well, while Vijay Siva is one of my favourite artists, my interest in TMK was decimated by his actions on this front a few months ago.
My mind is not at all set on these issues. I am not entirely comfortable with recording in a concert, although there are snippets on my cell phone, so I can't claim to
never do it. One, simply selfish, reason for my abstention, is that I cannot stand
bad recordings and any equipment that would satisfy me would be very visible, very expensive, or both!
The world's media industry presses for ever more restrictive copyright laws, to be imposed in ever more vindictive ways, and we read of single mothers being sued for tens of thousands of dollars. Whilst some of the performers support this, others do not. A notable example from the world of rock music is an American band called
The Grateful Dead. Right from the start they permitted and encouraged "bootlegging" (in this context, the personal recording and sharing of live music). They even permitted high quality recordings from the mixing desk to be made available. They maintained copyright control over
commercially issued recordings but encouraged the rest of their music to be shared for free. There is an internet archive containing hundreds of their live concerts, all available for free, and all condoned by them, the owners of the copyright in that music. Their following, internationally, over decades of their career has been huge, and they have certainly not lost by their policy. Any carnatic music who becomes 1/10 (even with an adjustment for the difference between Western-rock-star and Indian-classical-musician economy!) as rich from their music would be well satisfied.
I think we can, and will, debate the rights and wrongs of this for a long time. As I say, my mind is far from made up --- but I do feel that the musicians should have some sensitivity towards
their customers, without whom their creativity would have to be performed to their furniture at home.
The artists who say the concert recording habit damages them financially seem to be completely off the point.
Absolutely. A concert recording just cannot be equated to a lost CD sale, and it most certainly cannot be equated to a lost future ticket sale. There are artists who maintain that making their music available on the internet, for instance, leads to enhanced record sales. There are even authors who say that even making complete books available, for free, online,
enhances their bookshop sales.
I wonder if these guys have really thought this through? I think they may have jumped on a bandwagon of the Western music industry giants without having seen the real picture. As Sathej says, the article is hardly an example of clear thinking and reasoning. Maybe they think they have jumped on a bandwagon, but have really put themselves on a lumbering bullock cart!
