Comment by Erik Schmidt (not verified), posted March 3, 2007 - 10:36am
The Larson example seems to indicate that the appropriate legal method (i.e., firing off a cease-and-desist letter) may not always be the appropriate business method. Engaged artists like Gary Larson can and are tilting the social norms a bit, at least with regard to fans. It certainly is a step in the right direction.
I do wonder, however, if most of the real "fans" are the folks doing most of the unauthorized file sharing. By my definition, a fan is someone who wants the artist to do well, to benefit from their creativity. I'm not part of the P2P music culture. However, I am a 2L law student, and I'm amazed at how many of my colleagues are amassing huge libraries of P2P-traded music. One of them told me, "Once I realized I wasn't going into IP law, I fired up Kazaa and got to work." I know other students who *are* going into IP law and continue to aggressively use unauthorized file sharing networks.
My suspicion is that most university-age filesharers aren't "fans" who feel a close connection to the creators of the music and movies they are grabbing off the Net for free. These aren't the people waiting in line to get tickets to concerts. They're not organizing email campaigns to get Firefly back on TV. Quantity (rather than quality) seems to be the big draw, in that filesharing networks allow the creation of enormous catalogues of music, much of which will never be played. I have 4,500 songs in my iTunes library, and at any given time, only a couple hundred of them are in my playlists. Even a very motivated listener would have a tough time making it through the 10,000+ songs that many P2P traders have amassed.
The idea of using real fans to influence filesharing use is an interesting idea. As long as they get something out of it, I think they will ultimately be much more convincing and effective than anyone associated with the recording industry. Perhaps empowered fans truly could create a shift in social norms.
The Larson example seems to indicate that the appropriate legal method (i.e., firing off a cease-and-desist letter) may not always be the appropriate business method. Engaged artists like Gary Larson can and are tilting the social norms a bit, at least with regard to fans. It certainly is a step in the right direction.
I do wonder, however, if most of the real "fans" are the folks doing most of the unauthorized file sharing. By my definition, a fan is someone who wants the artist to do well, to benefit from their creativity. I'm not part of the P2P music culture. However, I am a 2L law student, and I'm amazed at how many of my colleagues are amassing huge libraries of P2P-traded music. One of them told me, "Once I realized I wasn't going into IP law, I fired up Kazaa and got to work." I know other students who *are* going into IP law and continue to aggressively use unauthorized file sharing networks.
My suspicion is that most university-age filesharers aren't "fans" who feel a close connection to the creators of the music and movies they are grabbing off the Net for free. These aren't the people waiting in line to get tickets to concerts. They're not organizing email campaigns to get Firefly back on TV. Quantity (rather than quality) seems to be the big draw, in that filesharing networks allow the creation of enormous catalogues of music, much of which will never be played. I have 4,500 songs in my iTunes library, and at any given time, only a couple hundred of them are in my playlists. Even a very motivated listener would have a tough time making it through the 10,000+ songs that many P2P traders have amassed.
The idea of using real fans to influence filesharing use is an interesting idea. As long as they get something out of it, I think they will ultimately be much more convincing and effective than anyone associated with the recording industry. Perhaps empowered fans truly could create a shift in social norms.