RIAA is still sueing it’s customers according to this article in the U of M Michigan Daily. The idea that sellers should control our society is one of the more beserk notions I observe on a daily basis. Whew. (Rev Jim sigh)

Sueing the people who want your product is ridiculous. When this product is something like music, it’s really unethical. It also (I hope) is shooting yourself in the foot.

What is music for? I think it’s part of the whole human dance of what makes us human. One thing that I think makes us human is that we are “meaning-makers.” We make sense of our environment, our lives, our feelings, our bodies. Music can help. Indeed, I think music, art, poetry and literature are basic to this aspect of being human.

To exploit this for a profit is akin to charging for air (or water or medical care…. get it? …. just my opinion, of course)

Yesterday I heard a radio report about patents for certain Tax shelter procedures. There was a clear defense of this idea. (pretty dumb, but clear: wouldn’t you want to be able to protect a bunch of work and research you did so that you could charge for it and no one else). But wait a minute. Taxes are part of the social contract. You know. We tax ourselves in order to provide ourselves with services and safeguards. Why should we pay a third party because it can figure out our admittedly arcane rules better than we can? Why not just change the rules and make them clearer? silly fucking me

RIAA is an example of a seller that is not thinking clearly. For the longest time, they were able to sell music over and over to the golden goose consumer. Now that the consumer is consuming in new ways, they want to kill the goose to keep the egg. Good grief.

And at the same time it becomes clearer and clearer to me that populist music (i.e. music that is selling bigtime) along with populist everything is turning into dross.

Mediocrity sells. Imus sells. Misogyny sells. Fair enough but whatever happened to integrity of the product.

I don’t want to stifle Don Imus’s free speech, I just don’t want him to be in the million-zillion dollar club because of his racial pandering. Let him say whatever he wants, but please media people remember you are a kind of public trust.  Try not to sponsor out-and-out hate.  If people want to buy it, fine.  That is their choice. Their consumer choice. Their vote, if you will.

As for me, it’s in the same boat as Haliburton profitting from the war and people who watch a calamity (like 9/11 or Katrina) and are already on the phone trying to scam (skim) some of the money they know will follow the disaster.