Sample Piracy Pt.II

The enormous social impact of the internet has enabled the globe to share information in an unprecedented manner. Access to news, history and culture is now but a click away for the billions of internet users who stay interconnected throughout the vast networks of the internet. The almost infinite ability of the internet to share information has caused a number of problems. With seemingly no boundaries music, movies, books, pictures, programs and all manner of digitally stored information can be downloaded by any internet user. Illegal file-sharing has been the subject of an intensive campaign in the last decade, with organizations such as the RIAA bringing lawsuits against thousands of individuals and organizations alike. The RIAA states that music piracy around the world accounts for $12.5 billion in economic losses every year (RIAA Piracy: Online and on the street) and is working aggressively to combat this for the benefit of the recording industry.

This past decade has seen the rise of the internet this millennium and with it coincided the growth of EDM. Websites such as MySpace and YouTube have helped spread music and popularise artists, helping them get publicity where in previous decades they would never have reached the global audience that the internet has enabled them to do. The internet has let many artists get a hold of recorded music that otherwise they would never have heard let alone be able to use. And with a history steeped in borrowing music from other sources, legitimately or otherwise, it would seem almost hypocritical for EDM artists to be against the file-sharing networks that have helped spread music throughout the interconnected globe. I have no doubt that the internet has made a large impact on the recording industry, but if you take music to be an art form, then freedom of expression and the desire to be heard should take precedence over commercial fulfillment.

I, myself, would like to take the RZA's philosophy: 

"Naw. When I make music, I make it to be heard, personally. And, if somebody download it, if they heard it, then my job was delivered. Of course I love to make the money. I get million dollar album budgets, so of course there's money involved with it. But, personally, as a musician, as an artist, the first thing is to be seen and heard. If you're not seen and heard, who cares? I was talking to Jim Jarmusch and he was like, somebody see his film, the guy's happy. He don't care. He wants somebody to see his art and appreciate it and that's how I feel about my music also. I never got pissed off at the Internet kids with the downloading. In fact, I told them, 'Help yourself. Have a good time'." (An interview with the RZA)

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