[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> "China:Imitation Nation"-Salon

["John von Seggern" <johnvon@digitalcutuplounge.com>]

As a DJ/musician who has lived in Hong Kong for most of the past seven years
and worked frequently in China, in my experience it is also fair to say that
the weakness of Chinese IP law has led to a situation in which it is
virtually impossible for Chinese musicians/artists/writers to make a living
from their work. Some musicians whose CDs are believed to sell in the
millions of copies nationwide are still living penniless in Beijing because
95% of their sales are from pirate copies. Many bands in China break up
after making one CD because it is economically impossible for them to
continue making records. Some groups on the nascent Chinese dance music
scene (such as the recently popular MP4) have used their popularity gained
from pirate CD sales and downloads to increase the price they ask for live
gigs, although I believe this has been difficult for many of the rock groups
because of gov't restrictions on live performances.

Although I generally support a less restrictive approach to IP, nonetheless
the situation of artists in China should be a cautionary tale for those who
think 'information wants to be free' means that we should forego any kind of
copyright protection whatsoever.

Also -- Confucian values aside, I have noticed that Westerners resident in
HK/China inevitably begin buying and using pirated products themselves, even
while 'knowing it is wrong' as suggested below. After all, everybody's doing
it...

John

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael H Goldhaber" <mgoldh@well.com>
To: <nettime-l@bbs.thing.net>
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 7:58 PM
Subject: <nettime> "China:Imitation Nation"-Salon


> The Salon article "China:Imitation Nation" by Lisa Movius,
>
> http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/07/08/imitation_nation/
>
> is interesting both in providing current details about Chinese IP "piracy"
> and in its attitudes. while Movius emphasizes that piracy imprves the lot
> of the average Chinese, she insists without explanation that pricay is bad
> for the Chinese economy, and that most Vhinese know it is wrong. She then
> explains why they indulge in this a[parently harmful and morally wrong
> action by reference to the peculiarities of the Confucian moral code. She
> does not explain why this code, which gives such power to leaders fails to
> prevent priacy, just as she takes it for granted that IP piracy is indeed
> morally wrong. (Morality as defined by Western publishers is apparently
> not relaitve but absolute.)
>
> Surely for many of the Western artists and musicians whose CD's or books
> are pirated, the net effect is that they are reaching a much wider
> audience than they would otherwise have. If Western publishers were
> willing to accept more reasonable levels of profit, they could achieve the
> same results and also eliminate this sort of piracy, though, horror of
> horrors fake Hugo Boss suits would still be sold. Perhaps the unthinking
> cupididty of western publishers does achieve one good thing: it allows
> numerous Chinese to make a living selling priated CDs and the like. --
>
> Michael H. Goldhaber
>
> mgoldh@well.com
> http://www.well.com/user/mgoldh/
>
>
>
>
>
>
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