SOPA, PIPA, Megaupload going down -- I suppose to many of you, it may seem like the world is coming to an end as far as one's online freedom is concerned.
That being said, do not despair. Media and entertainment in all their forms will always find a way to get into the hands of the people who want them regardless of what mandates are in place.
I could write a dozen essays or more on why it is a fruitless and even destructive task for any government or organization to attempt to curb media piracy, but I'll keep it simple and postulate that there is no proof whatsoever that music piracy translates to a lost sale of a single or album for an artist, record label, etc.
The truth is something nobody who makes a living in movies, music, etc. wants to admit: mainstream entertainment simply isn't as engaging and intriguing to an increasingly fragmenting culture as it used to be. A small minority of people aside, you'll actually find with a bit of research that single sales have actually been going up for the last 4 years and album sales in some sectors are actually INCREASING as of 2011/2012.
If your product is worth buying, then the people who would have bought it in the first place will still buy it even here in 2012. People who wouldn't have bought your album in the first place will most likely pull your album off a filesharing site and listen to a record that would have never spent money on otherwise. That's exposure, and exposure is a positive thing for any self-proclaimed artist regardless of where you are and what you do.
The RIAA and those who carry a "holier than thou' torch seem to be under the false impression that piracy and copyright violation is the reason the industries they represent are failing, and it is precisely because they are unable to see beyond what correlates on a PowerPoint graph and address the real problems that ail the film and music industries that these mighty powers will eventually fail and become obsolete as business models change and time passes.
The Widening Eye is one of many blogs that sees through the bullshit and deceptive bureaucracy of our times, and that's why we share and expose music that might otherwise be forgotten by a fast and fickle musical culture. Keep the fire burning!
~ DrakeSinister
couldn't agree more man. 'cept it ain't piracy - there's no money changing hands... it's sharing, just like the C90s we all used to make for each other when we were kids. and just like then, if we like it, we'll buy it one day. it ain't rocket science. the dinosaur record companies have nobody but themselves to blame. fuck 'em
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