So this is it. 2011.
The technology that we are growing accustomed to using has the ability to coordinate highly tactical terrorist attacks in India (and coordinate the murder of Osama Bin Laden), leak crucial top secret government information and letters to the public, and pirate music and entertainment media at an insane level. Industries are dying, and with the last of their power they are going to continue suing money out of individual offenders until they can figure out who is legally responsible for sites like Mediafire, Rapidshare, bit torrent service providers, etc. It is their death rattle; maybe they will come out of their spastic downfall, maybe they will sink and drown. Epic times.
The Tenenbaum case decision will be huge. Dude was sued for $675,000 for 30 songs, the amount was dropped by a judge to $67,500, and dude is now fighting it with a team of pro bono Harvard Law professors, counterclaiming that Tenenbaum should pay $21, the amount he would be charged if he had bought the offending tracks through the iTunes online store. If individuals can still be charged a large sum of money, in a court case, for simply owning a piece of art that could then be accessed through torrent networks or open local networks, is suing one person for the crimes of many; it could be put in our taxes, if these companies still have that kind of power or connection.
Besides the result of the Tenenbaum case, we have to acknowledge the impending crackdown on these easily accessible media sites that most of us are aware of. As for me, I believe a small monthly fee would be agreeable to charge me for infinite access to the archival output of major labels, from say the 50's through the 90's. That shit is all old hat; we know it, we love it, we all know it exists and we like to revisit it. Current content, by artists who have not yet struck it rich, should find ways to let you hear enough of something to appreciate it, and be able to make the choice between the amount of access you have to their catalog. I'm sure a middle ground can be found that we can agree on. Hopefully assholes are not in charge up there, and there is new blood around to see through the bullshit and figure something out.
Until then we are all criminals. We have varying degrees of guilt, but they can for damn sure figure out ways to make us pay. Its the future, can't get no unlimited content on yo' smartphone without $30 bills coming out yo' wallet every month. Enjoy it while it lasts, fellow junkies.
In the meantime, it's pretty spectacular. Since I've started writing at this blog, I've been hearing so much music that i now love in my quickly growing knowledge of so many new artists. Support those bands close to you, and close to your heart, it will give them a huge leg up. So much art to chose from. I enjoy starting my day with something like this:
Oh, and at these links, another website called Mediafire is hosting the zip files of Yuki's 2005 album Joy to download, at your discretion, to apparently further discover aural information about the artist to help you decide whether or not to see them at a concert i suppose? Good luck with that defense.
joy pt1
joy pt2
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