Taking the Anti-Piracy Argument Back From the Music Industry

[Paul Marangoni]

I always find kind of puzzling that many musicians with such a huge reach (like Gambale) only rant about music downloading and nothing else... Again, this is not a piracy legitimation, but there´s so much shit going on right now in every corner of the world that focusing in that and only that (and also saying is not about the money) is kind of shallow to me.

What are you talking about???? No one should complain about their stuff being pirated, stolen, or hijacked, as long as there are starving children in the world? If Gambale's "rant" (as you call it) rubbed you the wrong way, I suggest you take a look in the mirror to figure out why that may be. Frank was not out of line at all.

[Julián Fernández]

Didn´t read my whole post it seems... If you only raise your voice when something touches your interests or pockets, then you´re the one that should take a good look into that mirror.
Or at least, that´s the kind of man I wanna be.

[Paul Marangoni]

So Frank Gambale's post about the theft of his creative output is not valid, because YOU feel that it needs to be matched by similar posts that you find affinity with?

I seriously have no idea where you're coming from. Either you understand how musicians, authors, and artists in general are being ripped off and taken advantage of, or you feel that Google has every right to make money off of the creativity of others, while not sharing in that revenue.

Not sure how some drummer who is raising money to help the underprivileged comes into play here.

And yes, I read your post. All of it. It's a non-sequitur at best.

[Julián Fernández]

Where did I say his post was not valid?!?!
I´m saying that when you know there´s a lot of people listening, you could use that reach to something else besides complaining about some guitar freaks downloading your albums...

[willyz]

I don't think Frank was just cherry-picking the argument because of his pocket- I'm sure he's fine financially, and probably just not making as much from music as he used to (like a lot of us aren't).

It's the whole nine yards in terms of the VALUE of art- how the internet giants aren't paying people for the content, the lack of attention and need of immediate accessibility in our culture, how easy it is to record a record, start a kickstarter, make content- just for exposure, how live music on a middle class level (the bar gigs, weddings, private events, etc), are dwindling (when great known players in LA are taking the happy hour gigs in Santa Monica you know there's a problem), etc, etc are all results of the topic of this very thread.

Sound quality/compression is not relevant to a consumer (that is, other than myself and other fellow music snobs)- they don't know the difference. THAT is the real overall struggle- THEY DON'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. Everything is damn near free and accessible and it's killing the live and working aspect of music.

The point is that piracy and streaming have damaged making a living as a musician- which was already damn tough to begin with!

[gretsch-o-rama]

I was addressing albums that would appeal to music lovers and would be considered to be actual music. In particular, a lot of the "fusion" albums of today are not a high fidelity quality...I personally believe it comes from the overwhelming popularity and success of earbuds, headphones etc. The music is mixed with an inherit "phase" difference and will sound the best when coming from two individual stereo sound sources...or, at least, that's true for me. Of course, radio air time may come into it somewhat, although I don't know of any stations that give air time to "fusion"...

[Paul Marangoni]

I´m saying that when you know there´s a lot of people listening, you could use that reach to something else besides complaining about some guitar freaks downloading your albums...

What would you prefer that Frank post about? CO2 emissions? Endangered species? The obesity epidemic? It makes me absolutely LIVID when the people who should be supporting artists end up stifling them. Seriously man, you are way out of line. Wow.

[Kurtis]

How is he out of line! Dude. What. LOL? Do you have all access NSA clearance and can see everything he downloads or views. Access to his computer. How is he out of line. Good gawd. Dude your hysterical. Valiums help man.

[Julián Fernández]

Who says I don´t support artists? I bet I go see more live music than you... I have a bulky collection of cds, dvds, blah blah...
All I´m saying is that it´s refreshing to hear an artist talk about something else than online piracy...Or is that we as artists should be more concerned about that than fucking Monsanto, the oil in the Gulf of Mexico, NSA, Guantanamo, etc, etc, etc?

[Morgenthaler]

A new report on the Danish music business shows an increase on all revenue parameters for the Danish music biz, and a shift over the past
10 years from 95% of digital music being illegally downloaded, to 81% being legally downloaded and/or streamed.

I buy music. I work with YouTube's content verification program to pull down illegally shared music. AND I think there is still a far greater thread
(than illegal music downloads) coming from the V for Vendetta/1984 methods that intelligence agencies across the world use to monitor every digital interaction between us humans.