In my opinion, once an artist writes a song the song belongs to them. It is their intellectual property. Other people may know the messages expressed in the song very well, but it's made from the artist's experience of it and their thoughts, opinions, and emotions surrounding the song. And because of this I also believe that music has inherent value. Like all art, it is an expression of inner emotion, which is why songs connect to people so easily. Empathy is the biggest reason people can value a song so much and hold it so highly. When I get music, I primarily do it digitally, but I rarely do it legally. Honestly, the only reason I ever spend money on music is if can't find it easily through free downloading. Henry Rollins of the Punk band Black Flag and his solo band Rollin's Band said in an interview "If a kid can't afford to buy my song, I'd rather him just download it, cause he's just doing what the record company's been doing to me the entire time, and at least the song is still getting out there." I don't feel like what I'm doing is right, but bands make most of their money touring anyway and record companies really do stick them when it comes to getting their songs out there.
http://henryrollins.com/photo/press_shots/
I don't think there should be a time limit on how long an artist can receive royalties for their song. Music is art, and in my opinion, all art is timeless. If it weren't you'd just have to merely mention the artist. You can't just give credit to the artist for using their work without the artist receiving some sort of profit. Why should you be allowed to use it this way for free? And I also believe that the artists family should receive royalties as well. If it is in their will then it should go to whoever it's supposed without time limit or need of renewal.
5 comments:
You say "the only reason I ever spend money on music is if can't find it easily through free downloading." Piracy is free, most of the time at least. why not do that if you'd like it free.
i do pirate it, its just if i cant find a good version of moderately quickly i'd just rather put down a few cents to get it
I love that you mention that artists make majority of their money through touring. It made me think of the amount of money artists actually make from sites like iTunes after they take their percentage, not to mention the other percentages taken away for various reasons.
I have found that most punk bands don't care as much if someone downloads their music for free. Do you think that's part of the message of the scene?
You and I have the same opinion on receiving royalties. I also think music is an art and is timeless. But do you think that someone should still receive royalties if the person has been dead for a long long time? For example someone like Beethoven.
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