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You have respect for my views?
Perhaps we're getting somewhere.
You allude to the doctrine of fair use in your post, but as you did not even know the term for it, I assume you do not know what constitutes fair use, either.
Reproducing the entirety of a work, with interspersed comments, but without permission, exceeds the limited excerpting allowed under the provisions of fair use, and is thus illegal. If you don't want to believe me, ask an attorney. Or just think about it for a moment-- if that sort of copying were allowed, then I would be able to take a best-selling novel off the shelf in the bookstore, copy it, add a few comments, and then sell the annotated work, keeping all profits for myself. Not legal.
There are, of course, plenty of annotated texts out there, but the works reproduced are either in the public domain, or, in some cases, properly licensed. You're going to have to wait a while before this comment falls within the public domain, and I'm not about to license it to you.
In respected academic debate, very little quoting takes place, and you never see the sort of line-by-line reactionary denial that is regrettably common in comparatively immature on-line venues. The reasons for this relate more to the other reasons outlined in my previous comment than to copyright law, but nonetheless, it would be advisable to seek a better understanding of fair use before assuming that it applies to your reproduction of the work of others.
Now then. Let's talk about music.
Your laughable depiction of the Commercial Radio industry is tragic, but I will address it in the next part of my series of articles, rather than here.
I will note, though, that I find it amusing that you castigate the Commercial Radio Industry for only playing what is popular, and then in the next breath praise mp3.com for its "user sorting," ie, for basing recommendation on popularity.
You want Radio Stations and Music Magazines to consider music submitted by Artists?
Fine. Let me walk you through it.
Suppose an artist wants to be considered for airplay or review. To have any reasonable chance against all the other Artists submitting material, our unknown Artist will have to submit a demo, a biography, a photo, and a CD to at least 200 independent radio stations and publications.
Let's think about the work involved. The bio and a cover letter and maybe a one-sheet have to be written. The photos have to be taken and developed. The CDs need artwork and liner notes. The mailing has to be assembled. Once the mailing has gone out, the Artist needs to call all of the recipients a week later to make sure that the materials have been recieved, and much more importantly, to put a human voice behind the package and make an impression on the music director or editor.
Another call has to be made soon after, just to "touch base," ie, to remind the recipient of the Artist and the package, and hopefully to get in a little bit of ingratiating chit-chat. The third call should be direct-- the Artist should politely inquire as to whether or not the CD is going to get some airtime or a review, and if not, the Artist must apologise for taking up the recipient's time, so as to leave a favorable impression for the next mailing.
Six hundred phone calls. Almost all of them long distance.
Does any of that sound like the Art of Music? No, of course not. It is business. It is a business that has a name. And the name of this business is the Recording Industry. Believe it or not, most musicians are not very good at this sort of business. Do you understand the value of the division of labor? Let the musicians make music. Don't force them to be businessmen.
I'm not sure what country you live in, but here in America, Rock/Metal is very, very well represented by the Recording Industry, and by Commercial Radio, as well. Up until six or seven years ago, in fact, Rock/Metal dominated Commercial Radio, first in the form of Hair Metal, and then in the guise of Grunge and Alternative Rock. Today's Tattoo Metal doesn't enjoy as large a market share in Commercial Radio, but it is quite well represented by the Recording Industry.
Limp Bizkit is represented by Universal. Korn is on Sony. Linkin Park is signed to Warner Brothers. Slipknot is on Universal. Even Slayer is on one of the big five (Universal again).
You may or may not like these bands, but to claim that the Recording Industry is ignoring "Rock/Metal" is just wilfully ignorant. Maybe you're into lesser known Rock/Metal, but whatever it is, I'll bet it's represented by Record Labels, be they indie labels like Am/Rep or Alternative Tentacles, or specialty imprints of the big five. Not only is Rock/Metal represented by the Recording Industry, it is well and extensively represented, and has been for decades.
No, nobody has to listen to all new music. In fact, as I mentioned in my previous message, it's impossible. But someone has spend most of their time listening to unknown music, sorting out the utter shit and passing along the relatively small amount of decent stuff to you and me. You know who does that?
The Recording Industry, that's who.
The only reason you think they do a poor job of it is that you never have to listen to the things they've rejected. You don't even know how good you've had it, and now you want it for free.
Hang your head. Hang your head in shame.
© RobotSlave, 2002.
© 2002, RobotSlave. You may not reproduce this material, in whole or in part, without written permission of the owner.
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