Criminals

watch your kazaa

just the facts?

This past week I noticed a media blitz by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). They are starting to collect information on people who download music for possible or probably legal action. I go back and forth on the topic. I really do understand the rights of artists and their works but I also see an industry that exploits consumers and changes the rules as long the change serves their interests. Copyrighted materials used to pass eventually into the public domain. Artists could collect royalties on their works usually for 75 years then it would pass into the public domain. Over the years the copyright and patent laws have been changed. Quietly they have been extended and various extensions and loopholes have been implemented. Most works created today will never pass into the public domain. Any company can print a play written by Shakespeare and any orchestra can play Bach without paying royalties. This is why you see so many old blues and jazz cds in Costco and Starbucks for only a few dollars. No royalties for those artists. Disney has made the copyright laws their second business. Their whole business has been built on creator/business owned characters and stories. Disney lawyers have led the way in getting the laws changed and of course everyone has benefited, except the consumers.

Point number two. The real problem is money. The recording industry thinks that music downloads will kill the music business like the way cassette tapes did 20 years ago. Uhm that didn't happen. Ok, the way VCRs killed the movie industry, oh yeah that didn't happen either. The reality is since I have started "sharing music" on the internet I have tripled the amount of music I purchase. Downloading isn't as easy as people think and mp3 quality is not cd quality. So if I want a quality recording I buy it. If I want a mix cd of 20 year old Beastie Boy songs I download them.

My final point would have to be that instead of chasing technology and consumers down an expensive legal road they should build a better mousetrap. Case in point is LivePhish.com. This website offers fans the opportunity to download any concert within 48 hours and they also include templates for cd booklets and labels for the shows. The quality is great since the feed is right off the mixing board and the price is right, about $10. Instant gratification and a perfect price point equals happy customers who come back. I first used the service to download a Trey Anastasio (Phish guitarist) show I attended in San Francisco. I was so impressed that I went back to download the recent Phish shows in Mountain View. I went to the second night but I had heard that previous night had included the Rolling Stones cover of "Loving Cup" and I wanted to hear it.

Services like Kazaa and Morpheus are filling a void left by the industry. The record companies left the money on the table and now they're mad because some us have picked it up. Look forward and listen to your customers instead of trying to arrest them. I actually hope I am the first person they take to court. The publicity and fame will more than make up for the trouble. That's my view, what's yours?

jack on hillbilly smack

jack's whacked pack

In other criminal news we were all treated to the shocking story of Jack Osbourne this week. He is fresh out of rehab and he told his story on MTV. Alexis, Andy, and I all watched and wondered how this could happen. Jack is the son of Ozzy and he is also a reality TV star in his own right and yet his life was unhappy? He turned to a drug that non of us had ever heard of.

OxyContin, otherwise known as hillbilly heroin, was his drug of choice. Besides that he was also snorting Demerol. I am so confused? This guy is rich and lives in Hollywood and yet he is doing the same drugs as trailer park queens and inbred backwater burnouts. I think Jack's real problem is his friends. During his interview Jack complained that he wasn't like the other kids. No shit, the other celebrity kids are out smoking pot and doing ecstasy while you're snorting your mom's back pills. Now I don't advocate drugs but if you going to do them at least get some good advice. Sorry I can't get over the snorting Demerol, so not only is Jack and addict but a bad one at that.

Look around Jack. Ask dad for goodness sake, oh yeah you wouldn't be able to understand his answer. All this drama and he is only 17. Clean and sober 17. Nice and it was all packaged for us in the form of an interview. If you ask me Jack is an OxyMoron. Finally I want to remind people that everything Jack did was criminal. No mention was ever made about that. I guess if you are rich and famous and don't wait to get caught you can get away with it. Now that's criminal.

summer block buster?

all right!

Let's wrap things up with some historical criminals. This summer seems to be the summer of pirates. I mentioned earlier that music pirates are under fire and all the billboards around my city are now covered with Johnny Depp in a eye patch. Avast and ahoy! Talk about time healing all wounds. Real pirates were and continue to be a scary bunch. Lawless and ruthless thieves and killers. Motivated by money and blood they are perfect summer entertainment? I have an idea. Let's take it to the next level.

In my efforts to provide you with the best sarcasm anywhere I did a little research. How could I make a better pirate movie? I love Google.com! I typed pirates and then I added the missing piece, women. *Click* Jackpot! Up came a list of websites devoted to presenting information on women pirates. Nice. There were crossing dressing pirates too. Tough women and eye patches now that's a movie I'd go to. I left you a link to one of the pages that was particularly useful in providing an overview of women in piracy. Mary Reed is my personal favorite. She frightened the men on her ship with her advances. That was until she revealed her true nature (seen above). Mary dressed as a man until she met and married a fellow privateer. Once widowed she re-donned her man wear and went back to work pillaging.

Once again history is way more entertaining and scandalous than anything Hollywood can cook up. Hey history is royalty free too. Thanks for listening so I didn't have to make you walk the plank.

Peace,
Sean

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