Snark Not

Last week, Joe Carter of Evangelical Outpost noted the Pepsi Superbowl ad that highlighted a group of kids that the RIAA had prosecuted for downloading music.

Since the ethics of music downloading have always perplexed me, perhaps someone can explain it to me. If a teen steals music from a music store it’s considered shoplifting and can lead to a misdemeanor prosecution. Yet if a teen steals music via the Internet it “invigorates the democracy” and can land you a commercial during one of the most watched television events of the year. Am I the only one that is disturbed by this moral double standard?

Perhaps the RIAA should also produce a commercial. They could round up a group of teens who “fought the law” by stealing cases of Pepsi or Gatorade. No doubt Pepsico would find such a groundbreaking commercial invigorating.

Fair enough, so far. As someone who used to work as a musician, I agree.

But then he steers into the weeds:

(Link via: Mitch from Shot in the Dark, who disturbingly, doesn't seem to have a problem with online piracy. Shame on you, Mitch.)

Then you don't read my blog very much, Joe, do you?

Pirating is wrong, and it's stealing. Absolutely. No argument.

The RIAA are thieves, too - legal thieves, as it happens, a front for organizations that have been systematically cheating musicians for decades:

In January, the week before Peggy Lee died, she finally won a class- action suit against her former label. Lee and several hundred other artists and their heirs were awarded $4.75 million in unpaid royalties, miscalculated royalties and unauthorized deductions from royalties. Current acts, including Courtney Love and the Dixie Chicks, have lawsuits pending over accounting practices.

"It's bizarre in this day and age when you audit a record label, in 99.99 percent of the audits, the labels are found to have underpaid the artist," said Simon Renshaw, who manages the Dixie Chicks. "I asked an auditor who's been involved in 9,000 cases how many revealed an overpayment by the labels to the artist: the answer was one. Take that to a statistician." (Spokesmen for the major labels said they did not comment on their financial or contractual relationships with artists.)

So yeah, piracy is illegal. And the kids in the ad had gotten theirs, and then some, for it; they'd been hauled into court. Accountable enough?

In the meantime, though:

• The Pepsi ad was advertising a legal service
• If that legal service hastens the demise of the RIAA, and the day when artists can control their own business online, it's good for everyone - especially people who like music of whatever type.

...so I'm a bit inclined toward forgiveness.

Posted by Mitch at February 9, 2004 05:00 AM