Sometimes you think ‘the man’ can walk all over you, but, when SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) do not make it to their scheduled congressional votes, then you feel that there is hope. I don’t want to talk about those bills or related issues(1), however. But it did make me think of Illegal Art, something I learned about via STAY FREE! magazine, ten years ago. Here’s further info – “http://illegal-art.org/”. And that made me think of the “mashup”. I wonder why we no longer hear about these songs (or, ‘songs’; as SIMON REYNOLDS might prefer. As per his book, which I didn’t read, Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past. Faber and Faber Ltd, June 2011, 978-0571232086.).
By coincidence, I attended a JIMMY WEBB q&a, in December. Here’s a bit of a review I wrote; it serves as foreshadowing:
JW was very articulate and pensive, and got in a real lather about intellectual property. He’s for it (I have minimal amounts so my opinion is valueless), and when websites take from him, well, JW told us he learned how to use a gun as a child.(2)I just learned about a juvenile delinquent who’s on a career path to utter evil. It’s from a VILLAGE VOICE cover story on PHILIP GLASS. He takes a realistic approach to the internet. The link & a small bit for you:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-02-01/music/philip-glass-act-east-village/
That hasn’t inoculated Glass from the fact that all musicians have “lost a lot of ground with free downloads and all of what’s happening.” He’s trying to be on “the realistic side with a fait accompli—which is that the music is out there.
“My 10-year-old, who likes to make little videos on his laptop, wanted some music for one and said, ‘Dad, can I go on the Internet and get your music?’” Glass says. “And I said, ‘Sure you can.’ He came back about 20 minutes later and said, ‘Dad, I just downloaded your whole catalog.’ He’s 10 years old. He’s 10 years old!
“I said: ‘Really? What did that cost you?’ He said, ‘It’s free!’ And what can I say? That conversation is never going to happen—about what we’re going to do about it already—because it already happened.
Anyway, my brain hurts from thinking about all this. I end now.
(1) But if I could, here’s one related thread: MEGAUPLOAD was served with more than 20 search warrants in this country and others. And the investigation began 2 years ago. What a waste of time and resources.
Also – the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the United States Chamber of Commerce (the pro faction) can claim all they want that they care for people and for what is right, but, they don’t.
Another also – NPR just mentioned how New Zealand and Ireland have a 3strike law. Commit internet piracy 3x and you are banned from the internet for 6 months and 1 year, respectively. No judge or jury needed.
(2) JW sang 4 songs for us but didn’t do “McArthur Park”. He couldn’t resist saying he was fond of critic HERBERT SAHL’s jab of the song. Specifically, when HS wrote “the horror of its shrieking stringlines”.
