DOWNLOADING CDS (19 december 2003)
Today the Hoge Raad (the highest Dutch court of justice) decided that Kazaa is not involved in any illegal activity distributing its peer-to-peer communication software. Of course, the recording industry is shouting about being robbed of millions of euros in this way.
Needless to say we're crying buckets full of tears for the recording artists, especially seeing them suffering from poverty in their ultra-luxurious homes as seen on tv. Before the advent of recording, artists had to work, just like everybody else, performing in theatres to get their wages. With the invention of recording came the possibility to make millions of dollars with just one recording. Of course, the industry invested heavily in this ploy: after all, isn't it great to receive so much money for so little work?
I don't download music from Kazaa, but from time to time I buy CDs with jazz and classical music. The average price of these CDs is less than half of what my daughters have to pay if they want to buy CDs with pop music. I wonder: would there be any connection to the fact that many more of these expensive CDs are downloaded via Kazaa than of the rather cheap CDs that I am used to buying?
