EM

marco:

What if copyright infringement were made completely impossible? What if we had perfect enforcement at the technical level?¹

I’ve spent the past several years doing digital art, doing what I could but mostly pining that I had more space, more tools, more time, and more talent. The more of those things I had, the better that my digital artwork could be. Then I realized I was preoccupied with a bunch of bullshit. Instead of trying to get a realistic watercolor brush going in Photoshop why not just paint with watercolors on paper? Painting with real watercolors on real paper leaves no choice but to make it look like a watercolor painting. The best way to achieve something is the most direct way. It may be more difficult. It may take more time. But the results are real.

The direct way to deter copyright infringement is to not use restrictively copyrighted materials in the first place. A technical means of preventing use of copyrighted works has always been overcome by those who wanted to find ways to get around it. It doesn’t change anything. It’s a digital change pretending it’s a real change.

This morning I was thinking of the merits of paper versus digital note taking. It’s essentially the same sort of thing. I’m down to two choices: Does writing notes directly on paper creates stronger memory associations in the brain than typing notes and saving files? Do digital (searchable) archives of my notes bolster my brain’s memory? Which is more direct?

A thought occurred to me while weighing the merits of both — converting from one system to another is no simple task. A government or large company would take several years to make a major change. The music industry itself is in that same position. There is going to be a transitional period where needs and the rules that go along with them gradually change. Individuals (the musician, distibutor, promoter, and consumer) should find the most direct way, the best way, for what they want and go with it.

^{1. As always Marco’s post is worth reading to get an idea of his thoughts on it. I chopped it out for clarity but Marco acknowledges that digitally enforcing copyright really isn’t possible but that this is a “thought experiment.”}

langer:

With Fried’s singular obsession over profit he has a similarly myopic definition of the word “success”. Success, to Fried, is revenue now, profit now, and businesses that do not meet those criteria are not simply “unsuccessful”, they’re worthy of mockery and derision.

I think it’s the difference in owning a company that you can control versus owning a company that is out of control and the only way off is to jump off before it crashes or hope that someone with deeper pockets can come along and drive it for you. There are other options out there but for a self–starter the idea that you can start something that you are passionate about and wouldn’t mind spending your life tending to is a healthy option.