Limits

Everybody can agree that if I come up with a song I'm allowed to sing it to myself, right?
And also that I can sing it to my friends.
I can also with my own song sing it to audience.
I can record it and give it to my friends, share it with strangers or even sell it.

If my friend comes up with a song am I also allowed to do this? Perhaps not sell it, at least not in my name.
If I buy a song I am allowed to listen to it?
Am I also allowed to listen to it with my friends?
Can I let my friends listen to it without me?
Can I even lend this song to my friend so they can listen to it? Or give it?
If the song can be copied, can I lend a copy of it to my friend? Can I give a copy to my friend?

What if I write down the lyrics of the song, isn't that also a copy of the song?
Can I write the lyrics to a song I bought here in my blog?
I cannot copy the song and sell it?
But what about copy it for a friend and ask the friend for the cost of the copy?
What about using a song for a hobby project; put it as background in some interactive flash presentation or PDF or music to a video of you and your friends wakeboarding, just to make the show slightly more appealing, nothing commercial about it.

What if I didn't buy it?
Can I sing a song I heard?
What about a song my friend heard and sung it to me?
What about the lyrics of a song I haven't heard, can I sing that?
What if I sing it to my friends?
Can I sing it to an audience?
Can I sing it and record it and then upload it on internet for others to enjoy my wonderful voice?

What about radio then?
I assume commercial radios pay license fees for all the songs they play, but what about internet radio? There is a lot of software that allows me to open a channel and play my playlists for anyone who likes to surf into my IP and listen. Then they can copy the song that is currently playing and listen to it again whenever they want.

I think I have a quite good sense of ethics; you shouldn't kill, steal or hurt people, don't take something which doesn't belong to you and such. I've always reacted against the commercials where they show someone stealing a movie and then the message piracy is theft, I honestly don't agree; I think that as long as there is no financial gain for the copy and there is no material loss for the creator (it can't be proven that whoever copied something would ever buy it) then it is fine.

I realize there is a financial loss for those behind a product when it is copied but there is also a gain; as in if it is actually something worth buying (which is a rare case #1) it will spread like wildfire throughout the world. Sure this might not sell really as well as it would have without the copying but I for one does not believe it makes much difference, and for the crap that would never be heard of at all except in small specific groups it can only be beneficial, in the end I find it hard to believe that selling CD's, DVD's or even softcopies of an entertainment product is anywhere near the main source of income for the creators. I just have a feeling that commercial endorsements, concerts and cinema tickets stand out higher. This leaves out literature though, but literature isn't yet hurt in the same extent as the other fields.

I can also see all the problems my mindset might create as it would not be entirely agreeable, but then why is there no better option? I haven't checked this up personally as I'm not interested but I heard that buying one song online costs about 1USD, that means a whole album would cost about 10-20USD and a decent playlist would go for about 250-500USD, is that reasonable for something you might enjoy for a week, perhaps a month, or if it is music you don't personally like but suits a party - just one single night? Is it reasonable to pay 10-20USD for a movie you will see once? For the cinema I could agree to that as I personally like the cinema experience. The one field that is reasonable and that has this more or less under control is the game industry; particularly with online games you can copy as much as you like, but you can't play without subscribing to an account, ergo paying for playing, and with a sum of 10-20USD per month and maybe a starting fee of 30-50USD you get several actual hours and days per month of entertainment #2.

Now there are alternatives for movies and especially TV-shows; the creators of South Park has clearly shown what can be done, and several TV networks do the same, with South Park Studios website where you can stream and watch every episode ever made with the only cost of about 2x30 seconds advertisement. South Park has also twice in their show, Episode 709 - Christian Rock Hard and Episode 1204 - Canada On Strike, taken up this problem and I was personally surprised to not find a reflection of recent developments when I saw the latest episode, Episode 1307 - Perfect Pirate Club, today.

This can be argued back and forth forever and better people than me have already decided that the line is drawn slightly lower than my mind wants it, my wakeboarding video is already off facebook for containing copywrited material (Let's dance - Lady Gaga, a song which even though good I would never in my life pay money to own, I'm happy enough to hear it on the radio or in a club).

But one question remains, why is my fish video still on with music from Final Fantasy XI? Is that not also copywrited or do people just not care if it is Japanese music?


#1 Among all the hundreds of thousands of items that is downloaded online only a small fraction is worth the time it takes to "enjoy" (be it listen, view or both) it, from this small fraction there is only a tiny fraction that is worth more than the time it takes to "enjoy" it, thereby worth spending money on.

#2 Compare 15 songs for 15USD which might in total be 1 hour playtime, should equal about 10 hours worth of entertainment, a movie for 15USD would be about 2 to maximum 6 (you don't want to see a movie more than once or twice generally) hours worth, World of Warcraft players who spend 15USD monthly generally spend 2-3 hours daily (completely depends on the player, can be once every other day or 12 hours a day too, I just want to simplify) spend probably 50-100 hours in a month, giving 5-10 times as much value compared to downloading songs and 10-50 times as much value compared to buying a movie. I'm sure there are people who enjoy listening to music and watching movies much more than they enjoy playing online games, that is not the point though but it is that buying music and movies is way too expensive, (I just bought a book for about 10USD, I will enjoy that book for about 24 hours at least).