Seems like this conversation on piracy, FS lists, napster/mp3s etc isn't
going to stop popping up in various threads. This "andy panda" guy is
obviously a worst-case example of a guy that underneath all of his musings
about autechre shaking his world and freeing the rare music is a
cold-blooded money-grubbing music pirate. Hey, andy, if you wanted to share
the music, maybe you should have just done with millions of people in this
country do, and make a mix tape for a few friends. There's a big difference
between sharing a few songs with close friends and mass-distribution with
the intent of putting yourself through college or whatever you are trying to
do.
With that said, the whole Napster debate was interesting to me, because I've
been surrounded by people on the other side of it, who not only don't think
they are doing wrong by downloading music from Napster, but think that mp3s
will eventually change the way music is distributed to the masses. I can
see it both ways. I don't think that a person needs to be on one side or
the other. Someone (like me) who has a 56k modem and hits Napster for the
occasional Kit Clayton, or (ahem) Foreigner song is not only posing no
threat to the artists, but (in the case of Kit Clayton), has become
interested in an artist that, before I heard the song I got, had just been a
name on the IDM-L that wasn't attached to anything. So chalk one up for
napster.
The music that is hurt by Napster is top 40 pop music. These college kids
ain't downloading entire gescom cds, they are getting Korn, Brittany Spears,
hell... Bonnie-fucking-Raitt. Napster is set up just like a Camelot record
store, with 10,000 (or in Napster's case 100,000) albums by the top name
entertainers, and maybe 1 dusty copy of a 'popular' cd like music has the
right to children. Although, out of all the "IDM" stuff I've seen on
Napster, I've been amazed by how much Boards of Canada I've seen there.
Could be that many more people that'll be eagerly awaiting for their next
album, though. I don't know one person that uses Napster to replace cds
when it comes to their favorite artists. Then again, I don't know many
people. Maybe that's why I spend all my time playing The Sims and
downloading mp3s from Napster. Oh well, this message is meandering. I
guess my basic point is that as long as you look out for yourself and stick
to your own principles, that's one less person that is using napster for the
wrong reasons. Napster will eventually go tits up anyways.
BTW, whoever suggested pr0nster really oughta get crackin' on that. I could
easily see a whole section of Salon.com devoted to opposing views of this
revolutionary new way to get porn.
PS: everyone send me copies of all of your best cds for free. Thank you.
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