| Coincidence
or not, I don't know. But fact is, that I
have been confronted with several
independent issues of bootlegging, piracy
and opinions about the use P2P software in a
very short time.
There are several sides when it comes to
P2P.
Just recently, I heard on the radio how
figures show that the biggest downloaders
are also the biggest buyers of music. I
heard this from the mouth of a well known
saxophone player called Candy Dulfer, she
played with Prince and a whole heap of
artists and she's quite famous in the
country where I live.
I also know, that my music is shared over
these networks. Officially, this is just as
"illegal" as putting music of
let's say Madonna in your share map. I never
wrote anywhere that it's okay to do so, and
I have the copyright of my music.
But now, watch this: years ago I wrote to
the Dutch "copyright police
organization" and asked them if it was
beneficial to me to become a member of their
organization. For they claimed to cash
royalties for artists. They told me, no
don't join us, because we only cash and we
don't give that cash to the artists.
So, people who have my music on their P2P
share maps might find the copyright police
on their doorstep who will come with all
kinds of arguments about piracy and you will
have to pay them for sharing my music. But I
don't get the cash.
Now, apart from the fact that I would
never send the police and their brutality to
anyone who loves my music enough to want to
share it with others, even if I would it
wouldn't benefit me at all.
Let me share another thing which happened
to me. As anyone can read in articles like
"The
Ballad of MP3.com", I as
an online artist was getting to the position
where I could actually love completely of my
music by putting it on MP3.com, people
download it for free and I get royalties
still.
The best way to do music, I still think.
But it was the established music industry
in the form of VIVENDI UNIVERSAL, who looted
MP3.com empty and deprived me of 100% of my
income. Even more, because they subsequently
wanted me to pay them money for being on
MP3.com.
It was this very same music industry that
started to weep and wail back in the 1990's
about loss of income.
When I write this, I feel the anger
again. These hypocrites in their big villa's
scream blood and fire because they can't
sniff as much cokane as they used to do and
oh dear, they might even lose one of their
rolls Royce's...
And who has to pay?
I as an independent artist.
And you too.
I read stories about little girls who
share a Madonna MP3 and get a visit by ones
practicing police brutality to scare the
little girls. I would never want my music to
be "defended" like that. Fire burn
that. Everyone should stop buying these
artist's works and only play it when it is a
so-called illegal MP3.
That little girl I speak about, shared
that music because she loves that music. She
doesn't have the money to get all the CD's,
so if she did not have P2P she would simply
be deprived of music because she has no
money.
Now, forward this to Reggae Music. Should
it be so, that when people really do not
have money, that they should be deprived of
listening to Reggae Music which is -a lot of
times- about sufferation and so on?
So, that's one side. Clear enough, I
would say. But now, there is another side
too.
Because not having money is just one
reason why people use P2P. Not wanting to
spend it is another reason.
And this is where another experience
comes in.
Just recently, I published an article about
the well known UK DUB Duo Alpha and Omega
and how they were forced to place a donation
button on their website because of illegal
copying of their music.
Closer inquiry led me to establish, that
Alpha and Omega indeed suffer from the fact
that their music is all over the P2P
networks, too.
So I'm not talking about bootlegging or
other forms of piracy where money is made
without sharing this money with the artists.
I'm not talking about the Madonna's and
other superstars who don't even have the
copyright over their own music as they
signed it away.
I am talking about P2P and the sharing of
music by independent artists like Alpha and
Omega who deserve all the respect you and I
have in our guts.
How can it be, that they will actually
lose so much of their income that they now
depend on voluntary donations by people in
order to be able to put out releases?
I can come up with only one explanation.
And that explanation is, that people are
actually downloading their music where they
have the possibility to buy it as well. For
it is my conviction, that when people do not
have money, nobody loses money when these
people share over P2P. For they would never
have bought albums in the first place.
But it becomes a totally different story,
when people share music which they would
otherwise have bought.
And apparently, this is the issue in
Alpha and Omega's case.
For how can it be, that they used to be
able to put out releases and now not
anymore? It's not that they create crappy
music these days. In fact, their music
belongs to the top of the crème when it
comes to DUB music.
It can only be, that people stopped
buying their albums because they could now
download it through P2P. And that is the
kind of mentality which I would never expect
in circles of DUB Lovers.
I cannot look in anybody's heart or
purse, and neither do I want to do that. We
all have to pay responsibility for what we
do on that Bright Day, and it won't be me
sitting on the Judgment Seat.
But logic demands, that there's a large
group of people who actually use P2P where
they used to buy music. And it's not that
they do not have the money.
So I kind of have a double opinion on P2P
now. An opinion that focuses on one's
intentions and attitudes. We have thieves
and parasites on both sides of the spectrum.
It's the copyright police as well as the P2P
users who will have them in their ranks.
We, artists in the DUB community, don't
have to expect anything from the copyright
police. We work hard to make a special form
of music which also has a special kind of
people liking it.
Now is it the love for DUB music that
makes you enjoy this music as much as it is
this same love that makes artists make this
kind of music?
Why not express this love in your daily
life as well and actually pay what you can
so that DUB Music can go on? And mind you, I
am not speaking to or about those people who
cannot afford this. I am speaking to and
about these people who do have the money and
the love for DUB and still don't seem to
realize that for an artist to make DUB, this
artist makes him/herself depending on that
audience.
For, you know, I could start to make
commercial music and make a big hit. I
wouldn't love the music, but the music
industry would and they would sell it to
other people.
But that's not my choice. My choice is to
make that music which is the rhythm of my
heart and soul: (DUB) Reggae Music. And I
know that this is not smart if I wanted to
become rich. But in the same time, I know
that those who love (DUB) Reggae Music are
the ones who I do depend on in order to
continue.
As said, I would never expect people to
download music that they otherwise would
have bought. I cannot change anyone's
mentality, but I do want to strongly speak
out against it.
I can not understand or overstand how
anyone can sincerely love (DUB) Reggae Music
and is not willing to express this love.
It's not about making superstars Madonna
style.
We as artists know that our music is not
commercial. We love the music too, you know,
and make a lot of sacrifices to actually
produce it. And it's these kind of
sacrifices which enables the listener of the
music to actually be able to listen to the
music!
So it's up to everyone on an individual
level.
I am not the kind of guy to tell poor
people that their poverty is a sin or a
crime and the punishment is not having
music. And this goes for the artists, too.
But I am also not the kind of guy that
says go ahead and download music which you
otherwise would have bought.
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