OMG I read the comment from this AC and I spit my coffee out because I laughed so hard. This is funny as hell. First you have to read this....
"Clearly, this guy is actually living the deal, not just trying to make a living talking about it. Yet you won't see his story in Techdirt, except in a negative / slam piece."
Keep in mind that David Lowery begins by calling himself an example of a "successful artist".
If you have read the AC's comment and David "Successful" Lowery's article, then you have to read this....
Ke nny Rogers is a name that most of us would recognize. I had to google David Lowery. For the AC, I'll just post one quote from that article...
"In April of 2007, Kenny Rogers attempted to audit Capitol Records. However, because of a "purposefully complex and opaque royalty payment system," coupled with an inability to receive any documentation on digital sales, it took Rogers' auditing firm nearly two years to complete the process. "The accounting firm was unable to complete an initial audit report until March 9, 2009," the complaint read."
For anyone who hasn't read this article, it's quite a laugh. David Lowery explains how the new business model for selling records is a bad deal for artists.
The absolute funniest part is when he suggests that the average record deal pays the musicians 25%-30% of gross record sales and that this is not as good as the 70% an artists gets from iTunes if they are independent.
While Im sure that an average recording contract does have 25% in it somewhere, I seriously doubt that its 25% of gross sales. Its probably more like 25% of adjusted gross sales which in the end probably ends up more like 2%-5%.
I could barely finish the article because I was laughing so hard. It's filled with enough debunked info to keep Mike busy for months.
Comparing pot smoking to piracy is a really really bad analogy.
But let's jump into it anyway...
"Now, if you made a pipe, papers, and pot a mandatory part of every household, do you not think that just perhaps the use of pot would go up?"
Hmmm according to this premise pot is suddenly legal since its mandatory. So would pot use go up? Probably but its mandatory and legal in this example, so what's your point?.
Even assuming its legal and mandatory, that still wouldn't raise the usage among non pot smokers. Those who dont want to smoke simply won't.
With media it doesn't work that way. If you give people a legal convenient and free way to consume media, of course they will use it.
If the supporting documents for ACTA are classified for national security, that would mean that representatives from the entertainment industry that have been in on ACTA from the beginning, have access to information regarding national security. WTF????
So either Hollywood lobbyists are involved intimately in the War on Terror OR the US is using national security as an excuse to prevent embarrassment.
I was just reading an article about the TPB's response to SOPA. What stood out was one of the comments about the article. Besides echoing a lot of things said in this forum, the commenter (who was obviously a displeased consumer), made an extremely valid point that the MPAA and RIAA do not want to hear.
The commenter's argument is centered around piracy as previewing content, which studies have shown is a valid point. If consumers preview and like, then they tend to buy. I love how this guy frames his opinion of SOPA/PIPA/MPAA/RIAA....
"All they want to do is stop US from stopping THEM from ripping us off"
The US Government is having a difficult time seeing a website as an actual business. That is the reason for the "What's the big deal?" attitude.
They would see it differently if they had to actually go to a brick and mortar store and actually close the doors and lock out customers with no notice, because there was some illegal activity reported at the store.
I know Mike likes to call it censorship, but what happened to Jotform goes way beyond censorship.
"Part of the success of piracy sites can be attributed to them offering a superior surfing experience for users. As long as copyright owners do nothing, that experience will continue to be superior."
They obviously mean that piracy is evil and costs the economy more than the entertainment industry makes in a year.
Oh and....
"While we’re doing our thing, you’re able to adapt your business to the new digital world and have a chance for your new distribution models to flourish."
That clearly means that we are doing our best to hold off piracy until you can get lawmakers to completely protect your business at the expense of everyone else.
Thank you for helping us all with our reading comprehension. All those words in plain English were a little confusing.
The funniest part about all of this is that the service providers want us all to believe that wireless service is more expensive to provide than fixed service and thus they have to charge a premium.
