen bands to find one that was going to make it, now they can use the 'net to filter out those others. That means there are 11 bands who would once have had a taste of major record company backing and achieved something who will never get that opportunity. The evidence to support this is obvious from the total homogenisation of contemporary music. Even "Indie" is now just a branch of the mainstream and has lost all it's edge and potential. Unless there is a massive change, there will never be another Sex Pistols, there will never be another Nirvana.
Oh, and for the record, the music industry went digital in 1985, long before the internet was around to exploit it.
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Re: Alexie is NOT Wrong
Funny. To me, it says that people won't pay absurdly high prices for digital copies that have no marginal cost and offer no advantage (and in some cases disadvantages).
"Once it is torrented, and this album was torrented within 48 hours of release, people are just as happy with free mp3s as with ones that cost money."
Gee, guess what? That's your problem.
"My band recently released it's third album in Europe and the US, with an unprecedented push from our label, via a very effective PR company campaign, and so far our sales are dismal, far worse than previous albums despite overwhelmingly positive press, all of which agrees it is our best, most accessible album to date."
I wonder if it's because I've never heard of your band. Perhaps you should have relied on other forms of marketing than outdated PR firms. Also, I assume your previous two albums were released when "piracy" existed in its current form. That would lead most rational people to assume that, if your 3rd album had "dismal" sales compared to the previous two, that something else is to blame.
Also, in final laughter:
http://www.myspace.com/novakill
"NOVAkILL on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s"
Whine less please.
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Re: Re: Alexie is NOT Wrong
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Re: Alexie is NOT Wrong
for example..you, your band, your PR firm, and your Label all may suck at what you/they do..or maybe its that your music lacks any connection to modern tastes as (in my opinion and apparently many others opinions )it sounds like a rehash of a million other bands doing the same old tired style that was outdated 10 years ago..try listening to music outside of your style to be inspired to do something fresher..it might help...
finally..have you actually tried giving you music away to see if it helps your sales? Seems like you have nothing to lose by trying at this point anyway and it has been a proven strategy for many other more successful artists..
I'm just fellow musician trying to help as it does seem you have decent talent..you just need to innovate more in every area.
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Sherman Alexie is not so wrong
2. I have quite a few friends who are musicians and they make pennies from their digital sales. It's true that they make money from touring and performing their music. For smaller musicians though, most of this profit is sunk right back into travel costs. Writers however do not have the same type of audience that musicians do. I doubt that even James Patterson could sell out a music stadium of listeners, let alone a smaller author. Thus book sales remain very important to any writer's income. Alas, if digitizing books has a similar economic effect to the music industry, then we can assume that writers will have to make the bulk of their money from readings, and that doesn't look good.
2.5. Sherman Alexie is correct that the digital age has had a negative effect on local stores. Sure there are a lot of online stores, but the local bookstore is becoming a more difficult gig. This also limits the actual venues for writers like Sherman Alexie to perform in, and thus (again) less money for the writer. It's also becoming more difficult for a writer to perform in an independent bookstore. I don't think every writer wants to work in a Barnes and Nobel. Also, it's unlikely that a youtube reading by Sherman Alexie will have the same fruitful effects as U2s youtube performance.
3. About two years back the Writers Guild went on strike around the U.S. because writers were losing money on digital media. The television industry refused to compensate them for online sales and thus they were (and still are) getting screwed outta their hard-earned money. The piece that makes me nervous about digitalized media is that the money it generates is being filtered into fewer and fewer hands. The writer, in the end, comes out behind.
If anything, novelists, musicians, artists, journalists, etc. need to take a stand and demand that in transitioning to a digital medium (b/c it is happening), that they be fairly compensated and that they receive the largest profit percentage for their work.
4. Sherman Alexie is right about going door-to-door. If you think he's ridiculous and full of crap then simply take a look at our current President's presidential campaign. Regardless of your political stance, he kicked ass because he was willing to talk to the American people in their homes. The whole world doesn't get to sit at home in front of a computer... people are out in the world fighting for a decent livelihood, which is what (I believe) Sherman Alexie is also doing.
5. I don't necessarily agree with Sherman Alexie's comments on "piracy," but I think that Mr. Alexie is interested in making sure writers can continue to eak a living out of their craft. Piracy was a poor way to explain it, but the need for reform around artistic rights and compensation is dead on.
p.s. Remember that this is a Colbert Report interview, and he never really allows his guests to fully explain themselves.
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Somebody always makes money in the end, and it isn't usually the indie, or the underdog.
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