good copy bad copy

there's a lot of downloading that goes on over the intertubes. some of it's legal; most of it isn't.

downloading for some is a gray area, and for others it's completely black and white. i would like to say that i have a definitive position on the subject, but i can't. i understand that i am liable to the laws of my country, and therefore i strive to obey those laws. but when the internet becomes a factor, everything becomes much harder to pin down. the reason being: not every country has the same laws and attitudes about intellectual property and copyright.

case in point: russia and china.

there is/was a music site based in russia called allofmp3.com. they sold all sorts of music at a ridiculously cheap price: .02 cents per megabyte. this meant you could potentially get a whole album for less than a dollar. it was amazing. and it got a lot of business. that is, until several record companies (and the US gov't) started to allege that they were violating copyright laws and artists' royalties. they became unpopular. visa pulled their support of the website. the site became a negotiating point for russia's consideration of acceptance in the WTO. eventually, the site was shut down. the person who ran it was even taken to court in russia. but to no avail. the guy was acquitted.

in china, piracy is so rampant that it's been accounted for in microsoft's business model. that's why they're selling vista for next-to-nothing in china compared to what they sell it to us for here. it's more profitable.

so the subject is a little hazy, as you can tell. different individuals, companies, and governments have different ethics, convictions, policies and legislations. the question isn't whether it should be happening or not, really. not anymore. it's a given fact that uploading and downloading of copyrighted and un-copyrighted material will continue ad nauseum/infinitum. what we can't all agree on is exactly how it should happen.

and that's where good copy bad copy enters the picture. it is a very well-done documentary that takes this topic into consideration from several perspectives. it features several artists who have sampled music from other artists, mixed it, and created an altogether new type of music. they also interview several people in the music and movie industry as well.

i've included a clip of the documentary below that i found on youtube. this portion of the film focuses on a type of brazilian music called 'tecno brega.' the clip is fairly innocuous, though there are a couple seconds of party scenes that some may object to. (it's brazil. they like to party.) the makers of this documentary have released it for free. the film is available for download here.



when it comes to digital media, every entity--whether it is some kid in jersey or a multinational corporation--assumes the risk of piracy and theft and violation of intellectual property. they can also assume that their work will receive a much larger audience by doing so. eventually, a balance will be struck. our society is still adjusting to the new reality wrought by the digital revolution.

where do you stand?

UPDATE: allofmp3.com is going to re-open. how 'bout that.