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Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009
In which a British artiste of minor repute salutes his very heavy colleagues for their intrepid bravery in suing Napster.
Apr 24, 2000 | The queue of major Recording Artistes lining up to lodge complaints about that barbaric device Napster now appears to stretch several times round the block.
At the core of the Artistes' complaint lies a fearful injustice, one that's being perpetrated at their expense -- quite literally at their expense. Money is involved. Their money. And they are losing it. Robbed! Stolen From. Ripped off.
This is terrible.
It's not as though we were just talking about Music -- or "Our Art," as many of the foremost Artistes refer to it. Any fool can rob a few parking meters, get a guitar and play "music." Let's say 10 minutes to raise the cash, a couple of hours to buy equipment; three minutes to record a single ... that's ummm -- well, call it four hours to be on the safe side.
But the Napster scandal is not about music. It concerns the real heart, the very lifeblood of the industry: Money.
Fortunately, many of the Artistes who have been assaulted in this cowardly and underhanded fashion are already comfortably off and will not suffer undue hardship -- but that is not the point. The mental distress to which these sensitive, creative individuals have been subjected is almost too painful to contemplate.
Now that the situation has been clarified for us by the resolute action of a few brave individuals, the true horror of the Napster outrage is revealed for all to see.
A program of great simplicity, Napster allows individuals to exchange music with one another in the form of MP3 files. A simple search by artist, or song title, will produce a list of users who have the song in question and allow one to download it. While one is downloading, other users may upload songs from one's own "library."
Clearly this has to be stamped out.
The situation, then, if I understand it correctly, is that a small number of rock 'n' roll fans are involved in an activity that could possibly be considered morally questionable, and which may even be illegal!
It is scarcely credible.
I am only glad that my dear friend the late Johnny Thunders was spared the sickening spectacle.
For over half a century rock 'n' roll music has acted as a kind of umbrella under which the noblest elements of society have gathered. Today, the very word "rock" is a synonym for everything that's most decent, honorable and moderate in Western society. The model behavior of both its stars and fans is eclipsed only by the probity and rectitude of the men and women at the business end -- that corps of managers, accountants and recording companies whose transparent honesty and compassion have made the industry such a pleasant environment for musicians to work in.
And now a tiny group of malcontents, led by those traditional troublemaking elements -- teenagers and students -- are creating a hideous blot on the face of this fine industry. In an unequivocal demonstration of their intrinsic Wickedness, the unrepentant, hardcore ingrates have organized themselves a site, at savenapster.com.
If the fool would only persist in his folly ...
Such beastliness might continue indefinitely were it not for the prompt and robust action of strong-minded individuals like the members of that highly respected band, Metallica.
I have long been aware of their "heavy" beat and exciting leather jackets, but I had no idea that they were also moral philosophers. Through a firm of dignified and reputable lawyers they have issued a statement that is as incisive as it is beautifully written.
This attractive document likens the behavior of Napster-using recidivists to "common looters loading up shopping carts because 'everybody else is doing it.'"
How right they are to point out the sheep-like depravity of the average Napsterhead. And "common" is precisely the word.
Some years ago I happened to get caught up in a large group of people who were having fun running amok in the Brixton area of London -- an event which later became known as the "Brixton Riots" and which caused considerable distress to the much-loved prime minister of the day, Margaret Thatcher.
