|
Grex > Music2 > #280: An item in which the author talks about Napster, VMA's, Metallica and the RIAA... |  |
|
| Author |
Message |
willard
|
|
An item in which the author talks about Napster, VMA's, Metallica and the RIAA...
| 
Sep 8 03:48 UTC 2000 |
Did you catch the MTV VMA's tonight? Lars did some kind of
Anti-Napster commercial. In the skit, there's a kid downloading a
Metallica MP3 with Napster, and Lars walks into his bedroom. The kid
tells Lars that he's not stealing, he's "sharing", so Lars starts
slapping Napster stickers on all of his stuff and hauling it away.
At the end, the kid is left with nothing, and Lars slaps a Napster
sticker on his girlfriend's ass, and leaves with her.
The tagline was something along the lines of "Napster: Sharing isn't
so great when it's your stuff."
...
I think this sketch would've been more realistic if the Napster
sticker instantaneously duplicated whatever it was attached to, so
that both the borrower and the lender had a copy.
...
I also think that OpenNap and Gnutella need more press, so that the
RIAA doesn't have anyone to sue.
...
I also also think that Lars should go fuck himself. I wish I was a
Metallica fan, so that I could destroy everything Metallica that I
own, and send it all back to them in a nice little package with a
Napster sticker on the front of it.
|
| 126 responses total. |
krj
|
|
response 1 of 126:
|
Sep 8 04:00 UTC 2000 |
Heh. Thanks for the MTV report, willard. I've been working on a small
essay on copyright and maybe it will end up here, since the previous
Napster item is turning into a Generic Online Political Argument.
|
md
|
|
response 2 of 126:
|
Sep 8 11:56 UTC 2000 |
It's idiotic to say that all the kid was doing was making a copy of
something Lars has his own copy of anyway so what's the big deal. What
the kid was stealing was Lars's royalties -- you know, his income, his
livelihood, his means of support. You could -- and in fact, I do --
say "So what?" But from Lars's standpoint I imagine this is pretty
serious stuff.
|
willard
|
|
response 3 of 126:
|
Sep 8 12:12 UTC 2000 |
Yeah, I'm sure Lars has a had a hard time putting food on the table
since Napster came along. You're right.
|
md
|
|
response 4 of 126:
|
Sep 8 12:26 UTC 2000 |
I didn't say that, and I wouldn't care if Lars were starving to death.
Nevertheless, stealing from a gazillionaire who made his money selling
shitty music to kids who don't know any better is still stealing. You
do understand that, don't you?
|
willard
|
|
response 5 of 126:
|
Sep 8 12:28 UTC 2000 |
What if I make a copy of my Metallica CD and give it to my mom? Or
better yet, what if I tape some Metallica songs off the radio, and
make a copy of that tape for my friends? This is fair use, no?
|
md
|
|
response 6 of 126:
|
Sep 8 12:34 UTC 2000 |
You mean a CD you bought? With money? [snicker]
Look, if you think it's okay to steal from Lars, just say so. I think
it's not just okay, it's praiseworthy.
|
willard
|
|
response 7 of 126:
|
Sep 8 12:49 UTC 2000 |
Yes, let's pretend I bought a Metallica CD, and I made a copy for my
mom. There's nothing wrong with that.
Now let's pretend I made copies of all of my CD's, and shared them
with all of my friends -- is that fair use? I don't think the law
says you're only allowed to copy X number of CD's and share them with
Y number of friends.
I also don't think the law defines 'friend'. Just because I don't
know the guy that is connecting to my PC and downloading all of my
CD's doesn't mean he's not my friend.
|
md
|
|
response 8 of 126:
|
Sep 8 12:55 UTC 2000 |
Hey, if you think all of that makes it okay for you to steal from Lars,
go for it, d00d. I won't lift a finger to stop you.
|
ashke
|
|
response 9 of 126:
|
Sep 8 13:08 UTC 2000 |
I think the hypothetical issue, that I am hearing from people, is that we are
stealing (we I mean those of us who do worship Napster) from the artist's
royalties. But to be prefectly frank, they dont' get THAT much in royalties
anyway. It's the distributing company who makes the money and who are getting
screwed.
Also, another point, is that "One person can buy a CD and the whole country
and download it, so there will be loss of profits and a collapse of the music
industry"
Oh man. What bull. Same argument as when blank audio tapes came out. They
are basing this on an idea, and not the actual application. Personally, I
have gotten some wonderful stuff from Billy Holliday and Louis Armstrong, and
other hard to find stuff. I got Bill Cosby's "Chocolate Cake For Breakfast"
which until this past year, wasn't on CD, it was out of print.
I think that Lars is blowing this out of porportion. I think he's a
hippocrite, since they advocated bootlegging up until they were so hot they
got on Lollapalooza. Then they figured out that they were rich and
bottlegging hurt their proffits. It's BS. I'm gonna download. And rip my
own MP3's. But even though I love the older Metalica songs, I won't download
a one, that's my contribution to Lars' PMS.
|
md
|
|
response 10 of 126:
|
Sep 8 13:19 UTC 2000 |
Now, see, there you guys go with the rationalizations again. You're
only stealing a little bit from Lars, you're just screwing the
distribution company, you're doing this, you're doing that.
Look, if you have to convince yourself that you're not "really"
stealing before you steal, then you have serious conscience issues. If
you don't work through those, you're going to be wasting way too much
energy devising these bullshit rationalizations. Just admit you're
stealing, AND DO IT! Stop being wusses, fer chrissake.
|
slynne
|
|
response 11 of 126:
|
Sep 8 13:45 UTC 2000 |
It is totally stealing. Kind of like how folks steal software which is
something I have done. There is an arguement that if no one ever stole
software, it would be much cheaper *shrug* I suppose one could also make the
argument that if folks keep stealing on napster, things will get more
expensive for the honest folks.
|
ashke
|
|
response 12 of 126:
|
Sep 8 14:14 UTC 2000 |
So making a "tape" for someone when you create a mix is stealing? I'm trying
to get where this is truly a theft issue? I am getting a song from someone
else. Same as making a mix tape or a mix cd with your burner, correct?
|
mooncat
|
|
response 13 of 126:
|
Sep 8 15:13 UTC 2000 |
that's still stealing, just is minor theft. <grins> I like md's
point. Hey, I've downloaded mp3s, though not from Napster, and have
made use of the mp3s Sarah downloaded from Napster. Of course it's
stealing, but I can accept that.
|
jazz
|
|
response 14 of 126:
|
Sep 8 15:27 UTC 2000 |
Sharing isn't cool when it's your stuff, but there's a bit of
difference between somone stealing your computer and someone stealing a
banana.
|
scott
|
|
response 15 of 126:
|
Sep 8 15:36 UTC 2000 |
Sharing information isn't quite the same as sharing objects, though.
What if somebody could make an exact copy of computer? You've still got your
computer (let's pretend that it isn't full of private stuff). Were you stolen
from? Maybe. If almost nobody was in the business of selling cheaply copied
computers, but the software to do so was free, what do you suppose most people
would do?
|