Re: Net publication of Jewish Music Conference papers, London 2000

[Joel Bresler <jbresler...>]

Hi, Brian. We're straying a bit from Jewish music, but I'm happy to keep 
going as long as there's interest.

At 05:11 PM 8/3/00 -0500, you wrote:
>on 8/2/2000 3:25 PM, Joel Bresler at jbresler (at) ma(dot)ultranet(dot)com 
>wrote:
>
> > Hi, Elliott. There is little doubt in my mind that Napster, Scour.com, etc.
> > as companies and their user communities are breaking the law. But I have to
> > respectfully suggest we may be mixing and matching issues here. Whether
> > internet users don't understand the idea of intellectual property or not
> > does not bear directly on the issue of publishing scholarly papers on the
> > internet. The issue of payment is also not at the forefront in this case,
> > because I don't think any of the conference participants expect to be
> > compensated for their work (at least, I don't) and I don't expect the LICJM
> > to ever do much more than cover their costs on any print versions.



>"Little doubt" in YOUR mind...

Sorry, Brian, this is empirically verifiable, not just my opinion. 90%+ of 
the material on Napster is copywritten and being shared without the 
permission of the creators.

>Napster, etc. is merely a tool for accessing
>electronic files. True, many people are, probably, abusing this tool by
>illegally reproducing and distributing copies of files. However, there are
>certainly a number of individuals who are trading files legally. Is it
>accurate to make such an overgeneralization about the action of all the
>"companies and their user communities"?

OK, how about "Napster is aiding and abetting music copyright violations on 
the largest scale in history, but in something less than 10% of all cases, 
the downloaded material is being shared legally. Not all Napster users are 
breaking copyright law."

>Methods for distributing media today
>are changing rapidly--it's very easy to provide digital versions of
>practically anything and distribute them over networks instantly. Perhaps
>there needs to be a change in the way creators are compensated to account
>for this. It's now possible to revolutionize the distribution process in
>such a way that artists, authors and other creative individuals will
>ultimately benefit more than the Publishers and Recording companies, for
>example, have benefited in the past. In other words, with these new
>electronic processes, individuals are free to distribute their works
>themselves earning more for their work.

Well, good luck to creators getting paid if your name isn't Stephen King. 
I'm REALLY enthused at the prospects for distributing niche musics on the 
web, I just hope (as you do) that the creators get paid something for it!!! 
Y'know, major record labels may suck big time, but they DO pay royalties. 
Total amount Napster has paid to date to artists, songwriters, publishers 
and record companies: $0.

>technologically-optimistic,
>brian

Moi aussi,

Joel


Joel Bresler
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