(c) issues, my opinion

[koeppel@porthos.rutgers.edu (jessica)]

Now, I am usually pretty quiet on this group. I read it every day, 
and I consider myself a relatively serious fan of Kate's work. But I
have never been very verbose on any net-group, and this one has been 
no exception. But I _do_ have some pretty strong feelings about all
this copyright issue stuff. And _this_ posting really provoked me:

> Really-From: "Andy Gough, x4-2906, pager 513, CH2-59" <AGOUGH%FAB6@sc.intel.com>
> The industry estimates it lost $1 billion in revenue last year due to
> illegal copying.
>
> Except the artists' get a $1.00 royalty per song on each album sold.  So
> you can't steal from the record companies without stealing from the
> artists' as well.
> 
> $1.00 a song for each song you copy is stolen from the artists.
> 
> Here's a scenario for you:  Let's say you have a machine that can make
> copies of Mercedes-Benz automobiles.  So you buy a Mercedes-Benz and
> make copies for 100 people.  Would that be OK?  Have you stolen anything
> from Mercedes-Benz?
> 
> -andy

I think Andy is missing a point here. I would have to agree with him
if we were talking about making copies of albums that have been
released, but the music we are talking about is music of Kate's
that is not available anywhere but from Bootlegged items. Copying
this music does not affect Kate's income, nor does it affect the
record company's income because buying this music from them _is not
an alternative_. Buying the Bootlegged item increases the profit of
the bootlegger, and all of us seem to agree that that's not something
we want to do. Perhaps someone would argue that Kate or her record
company may _in the future_ release this material. I am pretty certain
that if indeed they did, even those of us who have copies of the
bootlegged versions, would run to the stores to get the legit copies.
One reason would be to get a more professional quality version,
another would be to _buy what is available_ of Kate's work. Those of
us who are wanting this copy of a bootlegged demo tape want it because
we want to hear more of Kate's work. It drives us crazy to think that
she has created music that we know we would love to hear, and yet
cannot even imagine. And as we are so devoted to her work, we would do
what we can to further her popularity, her income, etc... I think if
any of us were given the oppurunity to buy this music legitimately, we
would do so even though we already had a copy. I wholeheartedly
support Andrew (IED) in this endeavor.


	
					jessica

"You know that I go very quiet, When I am listening to you."