4 ms·

Live by the sword, die by the sword. You can't make a living off of a strong copyright system and not expect there to be zero downsides.

stazz1 5y ago
"Live by the blurry bureaucratic tornado, die by the BBT"
- danuker 5y ago
  How Kafkaesque. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial
andybak 5y ago
Yeah, I did think that a few successful court cases amounted to not much more than a bit of wealth redistribution. I'm hardly shedding tears for Mr Sheeran.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Karellen 5y ago
Most recording artists don't make their living off of a strong copyright system. The RIAA(/MPAA) cartels - who are the ones behind the strong copyright system - ensure that they get the bulk of the proceeds from recordings, and their distribution, and the protections provided by the copyright system. A lot of this comes from having subsidiaries that allow for music industry equivalents of "Hollywood accounting" to funnel the bulk of profits away from the people who actually make the works. Artists mostly make money from live performances and direct merch sales, which don't depend all that much on copyright. There are maybe one or two unicorns (like Sheeran) who are so successful that they do make buckets of money - but they too serve the industry's ends. They can be pointed at to convince all the new artists trying to break into the biz that the contracts they're getting aren't really that bad, as they too could become the next Ed Sheeran if they try hard enough. The system we have is not one designed by the artists in the music industry.
javert 5y ago
That statement is just blatantly illogical. It's like saying, "if you cook using heat, you can expect to burn yourself sometimes." If you make a living under a strong copyright system, you should expect to be perfectly fine as long as you don't copy someone. Sure, there can be weird exceptions, and as in any complex system, we should adjust the system over time to account for them, rather than immediately throwing out the whole system. For example, when a plane crashes, we don't rush to abolish the FAA, or to ban aviation.
- DiabloD3 5y ago
  Have you never burned yourself cooking? I'm confused at your counterexample.
  - javert 5y ago
    I haven't burned myself in any significant way (i.e. seriously), but apologies for an admittedly imperfect example. Here is a better example: "Live by cooking, expect to die by getting burned." That's the kind of argument OP is making and it's unsound.

stazz1 5y ago

"Live by the blurry bureaucratic tornado, die by the BBT"

danuker 5y ago
How Kafkaesque. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial

andybak 5y ago

Yeah, I did think that a few successful court cases amounted to not much more than a bit of wealth redistribution. I'm hardly shedding tears for Mr Sheeran.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Karellen 5y ago

Most recording artists don't make their living off of a strong copyright system. The RIAA(/MPAA) cartels - who are the ones behind the strong copyright system - ensure that they get the bulk of the proceeds from recordings, and their distribution, and the protections provided by the copyright system. A lot of this comes from having subsidiaries that allow for music industry equivalents of "Hollywood accounting" to funnel the bulk of profits away from the people who actually make the works. Artists mostly make money from live performances and direct merch sales, which don't depend all that much on copyright. There are maybe one or two unicorns (like Sheeran) who are so successful that they do make buckets of money - but they too serve the industry's ends. They can be pointed at to convince all the new artists trying to break into the biz that the contracts they're getting aren't really that bad, as they too could become the next Ed Sheeran if they try hard enough. The system we have is not one designed by the artists in the music industry.

javert 5y ago

That statement is just blatantly illogical. It's like saying, "if you cook using heat, you can expect to burn yourself sometimes." If you make a living under a strong copyright system, you should expect to be perfectly fine as long as you don't copy someone. Sure, there can be weird exceptions, and as in any complex system, we should adjust the system over time to account for them, rather than immediately throwing out the whole system. For example, when a plane crashes, we don't rush to abolish the FAA, or to ban aviation.

DiabloD3 5y ago
Have you never burned yourself cooking? I'm confused at your counterexample.
- javert 5y ago
  I haven't burned myself in any significant way (i.e. seriously), but apologies for an admittedly imperfect example. Here is a better example: "Live by cooking, expect to die by getting burned." That's the kind of argument OP is making and it's unsound.