Today, the ideological battle is over. The RIAA is the force of evil, and the people who “share files†are good incarnate. After all, the former is “selfishly†chasing profits. The latter are “customers†who protest “exploitation†of artists, advocate a more efficient business model, and study the disparity between the cost to distribute music vs. the price at which it’s sold.
Today’s kids buy less music because of these “concernsâ€. It’s not that they can get it for free, but that they have “problems†with the “profits above people†mentality of the RIAA. They “believe†that those few artists whose record sales gross in the tens of millions should be paid less so that the others (whose records don’t sell) “should†be paid more.
Bullshit!
They are stealing music. The Internet is loaded with “manifestos†that provide the pseudo-moral rationalization to make A into non-A.
It may very well be that the RIAA business model has been disrupted, like that of so many other traditional industries. But then, if this was so, why do new artists sign on with major record labels (when they can get the deals?) Why do bands on independent labels not sell large numbers of records? Why do superstars, who have been free agents not contract-bound to a label for years or decades, not sell all their new music downloads from their website? Why have there been several venture capital backed companies who created piracy tools, but none to offer unknown bands 50% of royalties on songs sold for $0.05 per download?
The morality of the Christian Medieval period still reigns. The producer is a serf. “Grubbing†in the dirt is at best an “amoral, pragmatic†concern. “True†morality consists of “nobilityâ€, i.e. of mooching the products of others’ efforts, while opposing the conditions required for such production.
The file “sharing†kid today is the modern progeny of the old European nobleman.
Hey kid, what do you think of those bastards who are trying to use lawsuits to stop file sharing? Hey baron, what do you think of those bastards who are tied to the land?