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Copy me: Technological change and the consumption of music

CC-by-sa 3.0 2009 by Nick White

For those who worry about the cultural, economic and political power of the global media companies, the dreamed-of revolution is at hand. The industry may right now be making a joyful noise unto the Lord, but it is we, not they, who are about to enter the promised land. (Moglen 2001)

Introduction

Technological changes have political implications. Changing the way we interact with things encourages a reconsideration of the rules and institutions that have governed previous interactions with them.

The current debate about copies of recorded music using the Internet is an excellent example of this, and by examining it one may better understand the relations between people and recorded music, and between listeners and the traditional publishers of music.

While undoubtedly a great deal may be usefully said and examined in other technological changes in music recordings, I will here focus primarily on filesharing, as it is something I have been somewhat involved in myself, and hence I have significantly more knowledge ‘from the inside.’

I will begin by discussing traditional definitions of ‘commodity,’ and then move on to a very brief overview of historical trends in copying and music recording. I will also touch upon the printing press in order to discuss the creation and rationale behind copyright laws, which form a major part the present filesharing debate. I will then go into greater depth into the current practises of people who share music on filesharing networks, and the response by the recording industry, before embarking on an analysis of the meaning and significance of some of these new practises and dialogues.

It should be noted that I’m speaking primarily of England and the United States of America, and the situation will be somewhat different in other parts of the world.

[…]

Download the paper
or visit http://njw.me.uk/pubs/2009-copyme

Over time more and more artists and creative minds understand the injustice and deadly intention of intellectual property rights and its juridical enforcements. It’s the culture creators how should be in power over their creation and not an established law industry and economy which leads to the destruction of culture in the end.

Jean Luc Goddard is one of the creative minds who understood, that there is no such thing as “intellectual property”. He therefore supports a french internet pirate who is accused to have downloaded MP3 on the internet.

Read more about Free Culture in Lawrence Lessig’s Book “Free Culture” and “Free as Freedom” – not as “Free Beer“.

I am very happy and proud, that Georg Greve, the former President of the Free Software Foundation Europe, was awarded with the German “Bundesverdienstkreuz” today.

My felicitation, Georg!