[pp.int.general] Protest certain musicians?

[Reinier Bakels]

> Some musicians are obnoxiously opposed to sharing.
> I wonder if it might be interesting to protest them;
> for instance, hand out leaflets at their concerts.
>
I think one should understand that record companies like to push musicians 
to tell in public that they need strict copyright enforcement. Record 
companies can't (or: can no longer) do that themselves: they are perceived 
as greedy capitalists who care more for shareholders than for music, and 
they already made themselves immensely impopular by advocating harsh 
copyright enforcement measures. Incidentally, that is also why they advocate 
criminal sanctions: civil sanctions would be a public relations night mare. 
Criminal enforcement is done by the police - they can keep clean hands.

Why do musicians cooperate with this game? Well, in the short run, of course 
they have a monetary interest in tighter copyright enforcement. And they are 
prone to a kind of Stockholm syndrome, being the captives of the record 
industry. Which makes them forget that often record companies treat their 
artists as slaves and offer them very bad contracts, knowing that artists 
have little choice, due to the strong concentration of records companies 
(there is only a handful large conglomerates left in the world).

The good news is that artists don't really need record companies anymore. 
Making recordings has become much cheaper due to the development of 
technology. And distribution has become much easier due to the Internet.

PP might do the following:
- look what musicians are representing what companies, and seek publicty (no 
flyers)
- promote distributor-less distribution by explaining the viability of 
alternate business models

reinier
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