They tell us "..but we have to charge more because of the network costs and all the towers we have to build." Seriously??? You want me to believe that it costs more to put up 10 towers than it does to dig up miles of land and lay cable? Copper and fiber infrastructure costs waaaaay more than wireless. Why else do you think that developing nations build out wireless networks first?
With IMS architecture the service providers have been merging their fixed and wireless networks for at least the past 5 years, so it can't be the network that is so expensive or data rates on fixed broadband would be ridiculous (although it should be mentioned that the SPs want to cap that too).
So yes, you should be able to tether and yes you should be able to get plans that allow 20GB of traffic per month for a reasonable fee, but that wouldn't be nearly as profitable as the current set up.
How difficult is it for the Secret Service to call a company and say, "Hi, your company is under investigation for fraud. We need information from you, the owner, regarding illegal content on your site." ?????
Maybe the higher ups were unaware of the SOPA/PIPA/ACTA/TPP conflict. Maybe they are actually supporters of the opposition to those policies and saw this as a GREAT way to fuel the fire against more draconian laws.
You bring up a great point. In all the discussions concerning some sort of content indexing system, you never hear about the MPAA,RIAA, or even the BSA offering to make this magical system that will identify copyrighted material without compromising privacy rights.
On the post: USTR Claims TPP Has 'Unprecedented' Transparency, But It Won't Reveal The Details Unless You're A Big Industry Lobbyist
They are being completely honest
"... the current level of transparency on TPP was "unprecedented."
The fact that you even know about TPP is unprecedented transparency.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re:
"Clearly, this guy is actually living the deal, not just trying to make a living talking about it. Yet you won't see his story in Techdirt, except in a negative / slam piece."
Keep in mind that David Lowery begins by calling himself an example of a "successful artist".
If you have read the AC's comment and David "Successful" Lowery's article, then you have to read this....
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120219rogers#gq8-RMnkiSdOV0EsATdQrQ
Ke nny Rogers is a name that most of us would recognize. I had to google David Lowery. For the AC, I'll just post one quote from that article...
"In April of 2007, Kenny Rogers attempted to audit Capitol Records. However, because of a "purposefully complex and opaque royalty payment system," coupled with an inability to receive any documentation on digital sales, it took Rogers' auditing firm nearly two years to complete the process. "The accounting firm was unable to complete an initial audit report until March 9, 2009," the complaint read."
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Wow
Ouch? Really????
For anyone who hasn't read this article, it's quite a laugh. David Lowery explains how the new business model for selling records is a bad deal for artists.
The absolute funniest part is when he suggests that the average record deal pays the musicians 25%-30% of gross record sales and that this is not as good as the 70% an artists gets from iTunes if they are independent.
While Im sure that an average recording contract does have 25% in it somewhere, I seriously doubt that its 25% of gross sales. Its probably more like 25% of adjusted gross sales which in the end probably ends up more like 2%-5%.
I could barely finish the article because I was laughing so hard. It's filled with enough debunked info to keep Mike busy for months.
On the post: Killer Cool's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
Re: Just duh
But let's jump into it anyway...
"Now, if you made a pipe, papers, and pot a mandatory part of every household, do you not think that just perhaps the use of pot would go up?"
Hmmm according to this premise pot is suddenly legal since its mandatory. So would pot use go up? Probably but its mandatory and legal in this example, so what's your point?.
Even assuming its legal and mandatory, that still wouldn't raise the usage among non pot smokers. Those who dont want to smoke simply won't.
With media it doesn't work that way. If you give people a legal convenient and free way to consume media, of course they will use it.
On the post: Shining Light On ACTA's Lack Of Transparency
Re: transparency
If the supporting documents for ACTA are classified for national security, that would mean that representatives from the entertainment industry that have been in on ACTA from the beginning, have access to information regarding national security. WTF????
So either Hollywood lobbyists are involved intimately in the War on Terror OR the US is using national security as an excuse to prevent embarrassment.
The scary thing is that both seem plausible.
