Thief By Proxy

Consumers like Emily White are the new Robber Barons

I'm sure by now that most of you have read Emily White's stance on the consumption of music and whether or not she should pay for it:-as well as David Lowery's response. Let's get the full disclosure portion of this post out of the way. I'm an independent recording artist, producer, and label owner. Unless you're very close to me, you've haven't heard of me yet, because I'm still paying my dues. I've read both posts including a varying allotment of the ensuing protagonist and antagonist remarks.

What Emily did was stealing, plain and simple. She stole from artists when she marginally pirated music from Kazaa, freely and knowingly gave her iPod to her friend so she could get it back full of music she didn't pay for, and then she stole from her employer and artists by burning promotional CDs onto her computer while on the job. She made a muted attempt at a mea culpa by stating how she came to the realization that she could not support her favorite artists by only buying T-Shirts and concert tickets. She further defends her actions by simply stating that she wants a convenient way to easily access her music so she and people like don't have to resort to unethical tactics to get the music they love. David Lowery covered the ways she can legally access music so I will not add to that. Similar to most things in life, technology is a blessing and a curse. The exponential rate of growth and innovation within the internet age is amazing, and I am eager to see what we (human beings) come up with next.

Unfortunately, as we progress technologically, we seem to digress morally-by this I mean that lessons that should have been imbued as children, either were not taught or were forgotten altogether. Stealing is wrong, lying is wrong, being mean to others is wrong, and anything else your parents, sound minded adults,  or mentor told you is wrong; yet there are always a few bad apples that choose to eschew these morals.