Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 19 Jun 2009 @ 11:34am
Re: Re: Re: Re:
I'll disagree with you again here. Music has become an infinite good regardless of whether file sharing exists. You can purchase a song digitally from any number of sources. In every case, you aren't buying a physical good anymore, you are buying a digital copy, a collection of ones and zeros that is infinitely copiable. This copy does not reduce the seller's inventory, there is only an infinitessimal cost for the duplication, and the copy is identical to the original.
Despite this sudden and dramatic drop in the cost to procduce, the price of the music, as dictated by record companies, has not fallen. CDs are not pressed for these songs, album art not printed, etc. Beyond the initial cost of producing the music itself, there's near-zero overhead. I do not have a problem with a record company recouping their production costs, nor with them making some profit on the music once that cost has been covered. I do have a problem with an old pricing system being perpetuated when the cost of production has fallen dramatically.
I doubt that most file-sharers can claim a philosophical basis such as this as justification for their sharing. They are simply following an entropy-driven system that allows vast expansion of their music catalogues for minimal cost/effort.
In my mind, the legality/motivation question is a moot point, because the P2P community won't be held back at this point. Set up a fence, and they'll go over/under/around it. Electrify the fence, and they may simply avoid your yard entirely. One solution, the one that Mike, and I, will advocate, is to tear down the fence around those things easiest to get. Instead, build that fence around the things that you can truly control, those scarce goods that fans seek out.
You're talking morality, and we're talking economics. I'm not going to play on your ground, because it's not as advantageous to my argument. Sun Tzu devoted two chapters in "The Art of War" to choosing and knowing your battleground, and I know that this battle will be decided on the field of economics, not morals. I'll concde that there may be some truth in your argument, talk of drug dealers and hookers aside (heavy-handed, that was), but truth rarely won any wars.
Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 19 Jun 2009 @ 10:40am
Re: Re:
Don't be lazy, look it up yourself. If you're trying to use the lack of a link as a way to combat the AC's argument, then you're playing troll games.
@ the initial AC:
Yes, NIN is, to paraphrase Reznor, going to go away for a while. Tour shirts carry the phrase "Wave Goodbye" to emphasize this. This doesn't undermine the point at all, though. Just because someone decides to stop producing a scarce good, it doesn't mean that they weren't making money with it/that the business model is bad. In this case, I'd wager that Reznor feels like taking a break, and has the fuck you money to do what he pleases. I think that one can infer that his utilization of a free music/pricey scarcities model has given him the financial reserves to do whatever the hell he feels like doing, and at this point it appears that he doesn't really want to tour, so he's not. contrast that with bands who are still label-slaves, and continue to tour well past their primes. I'd imagine that if the Rolling Stones had been able to properly monetize their act, I wouldn't have to listen to their new shit anymore, and could fondly remember them as a good band instead of the headliners on the "Please God, just let them die already" tour, sponsored by Cialis and Geritol.
If you see the "old system" as simply someone making money from their art, then you have gravely misunderstood this argument. The old system charges for the music itself(most of this money going to the record labels), as well as the scarce goods that fans seek out. Newer methods will discount/give away the music, which NIN has done, and instead seek to make their money on the accompanying scarcities, e.g. limited editions, signed vinyl, other merch, and tours. Since music has become a near-infinite good, the onus of making a profit shifts to those things that an artist can control, namely material goods (shirts, posters, vinyl) and 'face time' goods (performances).
Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 17 Jun 2009 @ 10:19am
Re: Understanding Death
Better to have it be a dog or cat, truth be told. I grew up in rural America, and lived on a State highway. There is nothig like the sight of a cat or dog lying crushed on the side of the road to hammer home two important lessons:
1)When things die, it isn't pretty, and it is permanent, and
2)Stay the hell off the road, I don't care if your baseball rolled to the other side. Having to help bury the pet helps in both cases.
Seriously, though, who is this Mensan judge that is willing to say crap like this as part of the legal record?
Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 17 Jun 2009 @ 6:27am
Re: Re:
Let's take this even further. Should the government be liable for maintaining roads that criminals travel to commit their crimes? After all, a very small percentage of people travelling on the roads do use them as a means to expedite their illegal activity. Should postal services be held liable for their transport service being used to deliver the occasional letter bomb? Should the airlines be held liable for transporting terrorists? Should we sue charcoal, sulphur, and saltpeter for allowing their combination to be used in the commiting of violent, explosive acts?
OK, the last one was a bit silly, but you are suggesting that a means of transit is culpable in this case. That's all the internet is, a means of data transit, and ISPs are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of their respective thruways, nothing more. If you try to make them responsible for all the traffic through their pipes, you are agreeing, in principle, to a vehicle inspection at the start and stop (even at given waypoints) of every trip you take in your vehicle, no matter the duration or purpose.
