The RIAA is stirring up the MP3 issue, with editorials in the Times and mad coverage in Salon. ThaTha (my dad) was in Atlanta and he gave me a call, and told me to watch my back on the whole Music Piracy thing. Basically, he asked me if I was willing to go to the wall for this, ie get sued for this. I don’t think it’s likely, especially since I’m in Canada and we do pay a tax on recordable media and burners which goes to copyright holders. But anyways, I was thinking, if I ever did get sued I might need a better argument than “Fuck the RIAA.”

So, I’ll say the RIAA is right on one point. Artists need to get paid. And I reiterate, Artists, not the (law) suits that pimp them. I agree with Courtney Love that Artists should be tipped. Music should be free and tipping should be a custom. I have enough faith in people to think that they will support Art.

So, I’m still going to share music off this site, but I added a feature wherein I and anybody can tip any Artists they want. This service musiclink.com is a non-profit that tracks down Artists and mails checks direct to them. They have most Artists I like in their database, and I heard bout them from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, so I trust them. They are small and most Artists don’t have a lot of donations yet, but the system works and I think it is a good business model for the future.

Artists can just start a website and put a button from musiclink, or just set up their own PO Box or PayPal account (to process credit cards). The future is going to be great for music, and for Artists. Free music means free artists. I think people are responsible enough to handle freedom.

Posted on Friday, September 12th, 2003 in Internet Law, Music, Tech.