Re: FSF : lackeys of their corporate masters

[Martin Dickopp]

Stefaan A Eeckels <tengo@DELETEMEecc.lu> writes:

> On Fri, 07 May 2004 01:42:29 +0200
> Martin Dickopp <expires-2004-06-30@zero-based.org> wrote:
>
>> Stefaan A Eeckels <tengo@DELETEMEecc.lu> writes:
>> 
>> > As to no less music being created if people stop paying for access
>> > to music on CDs or in MP3s, I agree with you. But that music
>> > might linger in the composer's archives after having been 
>> > performed live a few times. The real contribution of affordable
>> > recorded music is that millions have been able to discover and
>> > enjoy music they would otherwise not even know existed. 
>> 
>> But today, it is becoming more and more feasible for musicians to
>> distribute their music without the help of the "music industry".
>
> Insofar as good recording equipment is getting cheaper,

Most musicians will probably not own their own equipment, but the
company providing the equipment needn't necessarily receive exclusive
distribution rights.

> and the Internet can be used for distribution. Yes, but
> their prospective customers still must be able to hear
> them, something that's only marginally easier with Internet
> radio (hint - you can't listen to it without your computer
> and a fast connection. But we might get to an Internet where
> one can search for music the way one can search for words. 
> It's just not there yet.

The musicians could also license their music to radio stations (I mean
traditional radio stations, not Internet radio).  Many radio stations
have replaced their CD archives by hard disk arrays anyway, so the
musicians could transfer the music directly to the disks of the radio
stations.

>> > Also, don't forget that software isn't an art form,
>> 
>> Well, I can certainly appreciate some computer programs as a form of
>> art, so let's say being art is not the only purpose of software. :)
>
> Those that are art will still be produced. Those that are
> plain boring will not be done. Haven't you noticed that
> there aren't all that many Free accounting suites (if any)?

Actually, I know two or three accounting packages which claim to be
under a Free license, although I have not personally verified these
claims.

Martin