Cuadrado al revés

«Artists want to believe that we can make lots of money if we’re successful. But there are hundreds of stories about artists in their 60s and 70s who are broke because they never made a dime from their hit records…And they’re not actors or participators. They’re the rightful owners, originators and performers of original compositions.

This is piracy.

It’s not piracy when kids swap music over the Internet using Napster or Gnutella or Freenet or iMesh or beaming their CDs into a My.MP3.com or MyPlay.com music locker. It’s piracy when those guys that run those companies make side deals with the cartel lawyers and label heads so that they can be “the labels’ friend,” and not the artists’.

Recording artists have essentially been giving their music away for free under the old system, so new technology that exposes our music to a larger audience can only be a good thing. Why aren’t these companies working with us to create some peace?

Why aren’t record companies embracing this great opportunity? Why aren’t they trying to talk to the kids passing compilations around to learn what they like? Why is the RIAA suing the companies that are stimulating this new demand? What’s the point of going after people swapping cruddy-sounding MP3s? Cash! Cash they have no intention of passing onto us, the writers of their profits.

[…] And since the companies didn’t have any real competition, artists had no other place to go. 

Being the gatekeeper was the most profitable place to be, but now we’re in a world half without gates. The Internet allows artists to communicate directly with their audiences; we don’t have to depend solely on an inefficient system where the record company promotes our records to radio, press or retail and then sits back and hopes fans find out about our music.

Digital distribution gives everyone worldwide, instant access to music. And filters are replacing gatekeepers. In a world where we can get anything we want, whenever we want it, how does a company create value? By filtering. In a world without friction, the only friction people value is editing. A filter is valuable when it understands the needs of both artists and the public. New companies should be conduits between musicians and their fans […].

Since I’ve basically been giving my music away for free under the old system, I’m not afraid of wireless, MP3 files or any of the other threats to my copyrights. Anything that makes my music more available to more people is great. Let’s not call the major labels “labels.” Let’s call them by their real names: They are the distributors. They’re the only distributors and they exist because of scarcity. Artists pay 95 percent of whatever we make to gatekeepers because we used to need gatekeepers to get our music heard.»

Me gustaba que se llamase Yasna, me gustan los nombres que avisan la pobreza, esos nombres como Jhonatan y Jenifer, esos nombres que dicen cuidado con el perro quiltro, que marcan terreno, que avisan la selva.

La Clase Media hace chiste con esos nombres, les parecen ridículos y graciosos sobre todo cuando son deformaciones anglo que se mezclan con un pobre Pérez o un pobre Carrasco, se ríen y en la noche se van a la fiesta kitsh de La Blondie. Se llamaba Yasna y la amé tanto. La clase media se ríe en función de los nombres connotadores de pobreza, ahí intentan marcar su diferencia, sus privilegios, su idílico origen común, pero la Clase Media omite los apellidos, ellos también son Martínez y Hernández, aunque antecedidos por Camilos, Ignacios y Franciscas. No se meten con los apellidos, porque desde ahí son desplazados. Lo que representa Deivid para la Clase Media, es lo mismo que representa Soto para la Clase Alta. Se llamaba Yasna Rivas y la amé tanto.

Pablo Paredes.