Ignore the infringement on your privacy for a moment, and consider the logistical nightmare of this scenario. Media companies want this nightmare as far as the data you transmit/receive is concerned, but they also want the ISPs to do the heavy lifting for them. It all amounts to complete and utter horseshit, and I hope that these jerks get a nasty rash from Lady Karma.
Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 11 Jun 2009 @ 11:30am
Re:
I agree with everything in your post except for the phrase "Can't wait to see the next version of Deer Hunter". I would like to think that no one is waiting for any copy of Deer Hunter, or any other simulated hunting game. Either go kill it yourself or embrace vegetarianism.
Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 3 Jun 2009 @ 1:29pm
Re: You now owe a tax
Sadly, you do not get to keep that tax, as it will be turned over immediately to the government. the government has noted that you are collecting monies under the auspices of it being a sales tax, and they expect to receive their payment. Now, if you fail to compensate the government the appropriate amount, you are liable for not paying your sales tax, and face fines and penalties. Plus, you get to hire an accountant to prepare and file all the needed forms associated with your business.
I'd stop the Bonos from getting copyright extended in the first place. Granted, it will be great if Cher gives Universal music a good anal raping on this one, but the Sonny and Cher catalog should have been off copyright by now anyway, and so, in my imaginary world, this point is moot. Well it's moot because of that, and because I don't care for Cher anyway.
Gotta go get me some Mystic Pizza, you kids have fun.
Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 29 May 2009 @ 10:17am
Re: Re: The Facts
Go get 'em, M&M!!
Oh, by the way, M&M Mars wanted me to give you this summons for having those initials. It turns out that they owned those letters since before you were born, and so you are to be eviscerated, and your organs harvested to develop the next-generation of candy shells.
First generation damages, yes. That I can see, if skullduggery is proven. Future plans/profits? Hell no. I say MGA has a quick shred-a-thon, walks into court, and says "Plans? What plans?" Then they can start from scratch, building something eerily similar, but hopefully less trashy. My daughter's almost doll-age, and I'd prefer she didn't play with toy skanks.
Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 1:32pm
Re: Re: Before video-games
Forget knives in gumball machines, the mere thought of a knife within 10 yards of a child these days is grounds for a complete lockdown of any public facility.
There are two things at work here, as I see it. First, the kid was 2. Set aside all talk of consequential awareness and long-term memory for a moment, and consider fine motor skills in children. If you've ever seen a toddler with a crayon, you know that when they draw, their hand movements when holding an implement are very jerky and could easily be termed "stabbing motions". Movements toward their bodies are smoother, such as feeding themselves, but still nowhere within the arena of precise. Movements away from them, or toward another person/object, are pretty sketchy, as they don't have the experience or muscle memory to gauge the depth and use implements with much finesse. I think it's a great stretch to imagine any malice on the part of the child, rather than to say that this kid had a sharp object and probably didn't have the muscle control to move it delicately or precisely. I'd wager that a pencil could have done similar damage, and would not have garnered the comments about video games.
Second, you have a society that likes to blame and sensationalize, and forgets that kids get in trouble all the time without the help of external influences. I'm not all that old, but I recall that cuts, bruises, and stitches were fairly common when I was young, and no one called the police and the newspaper when my brothers and I threw stones at each other and I ended up with a cut on my forehead. Surely no one blamed Ikari Warriors and immediately associated our skirmish as mimicking grenade-tossing insurgents.
I remember the coolest kid in my grade school. He showed up nearly every week with a new minor injury and a new story to tell about how he got it. Once upon a time we allowed children to play, and to play rough. It taught them that sharp things cut, that flaming things burn, and a host of other lessons. I sure as hell miss those days.
Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 12:48pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
No need to send the knives, the child will find one in a logical place, such as on a desk within the main living area of the offender's home. Though, with a name like spoondaddy, flatware may be located in the bedroom. Who knows?
Seriously, I had my eyes opened about a year ago to the ridiculousness that is iTunes, trying to move some music around between my devices. I still dig my iPod, but just ponied up $20 for MGTEK's Dopisp. Now the iPod plays so nicely with Windows Media Player. My next PMP will probably be a Sandisk or Cowon, and the fruit can rot.
The, now, 11 one-star reviews are somewhat funny to read, but at least one of the reviewers insists on using the word "Draconian". Plus, one of the reviewers says that EA is publishing the game.
First off, I think it should be required to get the publisher right if you want to Flamazon a product. Second, I stand by my choice of the word 'Onerous' to replace Draconian in the description of DRM, IP law, and a vast number of the popular topics here on techdirt.
