I <3 Joss Stone
While I will readily admit to having a crush on Joss Stone sine I first seen her, I also applaud her stance on piracy. I don't condone piracy-honest. In fact, I hate music pirates, and I have gone so far as to block my asshat roommates from using Limewire. For years, I have subscribed to music services, first Naptster, and now the Zune Marketplace. I can't understand why anyone would get music any other way.
Anyways, not the point. This is what Joss Stone had to say:
"Yeah, I love it. I think it's brilliant and I'll tell you why. Music should be shared. It's ok, if one person buys it, it's totally cool, burn it up, share it with your friends, I don't care. I don't care how you hear it as long as you hear it. As long as you come to my show, and have a great time listening to the live show it's totally cool. I don't mind. I’m happy that they hear it."
I think that alot of musicians should reconsider this approach. The people who get most upset about piracy usually aren't the artists, it is usually the record labels.
Why?
The record labels (notorious for having screwed artists for years) are losing alot of thier money from piracy. While I hate them, they are entitled to the money that is owed to them. The record companies are losing thier iron grip on the industry, and they are lashing out at the same people that support them.
What can they do?
The first step for them is to recognize that the business model that they utilize is long-since dead. Selling physical copies of media is a dinosaur. People want unencumbered media that they can enjoy on the platforms that they use. We want a copy that we can listen to on our computer, MP3 player, and car without any copy protection. If you look at iTunes (I fucking hate iTunes for the record...) as an example of the first step into the digital world, you can see where they have went right and where they have went wrong.
What do they do right?
- Music is often released on iTunes early or with special features that entices the user to purchase music. The sorting of music is done well, and the store features a wide variety of music as well. Thats about it.
What do they do wrong?
- Music is stuck with DRM. This limits you to keeping the file on your pc and your ipod. While there are ways (easy to find ways...) to get around this copy protection, it is annoying to the user. If you buy a cd, does it limit you to how you use it?
- Music is expensive on iTunes. Why do the idiotic sheep buy music from iTunes? Complacency, I believe. Any sane person realizes that buying music from Amazon is the way to go-it is cheaper, and it doesn't have copy protection, thus allowing you to use it as you wish-but the integration with the devices, and the social perception (however misguided) about Apple and the ipod steer people to the store.
/stop. I have to go, but I will continue this. The bottom line is that Joss Stone is hot.
