note: this post is theoretically crossposted on the Columbia Spectator's Steps Blog, but since that site is down and the post probably won't go up for a month anyway, I've decided to put it here as well. Enjoy.Ever since I saw Grindhouse on Friday, I’ve had an unhealthy obsession with the soundtrack, and specifically a song called “Chick Habit” by April March. It’s the sort of song that makes you want to run out and play it for everyone you know, or, in this day and age, the sort of song that makes you want to sign on to AIM and send it every single person on your buddy list. Sadly, I can’t. A combination of desperation, laziness, and an iTunes gift certificate has left my album with a veritable mark of Cain, also known as copy protection.
We all know the two main sides in the music piracy fight: those who argue, validly, that downloading music is stealing and those who argue, with less legal validity but roughly equivalent philosophical validity, that they should be able to get music for free. The sides make the issue into a cops and robbers battle. But in setting up the debate in this way, I think an important aspect of filesharing has been lost in the shuffle; I’m referring to the sharing part.
It seems to me that sharing is a good thing. When people make the argument that stealing music exposes them to new artists whose albums they will then go out and purchase, it seems pretty flimsy, but who can deny the power of sharing in its ability to expose people to new things? I don’t know how many albums I’ve bought based on a song I’ve stolen, but I know I’ve been introduced to many of my favorite bands by friends who gave me their music. Sometimes, the music came in the form of a mix CD. More recently, we’ve taken to using AIM. It’s sharing in a very pure sense. I hear something awesome and I just need to have my friends hear it.
Since the radio taping scare back in the day, nobody’s really been too concerned about mix tapes and CDs, and I wonder if, when everything’s said and done, filesharing is really all that different a phenomenon. Is it really that different than, say, me lending my friend a book that I really enjoyed. Sure, we can’t both have the same book at the same time, but is my friend going to buy that book? Unlikely. If I open his eyes to an author he really likes, though, he’s pretty likely to buy the author’s next book. Perhaps the key to winning the music copyright war is just reframing the debate. Maybe all we need is to remind everyone that filesharing is not just using some program to find some anonymous dude in Seoul who has the newest Kelly Clarkson single. Perhaps that’s filesharing at its worst, but at its best, filesharing is about sharing, sharing the things you like with people you care about. Call me immoral, but I can’t see the crime in that.
(I’m actually sort of lucky, in that April March is one artist who is considerate enough to share her music with the public. You can hear the song on her
myspace page.)
