Still from the video for Metronomy's The Look off their new album The English Riveria
The new appointment of Maria Martin-Prat as Head of Unit Services 1, Directorate General Internal Market, European Commission (copyright laws) is either going to be a Good Thing or a Bad Thing, depending on your area of involvement in the recording industry.
In the past she has wanted to make the burning of even back up copies illegal. If Ms Martin-Prat takes it to that level it would throw me onto the wrong side of the law for copying, for safety, a track I've downloaded from Beatport.
As we've lost an entire Sonic Stage library to the sudden death of a PC and 50%* of music which was only stored in iTunes after a Mac went blank, we now burn copies of every online purchase.
If Ms Martin-Prat's intention is to ban the burn-to-disc home PC ability and to make digital so precarious that we all go back to hard copies, then the repercussions are immense. I will leave it to the industry specialist reporters to work that one out for us.
Here's something she should approve of. If you are planning on downloading the Metronomy album, please don't if you can visit a local independent record store. Pop in and buy a copy. The CD is stunningly packaged, reminiscent of a souvenir Cornish Clotted Cream Fudge box. It's a joy to hold and our independents really do deserve to be supported. They aren't the bad guys in this Euro squabble.
Saturday, April 16 is Record Store Day throughout the country. Most shops will have special one off releases and vinyls on the day. If you find yourself about to three-click-purchase some music this week, stop and think whether you could pop into one or more of the 180 participating record stores on Saturday and give them your money instead. We have seven in Brighton alone. Locate your nearest Record Day Store.
* The other 50% was loaded from hardcopy purchases. We will continue to buy them whatever the EU bangs on our table - just because we love the artwork, insert stories and reading the notes and credits.
We play a lot of music from artists who haven't had record deals, who make music available to download or burn off their own copies. We love, promote and help push them towards their dreams. What of them Ms Martin-Prat?
* The other 50% was loaded from hardcopy purchases. We will continue to buy them whatever the EU bangs on our table - just because we love the artwork, insert stories and reading the notes and credits.
We play a lot of music from artists who haven't had record deals, who make music available to download or burn off their own copies. We love, promote and help push them towards their dreams. What of them Ms Martin-Prat?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.