Tripping over Culture

I don't know if there's really anything more articulate that I can add to the piracy story, but if nobody else minds, I'm going to use this required blogging moment to rant a little about something I've not really said much about yet.

I used P2P software when it was hot stuff, and then rumors started going around that it was illegal and I started being sneakier about it. Then the rumors turned into giant lawsuits and I got scared. I eventually completely stopped.

Now, however, we can all enjoy the luxury of paying big businesses lots of money for them to control what used to be free.

$.99 a pop! And remember, of course, that $.99 is just a tricky way of messing with people's minds to make them think it isn't actually a dollar, which it is. We all know the penny is useless.

So, for one dolla' we can buy us some music. Digital music. But wait, what did we learn about digital things? Oh...yeah....the whole concept of reproduction doesn't really apply to them. Hm. Nice that they still charge us though.

Personally, I am way too cheap and way too opposed to anybody who I think is monopolizing on this overreaction/crackdown to ever pay money for a song online, but as long as I'm a college student, I can use Ruckus to hunt down artists I've heard about to find out if I actually like their music enough to buy their CD.Via th is method, I recently discovered that I absolutely love Hoobastank's new CD, Every Man For Himself (here's a snippet from their song, Born To Lead), so I bought it. Then I discovered that the new Lostprophets CD sucks (no audio for them, because I didn't buy their CD).

It's brilliant!

I not only just supported one of my favorite artists as a reward for their good work, but I saved money by not falling for the previously good reputation that Lostprophets had built up with me. All thanks to free, online, digital music.

How does that (free music) not benefit the system? Now, instead of artists making a profit off of songs that nobody likes (woe to them), people can decide beforehand which songs are actually worth listening to, and even worth paying some money for. Additionally, people can be exposed to even MORE music they might like. Artists get recognition, and if they're good, they can profit from CD sales, concert tickets, or merchandise.

But surely that's not enough... after all, those songs that people listened to that influenced their purchasing decision should have cost money, too. I mean, the artist deserves at least that much, right?

Poor...starving...rock star. Evil digital media - so damn efficient.

It seems to me that the more we squash "free culture," the more we'll find ourselves tripping to find any culture at all.

Personally, I think we ought to form a team of real pirates. We all know that the internet is the people's domain. How many anti-free culture lawyers do you know who are also hackers? Let's keep it free and use our numbers and skills to our advantage. These arrests and lawsuits are scary, but they won't win out in the online world.

Not that I know anything about how that works...