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“Public was so scared that it gave up all its liberties”
Published: 28 April, 2010, 13:28
Edited: 29 April, 2010, 11:37
TAGS: Music, Human rights, Internet, Mass media, Information Technology, USA
It will take years to clean up the mess created by George W. Bush and his administration, said rapper Sage Francis, who says he draws his inspiration from conversations he hears around him.
“Our economy collapsed. Almost all people care about is how they going to get their next pay check, how are they going continue to live lives they are accustomed to and they are not going to care too much about anything else.”
Francis said he likes the general line of the Obama administration, but he does not fully understand everything that is happening.
He also made his point on music file sharing: “It’s hurting artists and the industry overall,” he said.
“People are just downloading stuff and not purchasing it. I’m not saying that art deserves money but artists need to live. With all music being free and available at all times – it is just overload, it is over-stimulation and all music becomes disposable,” he warned.
As for suing people for hundreds of thousands of dollars for downloading several songs, Sage Francis said that is nonsense.
“There are four-to-five major labels that are trying to figure out what is going on. They are making no sense of it and they have ignored the download revolution for too long and now they are taking drastic measures – it’s all a bunch of fail.”
He also thinks that music downloading prevents promising artists to develop into powerhouses.
“If Bob Dylan came out in 2010 he would not be Bob Dylan. It just would not happen.”
28.04.2010, 10:48
6 comments
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28.04.2010, 22:18
1 comment
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Evolve or perish - that is how we all must live our lives. You can't change the facts that George Bush and Barak Obama are both realities in the same dimension, just as the internet and competition. Your story looks only at the glass half empty. Why don't you look at the fact that the internet also gives young artists an opportunity to show their talent and become popular, something that required luck and connections to a good production company in Bob Dylan' days. Wikipedia may make encyclopaedias redundant and unprofitable to publish, but should we ban it? Today the internet is making everything available and one needs to reinvent the revenue model not just to survive but to thrive.
If you make disposable music, then of course it will be 'disposable'. That's not the fault of file-sharing. I do agree though that real artists are suffering, and do deserve to be paid for their work and creativity. You don't get shoes for free, not even the low-quality cheap type that fall apart on the second wearing. Someone put a few hours of their time into producing them, and we don't question the fact that they should receive compensation for their efforts no matter how low-quality the product. I don't know where the idea came that art should be free and that artists should not be paid for their work in the same way that those producing consumable goods do. It's strange that the people who believe that art should be free to all, are probably the first to scream and accuse running shoe manufacturers of employing slave-labor-like conditions in their factories without seeing the irony of their position: they're expecting musicians, painters and writers to produce, at their own expense, their products and receive NO compensation. That takes slave labor to a new level. That said, the following line from your article "but he does not fully understand everything that is happening" should tell you a lot about this man and the validity of his opinions. If you don't fully understand what is happening, then you are in no position to comment on it. Please wait until you do fully understand before dissing things. Otherwise, you're nothing more than a noisy parrot.
Listening to conversations and know the crux of issues are two entirely different things. Go home. Art is from a caste, not a job. It's a hobby. Don't worry, an attempt to control everyone will be made by placing godless regulations on the internet and everything else and you will get your nickle - or perhaps not. It's probably for nothing anyway. There isn't a song that hasn't been sung, a book that hasn't been written, memoria in place. Go home and read a book.