RE: Signatories to the Declaration of Software Freedom

[Atul Chitnis <achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 3 Mar 2001, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:

> well, that's the artist's side, as expressed by Courtney Love.  I suppose
> there's always something which shows the other side of the coin.
>
> Whatever, if the artist lets himself get suckered by a big recording company
> (esp when there are lots of indie labels around) its his/her funeral :)

I *did* say "start here" - I didn't say "that's all". ;-) Do some research
first.

What Courtney said was *dead on*, and the figures she lists are verified
and certified. Take a hint from this - the RIAA did not sue her. It
couldn't afford to.

There are some industries that use sheer money muscle to control their
markets and the law that applies to them. The music industry and the
tobbacco companies are two of them. Both thrive off clueless laws, twisted
to their advantage, and both would be instant history if any sane,
non-corrupt government or judicial system would ever take a rational look
at the state of things.

Before you brush CL's tirade under the carpet, try getting anywhere in the
publishing industry yourself - music, books, whatever.

Check out how much you would actually earn if you were to, say, write a
book or record an album, publish it, and it hits the bestseller list.

Check out why someone like Britney Spears or the Backstreet Boys make
gazillions, while genuinely good, deserving and original artistes languish
in the wild, never to see the light of publishing or success.

Check out why people like the Beatles do not own the rights to most of
their work (Michael Jackson does). And check out the difference between
"royalties" and "ownership".

If you do, you'll understand why I react to negatively to a throw-away
statement like "if the artist lets himself get suckered by a big recording
company (esp when there are lots of indie labels around) its his/her
funeral". It is an easy statement to make if you have never been in their
shoes, desperately trying to get their work published. These are
musicians, not lawyers. They expect to get treated failry, and they never
are.

As you must have noticed by now - this topic is one I am quite close to
and know a bit about (more than I'd like to), and also unhappy about.

So if it is OK with you, let's not argue about something like this on this
list. This is *not* the place or time for a discussion about the music
industry.

We were discussing licenses and their application.

Atul

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