Alan’s Blog of Monkey Bloginess

If you’ve been paying attention to the claims of the various media lobbying groups, you eventually come to realize that they are liars, have politicians in their back pockets, and are pretty much suing and greasing legislation that is trying to grab money from everybody from soccer moms to cell phone ringtone users. They’ve been twisting and warping interpretations of copyright laws to the point where copyright no longer serves the function for which is was created.

In this process, I’ve come to realize: I’ve never paid for music. I used to have an impressive CD & cassette tape collection thanks to memberships in BMG and Columbia House (10 CDs for a penny!). For all my life, when I’ve given money to music companies, I’ve been buying CDs and tapes, not the music on them. To prove the point, if I were to damage my CD, if I had bought the music then I should get a new CD; but I bought the physical CD, not the music on it, so damaged CD means I lose access to the music on it. Music has been free for consumers, we’ve only ever been purchasing the physical delivery mechanism. And music should be free for consumers.

In a digital world with infinite copying and marginal cost delivery methods, why should the dynamics of paying for music change? If I didn’t pay for music before the Internet, why should I start paying now? Music belongs to The People, and copyright is only supposed to grant a temporary monopoly while the artist creates their next artwork; copyright is not intended to construct concepts of ownership around the non-physical aspects of artwork.

This is just about one of the most moving songs I’ve ever heard. It takes speeches given by Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Barry Goldwater and puts them to a techno beat to create one of the best liberty-minded songs ever created. Please check out the video and really listen to the chosen words.