Surprise: European Artists Defend Free Money From Blank Media Tax

from the gee,-who-would-have-guessed? dept

Imagine, for a moment, that every week the government sent you a check for a $100, just as payment for the fact that someone, somewhere might have done you wrong. If that program came up for discussion among politicians, you'd have to imagine that an awful lot of people who received those checks would stand up and defend the importance of such payments, while complaining about the supposed (if unproven) wrongs against them. That's why it's hard to put much weight in this article that Ben submitted about a bunch of European artists talking up the importance of the blank media levy that many European countries tack on to things like blank CDs or iPods. Of course artists are going to defend those fees. After all, they get a bunch of money for not doing anything, on the off chance that maybe, just maybe, someone somewhere is using the blank media for copyright infringement. So, it's hard to take claims that "it's disgusting" that the levy might go away, as anything other than pure greed from someone who doesn't want to see a free lunch taken away. As for the claim that struggling artists need this money, another take might be that more people would be able to pay the artist directly for their works (or some related performance of their works) if they didn't have to spend all this extra money on their blank CDs and iPods.

15 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

Anonymous of Course, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 9:57am

Paying as you go
The only thing Disgusting here is their
greed.

I guess it's OK to copy their music then,
since payment has already been made.

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
eric, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 10:13am

so how do I become an artist?
seems like a few hours with gar(b)ageband and I could be getting checks too?

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Starky, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 10:21am

Who actually gets it?
I'm curious as to who actually gets the money from this: The Record Labels or the Artists. I mean, the Record Labels already get most of the money from CD sales, not the Artists. If it goes to the artists, then they probably wouldn't mind people downloading their songs and burning them to CD's, which would get them more money than CD sales probably would.

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
bigpicture, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 10:31am

Value Added
First off, the need for the services of recording companies has long past, they is no longer add any value to the process that I would want to pay for. Distribution and quality recording (which was the service that the recording companies used to provide) can be done over the internet and by PCs.

So then the only party that adds value that I would want to pay for, is the artists themselves who actually produce the content. I don't mind paying the media tax, if it provided me with access to all content, so I have choices about obtaining just and only the content that I want.

I pay this tax to the recording companies anyway to buy a whole CD that has only two songs that I want anyway, which I then record onto other meda and put the CD away.

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Sanguine Dream, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 10:34am

Hope
I just hope that the music industry in Europe isn't as greed base as it is in the America. If the money from this levy is going DIRECTLY to the artists then I could be convinced to support it but if the check is filtered through the record label then the artist isnt missing out on much anyway...

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Beefcake, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 10:49am

New model?
Maybe this could be the great new business model media companies haven't been looking for. The content is free of cost and DRM, but the media you buy to store it is now ten bucks instead of one. Basically, software, music, movies, etc is now free-- the revenue comes from the storage medium.

Then we can go after counterfeit media-producers instead of high-schoolers with music.

Of course, what would probably happen is they'd ruin it by charging you twice (like they are in Europe now)-- you still have to pay for the song, plus an additional cost for the media. Yep, greed always gets in the way.

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Rabid Wolverine, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 11:12am

There might be a chance...
Gee, this precedent opens up a whole new can of worms...

Why don't we lock everybody up on the chance that they might commint a crime?

Issue EVERYONE speeding tickets on the chance that they might speed.

We could give everyone the death penalty on the chance that they might murder someone...

I bet this was a french idea...

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
winnie, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 11:32am

Always a chance
We could give everyone the death penalty on the chance that they might murder someone...

Ever see minority report?

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 12:03pm

CDs...? what CDs?
I haven't burnt an audio cd in a very long time.. Go ahead tax them all you want, I dont use them.

oh, wait, thats a piss poor attitude to take. and I do on a not-very-often basis need to mint about 5-100 cds for work purposes (ie small conference/demo/handouts).. so I'd be pretty annoyed if I had to pay the **AA for the right to be able to distribute MY OWN CREATED CONTENT to MY OWN CLIENTS.

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
CLGC, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 12:13pm

Media need to rethink
Content providers (both artists and the music "industry") need to come to grips with an increasingly media and tech savvy public. Paying "artists" not to produce or to produce self-indulgent content that no one wants is a little bass-ackwards. I suspect that something like Magnatunes, where you pay a minimal amount to download cd quality music that you can burn without restriction and with most of the payment going directly to the musician is probably where the music world will end up eventually.

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Beefcake, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 12:26pm

Re: CDs...? what CDs?
What applications did you use to create your OWN CREATED CONTENT? Just curious.

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 12:40pm

sonar

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 12:42pm

They also dont shower enough in EU.

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 1:16pm

Re: Re: CDs...? what CDs?
not audio.

software written in visual studio mostly. websites, templates, databases...

but not audio.

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Adrian Anders, Oct 19th, 2006 @ 6:47pm

Re: Re: CDs...? what CDs?
Hey hey, now's a new time to whore the music-tech blog that I'm loosely affiliated with:

http://www.createdigitalmusic.com/

All the latest news and in-depth coverage of music and multi-media creation.

As for me, gere's a short list of what I like to use and run on my DAW:

FLStudio
Sonar
Live 6
Plus a TON of plug-ins, most of which you can discover on:

http://www.kvraudio.com

I hope that answers your question...

[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

Add Your Comment

A Random Walk Through The Microsoft Vista EULA >>

<< Yes, Believe It Or Not, Libel Online Falls...

Follow Techdirt

Essential Reading

Hot Topics

New To Techdirt?

Explore some core concepts:

read all »

Techdirt Reading List

Amazon.com Widgets

Techdirt Insider Chat

Get the Insider Chat!

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Name
Email	Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
URL
Subject
Comment	this is for spambots, do not use this
Options	Save me a cookie

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Name
Email	Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
URL
Subject
Comment	this is for spambots, do not use this
Options	Save me a cookie

Thursday
14:46	Macy's Trying To Keep Others From Using The Brands It Bought And Then Abandoned (4)
13:39	2 Hockey Players And Elisha Cuthbert Want Cash From A TV Station For Airing A Joke Tweet (4)
12:35	Why Even Justified Criticisms Of GNU Privacy Guard Miss The Point (20)
11:35	Theater Chains Pout, Boycott Netflix's New Movie To Protect Antiquated Release Windows (27)
10:34	Iowa College Grants Hecklers More Veto Power, Resulting In Summoning Of Campus Police To Offending 'Free Speech Wall' (19)
09:32	DOJ Invites The ATF To The War On Drugs, Grants It Power To Process Its Own 'Drug-Related' Forfeitures (25)
08:12	Clapper: The Attacks We Didn't Prevent In The Past Can't Be Prevented In The Future If Section 215 Is Allowed To Die (46)
06:07	Comcast Blocks HBO Go From Working On Playstation 4, Won't Coherently Explain Why (87)
03:59	New Anti-Corruption Social Network In Russia Requires Numerous Personal Details To Join: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (17)
00:56	European Governments Seeking To Water Down EU's Proposed Data Protection Legislation (3)

Surprise: European Artists Defend Free Money From Blank Media Tax