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

[Plasma Studii <office@plasmastudii.org>]

>Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 18:29:30 -0400
>To: "John von Seggern" <johnvon@digitalcutuplounge.com>
>From: Plasma Studii <office@plasmastudii.org>
>Subject: Re: <nettime> "China:Imitation Nation"-Salon
>Cc:
>Bcc:
>X-Attachments:
>
>(if anybody didn't catch the note below, read it.  it's really cool)
>
>but then this seems like the big paradigm shift.
>
>eventually, no one can expect to make money from copywriting!  One 
>result will be that the most creative industries (record labels, 
>etc) will suffer (and surely are suffering) incredibly.  may wipe 
>them out (like the radioactive meteor that took out the dinosaurs). 
>ok.  well, then what would happen if there was no commercial music? 
>what if it really became so unprofitable everywhere, everyone just 
>quit.
>
>one result, would be, there would be nothing to pirate, the 
>software/hardware would fade away from disuse eventually and then 
>the commercialization would return.
>
>The interim will most likely consist of abysmal work.  Culture will 
>be devoid of inspiration.  Movements replaced by band-wagon trends. 
>(oh wait, that's already well under way)  We are prolonging the 
>interim period by resisting this change.  If we want it to pass in 
>our lifetime, we'll have to wade through this now.
>
>In the interim, music may be just awful.  DIY basement garage bands 
>are a fun novelty, but only as a contrast to goofy madonna-esque 
>sheen.  likewise, DIY art is everywhere.  the "my 6 year-old could 
>have made that" stuff is worthless without a backdrop of 
>"masterpieces".  Look to the past because there will be nothing to 
>look at for a while.
>
>audiences now don't nearly pay the cost for theater productions. 
>Most big shows are funded by the government or foundations (that are 
>indirectly supported by the government).  Most actors, musicians, 
>artists work for free or ridiculously low pay.  Yet audiences will 
>not pay for the madonna-esque sheen they expect to be provided.
>
>So where are the public's priorities?  Hopefully, this radical 
>decimation of all kinds of arty/show biz will result in changing 
>that.  But that's where industries pick up the slack.  They make it 
>more economically feasible by doling out resources to a cluster of 
>artists.
>
>what you are discribing (musicians who can't afford to keep at it 
>for so little money) is basically what we have now in all the arts. 
>just as forest fires are actually part of a trees reproductive 
>strategy, we need to wipe out the old system completely for it to 
>repair itself.  Sad for most of us but too bad.
>
>judson
>
>
>ps. the 'information wants to be free' idea is one of the stupider 
>concepts of the last 20 years.  information doesn't just sit there 
>(content or not), it is like the beam from a spot light.  many folks 
>try to pick at it and put it in their pocket.  But we are swimming 
>in information, billions of beams from every angle and most of it we 
>will never recognize.  Info is already as free as it wants to be.
>
>
>
>
>>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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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