On the post: Shining Light On ACTA's Lack Of Transparency
Interesting comment and sooooo true
The commenter's argument is centered around piracy as previewing content, which studies have shown is a valid point. If consumers preview and like, then they tend to buy. I love how this guy frames his opinion of SOPA/PIPA/MPAA/RIAA....
"All they want to do is stop US from stopping THEM from ripping us off"
On the post: Canadians Respond To Internet Spying Bill By 'Revealing All' To Politician Backing It
I'm for it...
It seems the politicians believe Im for terrorism, child porn, and rampant piracy.
Just because I want to watch The Big Bang Theory when I want to watch it.
On the post: How The Megaupload Shutdown Has Put 'Cloud Computing' Business Plans At Risk
War on Infringement
On the post: Congrats, US Government: You're Scaring Web Businesses Into Moving Out Of The US
They don't see it
They would see it differently if they had to actually go to a brick and mortar store and actually close the doors and lock out customers with no notice, because there was some illegal activity reported at the store.
I know Mike likes to call it censorship, but what happened to Jotform goes way beyond censorship.
On the post: When We Copy, We Justify It; When Others Copy, We Vilify Them
WOW
On the post: DMCA Takedown Service Tells Copyright Companies: 'Adapt Your Business To The New Digital World'
Re: Re:
"Part of the success of piracy sites can be attributed to them offering a superior surfing experience for users. As long as copyright owners do nothing, that experience will continue to be superior."
They obviously mean that piracy is evil and costs the economy more than the entertainment industry makes in a year.
Oh and....
"While we’re doing our thing, you’re able to adapt your business to the new digital world and have a chance for your new distribution models to flourish."
That clearly means that we are doing our best to hold off piracy until you can get lawmakers to completely protect your business at the expense of everyone else.
Thank you for helping us all with our reading comprehension. All those words in plain English were a little confusing.
On the post: A 4G iPad Requires A Sensible Shared Data Plan
The Wireless Myth
They tell us "..but we have to charge more because of the network costs and all the towers we have to build." Seriously??? You want me to believe that it costs more to put up 10 towers than it does to dig up miles of land and lay cable? Copper and fiber infrastructure costs waaaaay more than wireless. Why else do you think that developing nations build out wireless networks first?
With IMS architecture the service providers have been merging their fixed and wireless networks for at least the past 5 years, so it can't be the network that is so expensive or data rates on fixed broadband would be ridiculous (although it should be mentioned that the SPs want to cap that too).
So yes, you should be able to tether and yes you should be able to get plans that allow 20GB of traffic per month for a reasonable fee, but that wouldn't be nearly as profitable as the current set up.
On the post: How Do We Know That Piracy Isn't Really A Big Issue? Because Media Companies Still Haven't Needed To Change As A Result Of It
Damned pirate sympathizer
On the post: IFPI & Other Lobbyists Tell Parliament That ACTA Protests Silence The Democratic Process
Re:
On the post: IFPI & Other Lobbyists Tell Parliament That ACTA Protests Silence The Democratic Process
Re:
On the post: US Government 'Suspends' JotForm.com Over User Generated Forms; Censorship Regime Expands
WOW
Maybe the higher ups were unaware of the SOPA/PIPA/ACTA/TPP conflict. Maybe they are actually supporters of the opposition to those policies and saw this as a GREAT way to fuel the fire against more draconian laws.
Job done.
On the post: EU Court Of Justice Says Social Networks Can't Be Forced To Be Copyright Cops
Re:
I guess it's cheaper to just bribe politicians.
On the post: EU Member Bulgaria Halts ACTA, Minister Of Economy Offers Resignation
But..but...
We can't let the evil doers win.
-page 1 of the George W. Bush Political Handbook
On the post: How Much Is Enough? We've Passed 15 'Anti-Piracy' Laws In The Last 30 Years
They don't get it.
On the post: The Pirate Bay's Peter Sunde Questions Why We Let Dying Industries Dictate Terms Of Democracy
Re:
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