[citation][nom]potatolord[/nom]Because it means that the resources and incentive to produce further high quality art will inevitably diminish.This makes no sense at all to me. You're suggesting that artsts will be better off under a system where they receive £0, than one under which they would receive £1? How does valuing their work at £0 afford them any scope to earn a living? While large media corporations may have "ripped off" artists , and may continue to do so, your solution where they apparently get £0 forever would make them all destitute in the short term and hopeless in the long-term.And don't give me that "they can play gigs for money" argument- that's not feasible for everyone, especially those who have families and full-time work and make recordings in order to recoup their recording costs and maybe make a few £ on the side.[/citation]
The difference is realizing up-front that they are going to get screwed on the duplicate media that gets sold with their work on it, instead of having a system that entices them with huge payouts that are inevitably vaporized once the media tyrants finish with their exploitation of the artists. The artists are also forced to hand over a huge chunk of all of the money they earn doing live work. Instead, why not just say to the artist:
"OK, you can try to sell duplicate media but you have to cope with the very real possibility that it will get copied and distributed without your approval. You need to realize, starting now, that you are much better off with a revenue stream that you generate organically through live shows, selling of merchandise that is nontrivial to duplicate, and coercing your fans to purchase duplicate media at a fair price because they want to support you."
The shocking thing (to me at least) is that this has *already happened* and so few people want to acknowledge the merit of it. Artists like Jonathan Coulton (I am not the biggest fan, just using him as an example) have said to their fans "hey, you can go pirate this for free, and I don't really care if you do. But, if you like my work, please buy my media, or some merchandise, or come to a show." Go ahead and ask him how victimized he is by a world of music pirates (*spoiler alert* he is doing pretty well for himself.)
Fans will support their acts. Pirates will copy music. The question we need to ask is how involved do we want huge corporations or government sanctioned entities to be in the process? I, just so we are clear, am in support of an artist-driven free market and for the government and the corps to go back to running banks. What side are you on?