Death to Free Speech by the DMCA or A Plea for Sanity.

For those of you who don’t know DMCA is an abbreviation for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  Yes that lovely little bill that has record companies suing grandmothers, and file sharing sites.  It appears that we have a new aspect of it to consider… an end to free speech.


Let me explain.  Lately some videos that I listen to on You Tube because either the song is not available in the United States, or is a Parody of an actual song, and there for does not actually have a CD have started being blocked on You Tube.  Here are a few examples if your interested: Bleach Opening Season 6 (Alones by Aqua Timez) , Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Version , and Life is Like a Boat by Rie-Fu (Season 1 Closing theme to Bleach) .  I have others that I can post but you get the idea.  None of these songs are available though my local store, and since I don’t really have a big CD emporium store near by that means I have no way but the internet to access this music.

Ironically here’s where things get even more insane.  To buy a DS game of Chrono Trigger costs 38.99 as the “bargain edition” when imported to the United States.  That’s a full video game… probably 24 hours of entertainment that sells for 19.99 at Game Stop.  To buy the VGM title (or Sound Track which ever you prefer, VGM is simply Video Game Music) can’t be done in stores here.  You either have to find it used for 30 dollars if they have it, or import it from a site like YesAsia for $49.99, CDJapan for $43.98, or though someone else who imports them like Amazon for between $25 to $65.  In short you have to pay almost as much or more for the game then you do for the sound track depending on what version of the game and sound track you are looking for!

Even regular CDs to import are expensive, and unless you know Japanese, or really trust web page translators good luck.  CDJapan has the Alones Greatest Hits for $38.99, FYE (the only “media” store near me) isn’t much help, though Amazon surprisingly comes though (though 18 dollars for a single song is much too much for my taste.  Note there are no MP3 downloads for it with Amazon and even the mighty iTunes strikes out.

Some of you are probably saying why are you whining about this just download the MP3 from iTunes, or Amazon, or etc..  Frequently that isn’t possible, or is just becoming possible.  For example try using Square Enix’s Music Page for Final Fantasy Music to order music.  Much if not most of the albums will come up as “not available in the US.  As for Amazon’s Chrono Trigger is some what lacking.  And even when you can find the music such as with Final Fantasy VI, I want the US Original Version, not the Swedish one.

Next in based off of the class on constitutional law that I took (note it was a basic class) just a few years ago in college parody in the United States was a protected form of speech.  This means that legally you have the right to make fun of another person or company’s works.  However clearly with the Total Eclipse of the heart, that no longer applies, free speech is now denied in the case of parody.

Finally I can honestly say this:  The music companies just don’t get it.  They are still attempting to operate is if we were in the 1960’s instead of 2012.  By listening to music online I’ve found artists and albums that I have wanted and have purchased (yes though You Tube and more legitimate methods such as K103 my local radio station online here).  However if the music industry has its way soon these will be removed too… unless its something sanctioned by them.  I live in a spot where radio reception is frequently spotty (and it is for about a 5 block radius for some reason, I can’t explain it).  If I can’t use the internet (and thanks to Data caps increasingly I can’t) then the only time I have to listen to new music of a type I’m interested in is the few hours I’m in a car each month. 

By allowing music to flow like water they allow people to explore and find new artists, new bands, and new sounds that they like.  By limiting this, and by killing free speech they are removing our ability to do this bit by bit.  Eventually the way things feel to me at the moment (and please note this is purely based off of how I feel, and shouldn’t be taken as gospel of any sort) soon they may even go after blogs and sites for discussing music, especially if it casts something they have in a negative light. 

Please, quit driving people into pirating music due to the exorbitant costs of what you are producing!  The CD that sells in the store is a physical product, the MP3 we buy from you isn’t, they shouldn’t have the same price per unit… 15 dollars for the cd vs. 15 dollars for an MP3 version of it.  There are no shipping fees, no production costs for the physical media that the song is stored on, there are no printing fees to create the inserts into the plastic jewel case, and any backups that we do either come from the company we buy the music from, or we do ourselves or face losing the music forever.

Bring down the costs of music, make it affordable, make it WIDELY AVAIALBE and you will see a drop in pirating if only because so many people would be more willing to purchase songs (even if only singles) then pirating them.  Think about it this way:  0.89 is more of a profit then 0.00 from someone who pirated that song.  Putting your listeners in Jail isn’t a good option either… after all if everyone who pirates a song goes to jail, there goes a percentage… and I’m willing to guess that if they went after everyone who has ever downloaded, listened to, or watched something they now consider copyright, at least half the country would be in jail.  That’s (311,591,917*.5)*.89 = $138,658,403.07  in profits lost if all those people bought just one $0.89 song. (Google has population for the US listed as 311,591,917, when divided by half we get 155,795,958.5 people.  Multiplied by the price of the song).

Think about it, that’s a heck of a lot more profit with good customer service from you to your buyers, then what you get from pirates, or from putting people in jail.  I know I’d rather have a single dollar then none at all.