orchestra21 → Downloaders are making a moral calculation and...

orchestra21

The blog of conductor Jason Weinberger

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'Downloaders are making a moral calculation and coming to the conclusion that the content industry immorally perpetuates an artificial scarcity to maximize their profits at the expense of users and artists. They understand that content is a non-rival good, that unlike an apple, they can consume it without diminishing anyone else’s ability to consume the same thing. They know that the content owner paid nothing to reproduce or distribute the content on the Internet. They also know that the artists who created the original content get a tiny fraction of the revenue. So they are making a moral judgement that the content owners are pricing their product to extract unjustifiable profits and they feel morally justified taking the content they find out there on the web.'

Brad Burnham’s astute take on digital media was originally intended as an entry into the SOPA debate but is now even more relevant in the wake of the Megaupload shutdown.

I’ve never been shy about extolling the widespread benefits [for everyone but a narrow group of rights holders] associated with the internet-era erosion of monetary value for recorded media. Not only does this process naturally encourage greater focus on live performance – something all musicians should actively seek – but it is also a boon for artists and audiences in general, who benefit from freer contact and conversation with art of our time.

The saddest part of this situation is how willfully the major media companies continue to resist the prevalent new financial and aesthetic calculus surrounding the value of recorded media, all out of a desperate – and doomed – attempt to perpetuate a previous century’s exploitative business model.