
Why Taylor Swift Is Asking Congress to Update Copyright Laws - evo_9
http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/08/08/487291905/why-taylor-swift-is-asking-congress-to-update-copyright-laws
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6stringmerc
Quite a flattering lead-in for the subject. I can sense the slant right out,
but I stuck with the article for content. I follow the Safe Harbors argument
closely and have several opinions on the matter, but I'll just point out
something to keep in mind:

> _" It involves continuously finding more ways to save and downsizing. And
> trying to keep ahead of the decline basically," Rosenthal says. "I had 11
> people working for me in the '90s and now I have two part-time people
> working for me."_

Rosenthal is describing the absolute zenith of the profit making in recorded
music that coincided with the CD becoming the dominant - and EXTREMELY
PROFITABLE - format. Pining for that is like saying it's hard to make a decent
living in the horse-carriage and buggy whip business. Time moves on, being
disingenuous doesn't make me feel sympathetic to him. Rather, it sounds like
the same old same old "We're getting ripped off, rather than doing the ripping
off!" which is the earned reputation of "music business" in the grand scheme
of things.

Granted, I think YouTube is garbage for having a 3rd party that - apparently -
I have to pay $14.99 per release to have the Content ID system work for me.
I'm still looking around and knocking on doors, but it makes me mad outright
just thinking about such a strong-arming of "Pay us a larger sum than you
could possibly hope to recoup from our system, which is, you know, able to
identify your stuff but we won't until you pay us."

That's a different issue than Safe Harbor. I like Safe Harbor. I think,
practically speaking, both sides are simply arguing the most extreme
perspectives, which leaves a lot of middle ground. I prefer a reasonable
middle-ground with the DMCA et al, and with DRM over regarding the
bunniestudios case.

I know I'm in the minority, because I seem to dislike both parties' tactics
and rhetoric equally.