Amazed, truly amazed. (profile), 3 Mar 2009 @ 12:20pm
Four Dead in Ohio
Neil used to be THE anti-establishment artist in my opinion. He was scruffy, unkempt, I'd imagine he smelled of patchouli and Old Granddad. He'd show up in odd places, like playing with Pearljam on the VMAs, and I always felt that for him it was about the music and the fans. I used to admire him for how little he seemed to connect with the business end of the music industry. All it took was this one bad play, and he's now corporate in my book. Sorry, Neil, but I think I'll go download your entire catalogue of music via The Pirate Bay tonight, and I'll probably seed it too.
"this ridiculous situation has some French comedians joking about how you won't be allowed to mention or visit such popular French regions as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and Cognac."
Wow. I'm booking travel to France to go on a comedy club tour. That material is fresh, in your face, and very risque. Place the Mensans that decided that this is comic gold right next to Larry the Cable Guy, and you've got a comic tour de force!
On the post: Is It Really So Bad If Music Is Used In A Way The Musician Doesn't Like?
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Despite this sudden and dramatic drop in the cost to procduce, the price of the music, as dictated by record companies, has not fallen. CDs are not pressed for these songs, album art not printed, etc. Beyond the initial cost of producing the music itself, there's near-zero overhead. I do not have a problem with a record company recouping their production costs, nor with them making some profit on the music once that cost has been covered. I do have a problem with an old pricing system being perpetuated when the cost of production has fallen dramatically.
I doubt that most file-sharers can claim a philosophical basis such as this as justification for their sharing. They are simply following an entropy-driven system that allows vast expansion of their music catalogues for minimal cost/effort.
In my mind, the legality/motivation question is a moot point, because the P2P community won't be held back at this point. Set up a fence, and they'll go over/under/around it. Electrify the fence, and they may simply avoid your yard entirely. One solution, the one that Mike, and I, will advocate, is to tear down the fence around those things easiest to get. Instead, build that fence around the things that you can truly control, those scarce goods that fans seek out.
You're talking morality, and we're talking economics. I'm not going to play on your ground, because it's not as advantageous to my argument. Sun Tzu devoted two chapters in "The Art of War" to choosing and knowing your battleground, and I know that this battle will be decided on the field of economics, not morals. I'll concde that there may be some truth in your argument, talk of drug dealers and hookers aside (heavy-handed, that was), but truth rarely won any wars.
Fun fighting with you.
On the post: Is It Really So Bad If Music Is Used In A Way The Musician Doesn't Like?
Re: Re:
@ the initial AC:
Yes, NIN is, to paraphrase Reznor, going to go away for a while. Tour shirts carry the phrase "Wave Goodbye" to emphasize this. This doesn't undermine the point at all, though. Just because someone decides to stop producing a scarce good, it doesn't mean that they weren't making money with it/that the business model is bad. In this case, I'd wager that Reznor feels like taking a break, and has the fuck you money to do what he pleases. I think that one can infer that his utilization of a free music/pricey scarcities model has given him the financial reserves to do whatever the hell he feels like doing, and at this point it appears that he doesn't really want to tour, so he's not. contrast that with bands who are still label-slaves, and continue to tour well past their primes. I'd imagine that if the Rolling Stones had been able to properly monetize their act, I wouldn't have to listen to their new shit anymore, and could fondly remember them as a good band instead of the headliners on the "Please God, just let them die already" tour, sponsored by Cialis and Geritol.
If you see the "old system" as simply someone making money from their art, then you have gravely misunderstood this argument. The old system charges for the music itself(most of this money going to the record labels), as well as the scarce goods that fans seek out. Newer methods will discount/give away the music, which NIN has done, and instead seek to make their money on the accompanying scarcities, e.g. limited editions, signed vinyl, other merch, and tours. Since music has become a near-infinite good, the onus of making a profit shifts to those things that an artist can control, namely material goods (shirts, posters, vinyl) and 'face time' goods (performances).
On the post: Popular Band Claims Music Is Better Because Of Piracy
Re:
I can't even decode it well enough to know if I agree with you or not. Bettter luck next time.
On the post: Teen Gets 23 Years In Jail For Killing His Mom; Judge, AP Blame Video Games
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Teen Gets 23 Years In Jail For Killing His Mom; Judge, AP Blame Video Games
Re: Understanding Death
1)When things die, it isn't pretty, and it is permanent, and
2)Stay the hell off the road, I don't care if your baseball rolled to the other side. Having to help bury the pet helps in both cases.
Seriously, though, who is this Mensan judge that is willing to say crap like this as part of the legal record?
On the post: Court Orders iiNet To Hand Over Sample Records Of Customers
Re: Re:
OK, the last one was a bit silly, but you are suggesting that a means of transit is culpable in this case. That's all the internet is, a means of data transit, and ISPs are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of their respective thruways, nothing more. If you try to make them responsible for all the traffic through their pipes, you are agreeing, in principle, to a vehicle inspection at the start and stop (even at given waypoints) of every trip you take in your vehicle, no matter the duration or purpose.
