Incense & Peppermints... and Green Tambourines

With the continuing onslaught of the Copyright Cartel intent upon suing or harassing their customer base into oblivion, it occurs to me that, once again they are completely missing the larger, long-range picture. As I said during the height of the original (free) Napster, file-sharing could be the greatest promotional tool ever devised if the RIAA would just embrace it and learn to benefit from the burgeoning fan base being created.

In light of the recent radio payola scandals wherein promotion cost them money, it's a mystery why the record labels would shun the free publicity afforded by P2P networks. For every perceived loss of revenue from a download, I would suggest that there are an equal or greater number of downloads that result in actual sales - either on-line or at street level. Many people have become life-long fans (and customers) of an artist they "heard somewhere" - radio, television, at a friends, from the public library, a mix tape or a custom burned cd. If they're interested enough to want to "own" the music, they will buy. Forcing them to do so at virtual gunpoint has never been an acceptable tactic.

It also appears that the concept of "art" as a luxury - albeit a desirable one - no one ever really needs to purchase (as it's widely available for free), has been perverted by the greed-fuelled copyright frenzy currently underway. At this rate, it shouldn't be long before Public Domain is completely erased from our lexicon. One need look no further than the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, and similar Mickey Mouse legislation to understand where all this is headed.

I can recall the first music I heard on the radio which I just had to purchase the 45 RPM of - which later led to my buying the album, then cassette and finally the compact disc versions. Some of the material that I would buy if it were available, I'm only able to hear via peer-to-peer networks. It's a bit presumptuous of the recording industry to claim a "lost sale" when the product they control is out-of-print and locked away in a vault somewhere. The alternative - DRM-crippled digital facsimiles of the more desirable, tangible goods - is a forced compromise I refuse to agree to.

There are also plenty of songs I've heard in my lifetime that I would never pay for under any circumstances, and just as many that have resulted in the expenditure of my discretionary income. Along the way, I became an avid collector and have spent a considerable sum over the years and through numerous media format changes. Penalizing me for my love of music is rather like throwing the junkie in jail while the pusher goes free.

True, large scale for-profit "piracy", as in counterfeit operations that take advantage of the consumer, does present a serious threat to the bottom line of any manufacturing concern. However, to equate music fans who do not profit from sharing tunes with those who actually break existing copyright infringement laws - key words being for profit - is quite simply wrong.

It seems the Culture Industry has lost sight of the importance of customer goodwill in the overall scheme of successful marketing. Threats, intimidation, barely disguised extortion (as in the price fixing scandal) and this assault on "fair use" is anything but endearing.

I still buy music, and movies, but only on the secondary market since I refuse to support any business that treats me with such disdain. I could just as easily accuse them of being pirates by the manner in which they take advantage of those artists under contract (read: indentured servitude), but really, what does name-calling achieve? Let's just say any distrust between us is mutual.

Where will this all end? Short of a complete reversal of tact on the part of the Copyright Cartel, expect the consumer to be the ultimate loser in this power struggle. So far, the odds appear stacked against us.

Incense & Peppermints
lyrics - Strawberry Alarm Clock

Good sense, innocence, cripplin' and kind
Dead kings, many things I can't define
Oh Cajun spice, sweats and blushers your mind
Incense and peppermints, the colour of thyme

Who cares what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothing to lose

Incense and peppermints, meaningless nouns
Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around
Look at yourself, look at yourself
Yeah yeah
Look at yourself, look at yourself
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah

Tune-a by the cockeyed world in two
Throw your pride to one side, it's the least you can do
Beatniks and politics, nothing is new
A yardstick for lunatics, one point of view

Who cares what games we choose
Little to win, but nothing to lose

Incense, peppermints, incense, peppermints

Sha la la, Sha la la...
(copyrighted)

- Loco -
(Now Playing: Tomorrow - Strawberry Alarm Clock)