Copying is an act of love
Please copy and share.
Copying is an act of love. Please copy and share. People copy stuff they like. They don’t copy stuff they don’t like. The more a work is copied, the more valuable it becomes. Value isn’t taken away by fans, it is added by them, every time they copy. — Nina Paley
There’s always been this cagey group of old men who are scared to death of people taking their money. Back in the day, they were upset that the technology existed to record onto cassette tapes directly from the radio. “What! (Harumph!) Why will people buy music if they can just pull it out of the air?!” Yet, people still bought music. Because it was more accessible. Because more people were exposed. Because Mikey played it for Joey on the corner and then Joey had to have it. It’s music, and we buy what we love. We can’t love music we haven’t heard. — Kaskade
If a person likes one song, then you know what’s likely to happen? They’ll press the download arrow and own it for free. You won’t believe what happens next! They become familiar with the artist, and seek out other material. Maybe they buy that. Maybe they talk about it online. Maybe they go to a show. Maybe they simply become a fan and tell a friend. — Kaskade
99,9% of writers who complain about “piracy” in internet NEVER had any book “pirated”. — Paulo Coelho
The greatest threat to unknown musicians and writers is not piracy, it is obscurity.
When I write, it is to be read. The more people who share, who re-post, the happier I am as the more people will read. What is the point in writing, if not to be read? My only conditions are that the author be credited, a link provided to the original article, and that it may not be used for commercial purposes or profit made.
Likewise, if I repost what someone else has written, I do so in order that an excellent article which deserves to be read, gets greater traction, attracts a wider readership, who may never have come across the original article. I always give due credit, I always provide a link back to the original. But what I nearly always do, is give extra value as thanks, links to further information that expands upon the original article.
Similarly if I find an excellent well written article on Medium, sadly these days a rarity, I will happily tweet, share, recommend, to draw it to the attention of a wider audience.
You cannot like a piece of music until you have heard it. How do you hear it, because someone shares it with you?
When someone downloads his music for free, bass player Steve Lawson does not complain. He has not lost anything. He does not even like to refer to it as a free download, instead he refers to it as a zero cost transaction. An interaction has taken place between someone who may like his music, they may buy, share with their friends, attend a gig, invite him to perform a house concert.
That is what is so good about bandcamp. It allows you to listen to an entire album in reasonable quality mp3 128, not only permits sharing but encourages sharing, downloads if you choose to buy are high quality audio including lossless FLAC, and it enables embedding.
I now rarely write on music unless it can be shared, as there is little point in writing on something that readers cannot hear what I am writing about.
I was pleased to see the talented singer-songwriter Jewelia released her début album Monster on bandcamp, as it means it can be shared, reach a wider audience. It also means, when at a gig, she can tell her fans, find me on bandcamp, they, if they like, can then easily with a single click, share with their friends.
Until Jewelia tweeted her new album on bandcamp, I was not aware could be embedded in twitter. Yet another reason to release on bandcamp and share.
Likewise with youtube or vimeo, can be embedded and shared, a wider audience reached.
Writers are now learning, do not use e-books as an excuse to rip off readers, charging more for an e-book than a paperback. There are zero costs, release at low price, less than a pound or a dollar, people will try, they then go out and buy the book.
Paulo Coelho did this with his entire back catalogue, a book for the price of a song. With his latest book Adultery, it is possible to read a tantalising preview on-line.
How do we like a book? We cannot like a book until we have read it. How do we read a book? Because someone shares it with us.
Intellectual property rights is a modern concept. Strolling minstrels improvised, adapted, adopted, that is what good musicians do. But corporate greed gets in the way, what were once commons, open to all, are enclosed, looted, then sold back to us.
We do not create in a vacuum. What I write, are my original thoughts, it is not plagiarism, but I draw upon a vast cultural common. As did Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and every creative person. If we are visionary, can see far, it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants. And what I write, what we create, in turn is drawn upon, influences others.
More for me, less for you.
In a sharing society, more for you, is more for me. The good fortune of one, is the good fortune of everyone.
When the hunter returns from the successful hunt, the spoils of the hunt are shared.
During World War Two rationing was introduced to ensure fair share of meagre resources for everyone. Various groups produced recipe leaflets, people were encouraged to copy and share these recipes. The diet was better than today.
Nina Paley has found she ‘earns’ more by working in the gift economy.
We have reached the limits to growth, there is little left to enclose, little more to loot. As Charles Eisenstein describes in Sacred Economics, we are moving towards a gift economy, a sharing economy, collaborative commons, where more for you, means more for me.
Note: The wonderful cartoons are Mimi and Eunice by the talented graphic artist and animator Nina Paley from her website copyheart.
Top Story in The Abundance Daily (Sunday 17 August 2014).
