The Exclamation Mark Blog!

I've wanted to comment about a rather pressing issue for some time now. Last week I was reading The Brown's post about not buying a certain CD because it was Copy-controlled. Instead he opted to buy James Blunt's CD -which is definitely way overrated- simply because it wasn't copy-controlled.

A certain statement he said made quite a profound impact on me.

mrbrown said:

"I prefer to give my money to companies who do not penalise their customers or treat them like criminals."

I was rather taken aback, but could still empathise with why he made such a statement. However, as usual, certain comments to that post really annoyed the hell out of me again.

"If a CD I want to buy is copy-controlled and I can't rip it into my MP3 player, I'd rather just download it off the Net than waste my money. By treating potential customers like pirates in a bid to prevent piracy, these companies are just encouraging it.' -- said a certain someone.

One other reader said: "Piracy is not killing music- stupidity is!"

I certainly understand the opinion these people have on music and copy control and their frustration with rigid anti-piracy rules. And sure they do have reasons to justify their stand on copy-control. But I feel that these people are certainly pushing the boundary too much with their flagrant disregard of the law in public.

Anyhow, I am a purist at heart. I love music, and love its myriad mix of colourful genres. More than that, I am passionate about music. I love what the good record artistes are doing -- putting their heart and soul into creating communal works of art -- making music without pretension (although that's in the minority... there're a ton of pretentious acts out there) and generating aural pleasure for we music lovers.

I relate to music artistes, because I know how much effort most of them put into making their music. They sleep little, eat meagre amounts of food, are often fatigued and exhausted, but they go about making their music, travelling round the world doing gigs, doing interviews and media conferences. It takes commitment and sacrifice and a whole lot of passion to keep going at something so exhausting as being a music artiste.

And the purist that I am feels that the commentor on mrbrown's blog who said that she'd prefer to download the album off the net if a CD is copy-controlled is one of those robbing good artistes of their bread and butter. Some of these artistes deserve to earn more because of the effort they put into their music, and because of their great talent. Downloading albums off the net is simply repulsive to me. It's selfish.

I mean, I'm not going all Mother Teresa here and say that I've not downloaded mp3s before. I have, in fact, but I'd never ever, EVER, EVER download more than 3 songs from any certain album. If I think that album is good, i'd download 2 or 3 songs and sample them to see if I like it. But I'd never ever be such a grotesque person as to download complete albums off the net.

Seriously, if you actually download an entire album off the net, it means you like the artiste. If you like the artiste, and you think his/her/their album is great, what's so hard about cutting down on an expensive meal and buying their CD instead just to support them? What's so freaking hard with forking out about $20 to purchase a CD you genuinely enjoy? You can eat your cuisine, you can drink your cocktails, you can smoke your cigarettes, and you can pay for your petrol, but just $20 --such a meagre amount-- is a problem to someone like you?

I'm not being a prude here saying that you can't download music (the law says so though, we're all subject to it. So download legally. please.) so I'm not exactly burning in righteous fury here, what I'm saying is that we have to think for the music artistes. If we keep robbing them of their moolah by downloading music (illegally in this case), sometimes passion itself is not enough to sustain your career. Not having money for the family and for luxuries isn't exactly an endorphin release to music artistes. Worse still, they might compromise on their artistic integrity and go all out to commercialize their works, destroying all credibility they've built up for themselves previously.

I still believe that many record companies ARE indeed big, evil, bloodsucking corporate machines. However, it's the artistes I'm more concerned about here. I can't bear to see my current favourite acts like Franz Ferdinand or Death Cab for Cutie go kablooey and self destruct from a lack of income.

And more than empathising with music artistes, I personally feel it's extremely hypocritical for you to call yourself a fan of XXX band or singer if you don't even have the decency to buy his/her/their album. I'm seeing more and more cheapskates downloading tons of mp3s of their favourite bands off the net and still professing that they're a fan. The purist in me just eagerly anticipates the day where I get to eviscerate such morons.

The thought of the iPod being such an ubiquitous commodity now is in itself a turn off. I hate seeing everyone nowadays carrying that slimy metallic thing in their hands as if its such a cool fashion statement. To me, it's so 5 minutes ago. the CD walkman will FOREVER be in vogue, and forever relevant, at least in my very biased opinion. The sight of kazillion people all over the world grooving to the music played out on their ipod, iPod clasped firmly in hand, is the reason why Prozac and Zoloft was invented anyway.

Yes I am a purist, you can save the trouble jumping on my back crying bloody murder, because this time I know i'm right. I remember in secondary 1 and 2 (equivalent of high school, in case any non-Singaporeans are reading this) I would starve myself during recess so that I would save enough money in 2 weeks to buy myself an album. And back then, I only got $25 a week, so you could imagine how much I saved.

You know, that's precisely what I miss. That living on the edge a little, being mocked for following a passion you relentlessly pursue and love. There was always this thrill of having people call me a freak because I would eat so little during recess, cut down on the canteen socialising sessions with classmates, and then pool my savings together to get my CD. I so miss that, giving something that is a sacrifice to me, because I love it so much. Treating music as a free commodity just extricates the passion from the music.

I think this is a lesson many need to hear.


Listening to: Jacqueline -- Franz Ferdinand