File-swapping: so much fun, even the children of music moguls do it

Ars Technica ^ | 12/4/2006 | Nate Anderson

[antiRepublicrat]

Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman made a startling admission when he sat down for a Second Life interview with Reuters: his kids have pirated music. Well, they've probably pirated music—Bronfman doesn't sound too sure. "I'm fairly certain that they have, and I'm fairly certain that they've suffered the consequences," he said, though he later confirmed that he had caught at least one Bronfman child using P2P software. Naturally, his kids were forced to cough up thousands of dollars to the RIAA to keep from getting sued. Right?

Of course not; Bronfman told the reporter that he disciplined his child, but that he would prefer to keep the details of the punishment "within the family." He also gave his offending offspring a little talk about morality. "I explained to them what I believe is right, that the principle involved is that stealing music is stealing music. Frankly, right is right and wrong is wrong, particularly when a parent is talking to a child, a bright line around moral responsibility is very important. I can assure you they no longer do that."

It's tempting to label this hypocrisy, which it certainly is in one way (Bronfman is in no danger of getting sued, but he has no problem funding the RIAA's lawsuits of others), but Bronfman's response to his children's file-sharing shows that he lacks the true hypocrite's soul. File-swapping remains verboten in the Bronfman household.

Still, this shows just how normal young people consider file-swapping to be. When your dad runs one of the largest music labels on the planet and you still turn to P2P networks to discover new tunes, it's clear that the issue isn't just lack of access to music. Or money. This is now considered a "normal" way of checking out digital content.

The incident is reminiscent of the MPAA's own decision to copy a movie without permission earlier this year. In both cases, the industry insiders—so concerned with stomping out the piracy of others—suffered no legal consequences for their own dodgy behavior.

[antiRepublicrat]

Of course we notice he did not turn over his kid to the RIAA's extortion arm for collection. OTOH, this says he just caught his kids with P2P software, which doesn't automatically mean they were infringing on anyone's copyright.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I'd say possession of Limewire or Kazaa are de facto evidence of its use.

Or rather, the RIAA would say that. I couldn't care any less.

[antiRepublicrat]

I'd say possession of Limewire or Kazaa are de facto evidence of its use.

True. Now the question is whether they were used to infringe on anyone's copyright. It's likely, but not definite. I've downloaded and uploaded gigabytes of data representing copyrighted works using BitTorrent, but I don't trade in movies, music or software without permission or pretty clear (IMHO) fair use. There's a lot of free stuff out there, like the Knoppix DVD image (4 GB).

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

It's becoming more difficult to do the good thing (in this respect) in this age of waning mores and increasingly easy ability to steal songs, videos, etc. And then add onto that that actors are unfairly paid waaaaay too much.

[zeugma]

Yup. The open source community uses these P2P clients a lot to distribute the load. Thats how I got my latest copy of FC6 a couple of weeks ago.

[RobRoy]

I never felt guilty when I recorded FM radio onto cassette in the early 1970's.

I feel the same when I use limewire. I'm a musician and play a lot of covers. It is amazingly effective for getting the songs I need to learn.

'Course, I don't break the law by uploading.

[RobRoy]

I am always amazed when I go into Costco and see CD's for $12 and many movies for $9. I am quite aware of which cost the most to produce.

I honestly can no longer imagine actually paying for pre-recorded music. But I must admit that at 52, prerecorded music, especially new releases, is not a major part of my life.

I am a bass player in a country band and have had to download all the songs from Limewire because I didn't used to be a country fan, I never listened to the radio and I don't have TV. But if I didn't have limewire I would just record off the radio onto cassette as I did in the 1970's.

It's just a tool. And recorded music is just a comodity. It had it's heyday in the last half of the 20th century, pretty much reaching it's zenith just before Christopher Cross' "Sailing" won best song of the year, marking the end of a fairly long run.

Michael Jackson gave it another temporary kickstart but it was ultimately doomed. Technology has been the wooden stake/silver bullet.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

My guess is that Bronfman doesn't have a clue as to what his kids are doing much of the time. I would bet $ that nannies are watching the kids in that household.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Ever heard of "fake books"?

[RobRoy]

Yeah. The guitar player in my old band had a couple. I have always assumed those were for guitar players. I never really looked into it, nor do I understand what function they serve.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Melody line and lyrics for starters, if you're singing ;-). And yes, they have the chord changes for the guitar, bass and keyboard players to follow.

My dad (keyboards, jazz accordian) has used them for DECADES going back to the 40's.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

The Ultimate Fake Book: C Edition (Fake Book Series)

[RobRoy]

I'm gonna need to look into that. Frankly, I am tired of creating my own chord sheets for each song.

Thanks for opening my eyes.

[RobRoy]

Yeah, I'm singing. It has probably been the biggest challenge of "bass playing". One guy said the reason it is so hard for bass players to sing is that it is the equivalent of a guitar player singing while doing a lead guitar solo.

But ultimately, the secret is that it just takes a lot of practice.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Just do a search using "fake book" in google.com. You'll turn up lots of sources and LOTS of book choices. Make sure to get one that has most of what you're playing.

PS I'm a choral music publisher (think 4+ parts a cappella) ... in my spare time, and the daughter of weekend band gig musician. I just did a couple of Christmas music gigs with my own 4-part a cappella group over the weekend. We memorize mostly everything we sing in public in advance, but occasionally hold folders "with the spots".

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I often play piano and sing the melody line, but I don't think I could play solely bass and sing any other melody or harmony part at the same time. THAT is like the patting head/rubbing tummy thing ;-).

[RobRoy]

>>THAT is like the patting head/rubbing tummy thing ;-).<<

That is exactly how I see it. But, I CAN pat/rub at the same time once!

I googled and found the 700 song 4th edition country fake book. I looked up ten songs we do. Only two of them were there. :(

Problem is, we do "new country". A lot of the stuff we do is still on the radio. The books just can't keep up.

This would have been great for my classic rock band though.

It would be cool to be able to get a fake book that included free online updates. Frankly, maybe there needs to be an online equivalent of the fake book concept.

Or is there already?

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Hmmmmm.... NOW you've got my music publisher mind working in an entrepreneurial fashion. I have to ponder that one a bit. There is a great SheetMusicPlus.com site that has a lot of stuff where you can pay for and then download one song at a time. Don't know how much "new country" they would have but it's worth a search!