Thoughts on Who Knows What

This is probably going to be a shorter post, this class was another all about copyright. It was also the one that really lead me to being over the “everyone deserves to be paid” argument. In terms of copyright, it’s the only real solid argument for why we need it. Yes people deserve to be paid for their work but there’s so many arguments for the other side that I’ll get to in a bit. The only other thing that copyright does is give money to people who are already rich. Think back a couple posts I made when I ranted about why I hated Disney™ as a company. Paying for copyright just gives more money to the already rich corporations, it also makes it unaffordable for those with less money. Those with less money can’t afford to pay and restricted in what they can actually do. Therefore, it already restricts creativity and makes it a money game. There’s also a point where we will actually run out of creative things . There’s only so many notes and so many instruments and so many effects. You can only sing about so many topics and the combinations are a limited resource too. Now it may take a long time for those reservoirs to run dry.

That’s why I’m so done with copyright, it’s the reason people can’t climb the ladder. Those who have time and are willing to commit to creative endeavors are also the poorest people. Piracy makes things happen, it makes things accessible to an otherwise small number of people. In terms of music, while someone may steal a single song, it is the door through which they can learn to appreciate new bands. Once a fan has decided they are in fact a fan, they’re going to be willing to pay for merchandise. Think about stores like Hot Topic and Spencer’s that exist just to sell pop culture merchandise. Fans will also buy albums they really like, concert tickets to see favorite bands or artists preform live, even merchandise directly from the artist’s websites (something most bands have now). That’s one dedicated fan that would never have been so if they hadn’t downloaded that one song to begin with. The only real counter is that people with apps like Spotify (the best), Pandora or Apple Music can find bands that way. Then they get paid a tiny amount from each listen and more for merchandise there. Anyways, copyright is stupid, that’s my conclusion.