Ignore the infringement on your privacy for a moment, and consider the logistical nightmare of this scenario. Media companies want this nightmare as far as the data you transmit/receive is concerned, but they also want the ISPs to do the heavy lifting for them. It all amounts to complete and utter horseshit, and I hope that these jerks get a nasty rash from Lady Karma.
On the post: Is EA Realizing That Pirates Are Just Underserved Customers?
Re:
On the post: Can Washington Charge Unauthorized Downloaders With Tax Evasion?
Re: You now owe a tax
It's Faust 3.0, and only the government wins.
On the post: Can Washington Charge Unauthorized Downloaders With Tax Evasion?
What's next?
The bad guys in Gotham had this same problem once. Their solution, and the solution I advocate - hire the Joker to burn the world down.
On the post: Cher Lawsuit Highlights How Record Labels Screw Over Artists
You know,
I'd stop the Bonos from getting copyright extended in the first place. Granted, it will be great if Cher gives Universal music a good anal raping on this one, but the Sonny and Cher catalog should have been off copyright by now anyway, and so, in my imaginary world, this point is moot. Well it's moot because of that, and because I don't care for Cher anyway.
Gotta go get me some Mystic Pizza, you kids have fun.
On the post: Why Should Mattel Get Future Plans For New Bratz Dolls?
Re: Re: The Facts
Oh, by the way, M&M Mars wanted me to give you this summons for having those initials. It turns out that they owned those letters since before you were born, and so you are to be eviscerated, and your organs harvested to develop the next-generation of candy shells.
First generation damages, yes. That I can see, if skullduggery is proven. Future plans/profits? Hell no. I say MGA has a quick shred-a-thon, walks into court, and says "Plans? What plans?" Then they can start from scratch, building something eerily similar, but hopefully less trashy. My daughter's almost doll-age, and I'd prefer she didn't play with toy skanks.
On the post: Police Blame Video Games For 2-Year-Old Stabbing 5-Month-Old
Re: Re: Before video-games
There are two things at work here, as I see it. First, the kid was 2. Set aside all talk of consequential awareness and long-term memory for a moment, and consider fine motor skills in children. If you've ever seen a toddler with a crayon, you know that when they draw, their hand movements when holding an implement are very jerky and could easily be termed "stabbing motions". Movements toward their bodies are smoother, such as feeding themselves, but still nowhere within the arena of precise. Movements away from them, or toward another person/object, are pretty sketchy, as they don't have the experience or muscle memory to gauge the depth and use implements with much finesse. I think it's a great stretch to imagine any malice on the part of the child, rather than to say that this kid had a sharp object and probably didn't have the muscle control to move it delicately or precisely. I'd wager that a pencil could have done similar damage, and would not have garnered the comments about video games.
Second, you have a society that likes to blame and sensationalize, and forgets that kids get in trouble all the time without the help of external influences. I'm not all that old, but I recall that cuts, bruises, and stitches were fairly common when I was young, and no one called the police and the newspaper when my brothers and I threw stones at each other and I ended up with a cut on my forehead. Surely no one blamed Ikari Warriors and immediately associated our skirmish as mimicking grenade-tossing insurgents.
I remember the coolest kid in my grade school. He showed up nearly every week with a new minor injury and a new story to tell about how he got it. Once upon a time we allowed children to play, and to play rough. It taught them that sharp things cut, that flaming things burn, and a host of other lessons. I sure as hell miss those days.
On the post: Police Blame Video Games For 2-Year-Old Stabbing 5-Month-Old
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Does Apple Own The Copyright On A File You Create Via iTunes?
Has to be done
http://xkcd.com/501/
Seriously, I had my eyes opened about a year ago to the ridiculousness that is iTunes, trying to move some music around between my devices. I still dig my iPod, but just ponied up $20 for MGTEK's Dopisp. Now the iPod plays so nicely with Windows Media Player. My next PMP will probably be a Sandisk or Cowon, and the fruit can rot.
Way to alienate more customers, Apple. Bravo.
On the post: Atari Apparently Learns Nothing From EA's Bad Experience With DRM
Not quite a flash-mob yet.
First off, I think it should be required to get the publisher right if you want to Flamazon a product. Second, I stand by my choice of the word 'Onerous' to replace Draconian in the description of DRM, IP law, and a vast number of the popular topics here on techdirt.
Who's with me?
On the post: Neil Young (And Warner Music) Should Learn To Respect YouTube... And Music Fans
Four Dead in Ohio
Pud.
On the post: Is France Going To Ban Mentioning Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne And Cognac Online?
Ticket sales skyrocket
Wow. I'm booking travel to France to go on a comedy club tour. That material is fresh, in your face, and very risque. Place the Mensans that decided that this is comic gold right next to Larry the Cable Guy, and you've got a comic tour de force!
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