Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Almost Famous
I had never seen this movie before but after watching it I found it to be inspiring is some aspects. I found it to be interesting that a kid only 15 years old, William Miller, was courageous enough to lie to Rolling Stone Magazine and go on tour with a band cross country. Along the trip, the kid sees things and views the real world of rock and roll that he didn't know existed. Being a fan of this band, Miller strives to find the best things he can about the band to write about and he befriends the lead guitarist, Russell Hammond who's talent seems to be on a higher level than the band. Again, the kid proves to be quite daring when he writes the things he actually sees. He planned to give a sugar coated review to Rolling Stone to glorify the band, but instead he writes what he truly sees and the issues within the band. I think that the director does a phenomenal job of portraying the feelings brought out in the characters and the realization of the problems the band faces. The actors in the film make you believe that what you're seeing is the real deal. The members of the band seem to truly be at war with Hammond and his self-righteousness all while Miller is the reporter along for the ride who falls in love with one of the groupies. As an aspiring English Writing Major wanting to write for a car magazine, I found the movie to be inspiring myself due to the fact that the kid was willing to risk everything to fulfill his dream.
Piracy
I personally do not find the "piracy" of music to be such an offensive act. After reading this article, I found even more reason as to why I believe that it is not a bad thing. For example, most CDs are sold around $15 each. It's states in the chapter that the Chinese get access to the same CDs for only 50 cents each. So, with the record industry claiming to lose 4.6 billion dollars a year due to piracy, it seems to me that Americans are getting screwed as well. If they can sale copies for 50 cents, yet charge us $15 then they seem to be the one's that should be accused of piracy. And if they sold them cheaper, maybe then piracy wouldn't be such a problem.
Another thing stated in the chapter is the example of Microsoft allowing the Chinese to have bootleg copies of their software so that, in the long run, more Chinese will see the software and start to buy it. This just proves that companies are happy to break the law as long as they get to profit from it. Which makes them no better than the ones stealing from them.
It is also stated in the chapter that the law aims to rid the use of piracy that robs the author of his profit. But, on average, a Musician really only sees 50 cents for each CD sold. Most of their money comes from concerts. And as the chapter states, the difference in downloading music and stealing a CD is that the CD stolen is one less CD for sale. But downloading an album does not take a CD of the shelf. So a scenario probably not researched is that the millions of claimed people that download music probably attend concerts of the bands they are interested in. Therefore, increasing the money that artists make.
There are roughly 300 million people living in the United States. Of these 300 million, 100 million are members of Kazaa, the most popular p2p sharing network. So with a 3rd of the country being apart of it, along with millions of others that apart of other networks such as Limewire, the chances of officers and other officials who are suppose to rid this "piracy" are more than likely involved with it themselves.
Again, as I stated before, the companies are more than happy to be apart of this piracy as long as they benefit from it. This is recognized again later in the chapter when he describes the four parts of piracy. Type B is defined as someone downloading a song and if he/she likes it, the hope is that he/she will go buy the CD or refer a friend to buy it. Again, the companies would do nothing about piracy if this were the only way it worked.
In 2002 it was reported that CD sales fell 8.9 percent and it was blamed directly on piracy. But What was failed to be reported was that the number of CDs released were dropped 20 percent. So their were 20 percent less CDs for sale. so if you do the math, if the CD sales falling 8.9 were directly due to piracy, then sales would be down 28.9 percent.
It also shows that the law decided by Congress is that the copyright holder does not get all the value that his copyright created and has never accorded the copyright owner complete control over all possible uses of his work. Therefore, a loop-hole is created in the copyright and the artist is not entitled to all that the copyright states.
So in my opinion, downloading music from the internet is not robbing the artist at all. Not only might it be helping the artist by increasing attendance at concerts, but it is shown that lawfully the artist is not due all that his copyright states. Besides, programs like iTunes who sale songs individually for .99 each are seeing more money off these albums than the artist himself.
Another thing stated in the chapter is the example of Microsoft allowing the Chinese to have bootleg copies of their software so that, in the long run, more Chinese will see the software and start to buy it. This just proves that companies are happy to break the law as long as they get to profit from it. Which makes them no better than the ones stealing from them.
It is also stated in the chapter that the law aims to rid the use of piracy that robs the author of his profit. But, on average, a Musician really only sees 50 cents for each CD sold. Most of their money comes from concerts. And as the chapter states, the difference in downloading music and stealing a CD is that the CD stolen is one less CD for sale. But downloading an album does not take a CD of the shelf. So a scenario probably not researched is that the millions of claimed people that download music probably attend concerts of the bands they are interested in. Therefore, increasing the money that artists make.
There are roughly 300 million people living in the United States. Of these 300 million, 100 million are members of Kazaa, the most popular p2p sharing network. So with a 3rd of the country being apart of it, along with millions of others that apart of other networks such as Limewire, the chances of officers and other officials who are suppose to rid this "piracy" are more than likely involved with it themselves.
Again, as I stated before, the companies are more than happy to be apart of this piracy as long as they benefit from it. This is recognized again later in the chapter when he describes the four parts of piracy. Type B is defined as someone downloading a song and if he/she likes it, the hope is that he/she will go buy the CD or refer a friend to buy it. Again, the companies would do nothing about piracy if this were the only way it worked.
In 2002 it was reported that CD sales fell 8.9 percent and it was blamed directly on piracy. But What was failed to be reported was that the number of CDs released were dropped 20 percent. So their were 20 percent less CDs for sale. so if you do the math, if the CD sales falling 8.9 were directly due to piracy, then sales would be down 28.9 percent.
It also shows that the law decided by Congress is that the copyright holder does not get all the value that his copyright created and has never accorded the copyright owner complete control over all possible uses of his work. Therefore, a loop-hole is created in the copyright and the artist is not entitled to all that the copyright states.
So in my opinion, downloading music from the internet is not robbing the artist at all. Not only might it be helping the artist by increasing attendance at concerts, but it is shown that lawfully the artist is not due all that his copyright states. Besides, programs like iTunes who sale songs individually for .99 each are seeing more money off these albums than the artist himself.
Monday, June 29, 2009
First Music Experience
Growing up, my sister, six years older than I, obviously had an influence on me as someone I looked up to. I always wanted to do the things she did. Therefore, the music she listened to was the music I wanted to listen to and was what I thought was "cool." Luckily for me, in my opinion still, she had good taste in music. I grew up listening to bands like Bush, Incubus and Fuel. Also along with her influence on me was my Dad's taste in music. He enjoyed bands such as Kiss, Queen and The Beatles. So my taste of music ranges far in age but along the lines of the same Genre. When I was twelve, my sister burned a cd for me with bands from her and my dad's collection. I felt a sense of "maturity" by having this cd because I felt as if I was par with them now. To this day I still have that cd, though it struggles to play as many times that it's been used.
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