A Rant: Don't Steal My Money

As you are most likely aware, the piracy of copyrighted material is an increasing problem in the world. Tens of billions of dollars are lost every year because people don't want to pay for their entertainment.

And you know what? That sucks. It sucks that people are so selfish to think they are above the law, above common courtesy, above creative rights. If these people created copyrighted content for a living, I have a feeling they would feel differently about people stealing their work. And let's say they wouldn't care, and would offer up their content for free with some grand plan to live off the generosity of others. Well that's great, but that's how you want to live, not how every content creator wants to live.

The fact is, each time someone takes a song, movie, book, mobile app, etc, they are stealing from me. Granted, I don't have a literal stake in every piece of content out there, but I do have a stake in the success of the entertainment industry as a whole. When someone takes Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" instead of paying for it, they are taking money from her label, Interscope Records, and its parent company, Universal Music Group. When millions of people do this, Universal is then out millions of dollars, money they could have spent on developing new talent and releasing new material, or developing better systems for reporting royalties to their licensees :). They are also taking money from the producer of the track, Nadir Khayat aka RedOne (a man who has worked with everyone from A*Teens to Usher over the last decade). They're also stealing from the songwriters, who in this case happen to be Stefani Germanotta (aka Lady Gaga) and Khayat, and their publisher, Sony/ATV. They're also stealing money from Gaga as an artist. And, in turn, from her business manager, finance manager, lawyer, personal assistant, and the rest of her team. Same goes for all those people on RedOne's team.

As that money trickles down, it flows through the hands of accountants and copyright administrators like myself. So while I have nothing to do with Lady Gaga's copyrights (yet), that person is choosing their dollar over my livelihood.

And you know what ticks me off the most about this? I can tell all of this to a friend, a family member, AND THEY STILL DO IT! What a slap in the face! So you want to watch a movie but don't want to pay $10 to watch it in the theater? Then wait until it comes out on DVD! Don't want to pay the $1 to Redbox it when it does? Then wait until it shows up on TV! Or borrow it from someone who paid for it! Is this really that hard?

I have a friend who's employer has a large server, and his co-workers have created a bit of a piracy co-op, where people who obtain copyrighted material (often illegally) load it onto the server and their co-workers can then download the material for their personal use. And while I can tell him over and over how frustrating something like that is, he still continues to justify his consumption. I say justify because he KNOWS that it's stealing, and yet he ignores that part of his mind because he only cares to see the people at the top of the money chain, and they already have too much money. Because I guess to think about the little guy like me that still gets hurt would hit a little too close to home. Literally.

End of rant.

We Are Nashville

Well a bit has happened here in Nashville since I last posted:

1. It rained. And rained. And rained. And people died.

I've had the unfortunate privilege to spend much of the last two weeks working in the homes of people who have lost most or all of their possessions. It's unfortunate for the obvious reasons, but it has been such an honor to meet all these amazing strangers, see how resilient and thankful they are in the face of such devastation, and help them move on to the next phase.

Now, in all reality, that next phase is several weeks and months down the road for most of them. But I love that I'm in the position to be available during that time, and to hopefully be able to see them through to the other side and maybe even come out of it with some new friends.

2. Apple is closing Lala.com.

Over the last two years, I had come to depend on Lala for getting me through the work day. The ability to listen to almost any song I ever wanted on demand was nothing short of god-like. And yet everyone saw this day coming as soon as Apple purchased the site in December. Now I hang my hope on the chance that Apple is going to shut Lala down in order to open a similar cloud-based music service under the iTunes umbrella shortly thereafter. Two weeks left and counting.

3. I've got people in Australia.

Well, almost. I am in final negotiations with a company out of Australia to collect on behalf of my clients in the Australasian territories. It's a big confidence boost for me, and gives me hope that I can lock down representation (what is referred to as a "subpublisher") in Europe and the Pacific Rim with the same ease.

4. I "wrote" a song.

That's right, I'm in the process of joining ASCAP as a publisher, and in order to do that you have to own a copyright. So I'm also joining as a writer and saying that I "wrote a song" and "posted it to my MySpace", which I have since "deactivated". I know it's lying, but when the GM of the company says to send the documents through him so he can make sure things go through, I feel OK about it.

5. I have my first Top 10.

My first administered single should be Top 10 this week! I'd like to think it has another seven or eight weeks before it peaks... that's the dream anyway.

Due to the lack of Lala, I am going to try to find another site that will let me post songs to my blog. Until then, go to http://www.thekicksrock.com and download their debut album and their new single for free! Great modern rock and roll; Kings of Leon meet the Beatles.