piracy rules

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More XKCD. Which also rules.

SHOCK DECLARATION! - TV exec condemns online file sharing of his programs

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The Indy has been slipping into Daily-Mail-like demagogy for some time. Giving a pedestal to a TV executive from which he can broadcast his condemnation of file sharing is a classic business-and-upstanding-citizen-friendly example and ignores the fact that the recording and distribution of such programs was going on long before teh interweb became the medium of choice for sharing video (anyone remember video cassettes?).

Anyhow, file sharing over teh interweb is becoming less and less popular as video streaming sites start to take over, supplying a world of content on demand (if slightly jerkily and after ten minutes' buffering). Funny how you don't see cnuts like Garrett screaming about that in the press. The most damning thing is that TV networks are now offering their own streaming sites to compete with the Chinese. So the market is already being forced to work with this new paradigm without any obvious collapses of big TV networks or any obvious fall in program quality. So claims to the contrary are all a pack of fucking lies.

Government teams up with Virgin media to disseminate propaganda

I use P2P sites and I love them. It has revitalised music and pulled the rug out from under the mass-produced shite that the industry pumps out. I also advocate supporting local upcoming artists by buying their music wherever possible, preferably at their gigs so that all of the money goes into their pockets and none gets skimmed by Amazon or some other distributor.

For example:

Babyhead
Yes Sir Boss!
Kat Marsh
Albenaza
Circus of Sound
Martin Harley Band
Black Friday
etc.

The industry hates P2P because people get to listen to more music than you get from the radio or the cable music channel- all of which, apart from the Beeb's efforts, are controlled by the same parent companies as the music industry slags.

I don't approve of paying £15 for a CD either. It costs a few pennies to print up a CD and case. I don't want to belittle the creative efforts of bands such as these above. I just feel that there's a massive difference between seeing the band in the flesh and 'doing their thing' and listening to a recording that about two hundred thousand people also own. I think a CD should cost about £3.50 and a ticket to a live gig at least £20. I'm not a tight-arse and I love live music.