Thursday, February 16, 2012

Entertainment Industry Picked Wrong Time to be Money-Grubbers



One evening in Manhattan in the mid ‘70s I was leaving Rockefeller Center for home and the thunder began.
I could have taken a subway, but chose to dance my way “Singing in the Rain,” literally.
The way things seem headed, if I tried it today the copyright police would be after me.
Yes the industry has slipped some new obstacles past us, but they seem to be losing the war.
Entertainment is about the only bright thing on the horizon in these dismal days. Don’t expect any sympathy from the 99 when all that money is going to the 1ers.
A quietly negotiated Web strangling agreement is being repudiated. A European judge blocked an order requiring social media to insert filters to prevent copyright abuse.
Back in the day many, if not most, would have had no argument with making sure entertainers got their fair share. With the earnings in the billions it is hard to shed more than a crocodile tear.
The concept of making music cheaper and infinitely easier to acquire, might have held the high ground.
Not so when an online bookseller got $15 from me for a Kindle edition by a little-known writer.
Few subjects are less prone to be targets of the Occupy people.




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