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Can you back that up? Vivien Send a noteboard - 06/01/2012 04:17:35 AM
Do you have any evidence at all that there are less artists making living today off their art than in the 19th century? Ok, how about early 20th century?

The 50,000 downloads thing and 5,000 sales- most likely if it weren't for those 50,000 downloads, the 5,000 sales would not have happened. When you're an artist or an author the worst thing is not that someone illegally enjoys your work, but that nobody even tries to. It's not pirating but complete and utter obscurity that's an author's worst nightmare.

I have never ever illegally downloaded any music. I have not copied or shared any music, ever. I thought "burning" a cd involved fire; I knew it didn't make sense but teenagers do lots of stupud stuff so I didn't question it. The music industry should love me right? Wrong! I also don't spend any money to support the music industry in any way shape or form. If everyone was like me, it couldn't survive.




And finally, behind this desire to see work enter the public domain and outrage at "rights stolen from the public" and stiffling of creativity, there's in fact a big deal of hypocrisy. What people really want are those works available for free. This phenomenon is getting worse and worse. First it's part of the music industry that's back to 19th century conditions, were independant artists find it more and more difficult to make a living because of piracy (artists would use to scrap a living selling 20 or 30 thousand copies now face 50,000 illegal downloads and 5000 sales - having to take day jobs to survive), more and more newspapers are vanishing because people seek their news from free sources and disregard the professional qualifications of real journalists - and the role the press plays in democracies be damned, it's getting more and more difficult to buy works in certain genre (ex: anime) in brick and mortar shops because illegal downloads have crashed the niche markets, and now with e-readers, it's book piracy that's becoming commonplace.
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Why Johnny Can't Read Any New Public Domain Books In The US: Because Nothing New Entered The P.D. - 03/01/2012 11:33:34 PM 2111 Views
I find it difficult to see this as stealing rights from the public. - 04/01/2012 11:15:35 AM 1218 Views
Are you arguing for illegal use of legally protected works? - 04/01/2012 09:34:18 PM 1181 Views
No. I'm saying that keeping works in copyright doesn't stop them from being read, watched, etc. - 04/01/2012 10:24:50 PM 1126 Views
That's not the point, though. - 05/01/2012 01:05:17 PM 1202 Views
???? - 05/01/2012 03:22:58 PM 1163 Views
Re: ???? - 05/01/2012 04:04:21 PM 1204 Views
not to mention public libraries *NM* - 05/01/2012 03:21:04 PM 622 Views
Blame Disney. *NM* - 04/01/2012 05:48:00 PM 787 Views
I don't get it. - 04/01/2012 05:51:19 PM 1478 Views
You know those Jane Austen parodies? Only because Jane Austen is in the public domain. - 04/01/2012 09:32:20 PM 1258 Views
Answering you specifically - 05/01/2012 04:57:33 PM 1151 Views
But that doesn't make sense. - 05/01/2012 07:18:08 PM 1367 Views
Here's the gist of it. - 06/01/2012 04:18:29 PM 1189 Views
Patents and copyrights aren't meant to last forever (shouldn't, anyway) - 04/01/2012 10:33:30 PM 1248 Views
I know they aren't. I don't necessarily agree that they shouldn't though. - 05/01/2012 05:01:05 PM 1121 Views
Copyrights stifle creativity. - 05/01/2012 07:48:08 PM 1224 Views
Re: Copyrights stifle creativity. - 06/01/2012 04:39:24 PM 1630 Views
Re: I know they aren't. I don't necessarily agree that they shouldn't though. - 06/01/2012 12:47:50 AM 1123 Views
Why. - 06/01/2012 05:05:20 PM 1795 Views
That is a very confusing article. - 04/01/2012 10:19:22 PM 1292 Views
Works published between 1923 and 1978 are different - 04/01/2012 10:25:16 PM 1218 Views
Do you think it is right that Disney can protect its movies? - 05/01/2012 05:29:08 PM 1149 Views
Ok, what has movies Disney done lately that were on par with its classics? *NM* - 05/01/2012 07:44:20 PM 515 Views
And speaking of Disney's classics... - 05/01/2012 10:06:16 PM 1291 Views
Until Disney discovered and copyrighted them, they obviouslty didn't exist. *NM* - 06/01/2012 12:58:55 AM 552 Views
Except of course they haven't copyrighted them... - 06/01/2012 01:53:01 AM 1113 Views
nice theory but you can make a Little Mermaid movie if you want - 06/01/2012 02:48:47 PM 1188 Views
Well, if corporations are now people, then maybe their copyright could be different? *shrug* - 05/01/2012 07:57:38 PM 1324 Views
Do you really want corporations to be immortal? - 06/01/2012 12:50:11 AM 1209 Views
In a sense, aren't they already? - 06/01/2012 02:42:53 AM 1274 Views
Re: Well, if corporations are now people, then maybe their copyright could be different? *shrug* - 06/01/2012 01:18:04 AM 1215 Views
It's a thorny issue and I largely agree with you - 06/01/2012 02:50:24 AM 1227 Views
Huh... apparently, Mickey Mouse is already Public Domain anyway - 06/01/2012 07:30:36 AM 1403 Views
Can you back that up? - 06/01/2012 04:17:35 AM 1326 Views
Re: Can you back that up? - 06/01/2012 06:02:01 PM 1092 Views
Re: the piracy issues - 06/01/2012 06:30:46 AM 1339 Views
Book piracy - 06/01/2012 05:21:40 PM 1415 Views
corporations have always had rights - 06/01/2012 04:08:12 PM 1165 Views

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