Oh no it's Free!

Coolmac

Date:
13/07/2005

Apparently, the badge I so thoughtfully provided to the grammar police, was considered unfit. Something about full stops and incomplete sentences. Well I guess I can't complain, they are after all the grammar police; while I am somewhat of a grammar terrorist.

I can't remember if I have mentioned this before, but we here at a Darker Vision support creativecommons.org's quest for reasonable copyright. And the content on any page of this site that contains the creative commons logo is free to be copied and spread according to the license (which is currently at its most restrictive, but soon will be relaxed in certain areas).

Now why do I bring this up? Well I got to thinking about it after reading this. A week or so ago, the BBC released all nine of Beethoven's symphonies as free downloads, complete with commentary before each symphony. What a great idea! The music was downloaded over a million times, and since only 14 million classical CD's were sold in the UK in 2003, an impressive feat that has probably introduced the music to many people who would have never listened to it otherwise.

But it was free, and if it is free, how can it support some music industry executive's coke habit? Complaints of the BBC's actions "devaluing the perceived value of music" were heard coming from music labels. Bullshit! This is classical music, we're not going to hear it in clubs, and we're not going to hear it on our favourite radio stations that play rock and pop and all things modern. If these music labels had their way the only way we would get to hear it is by buying their CD's or paying to watch it live, and not many people will do that when they've never heard the stuff before.

The BBC actually has a clue; they are encouraging people to try it, including commentary to help people understand it, and doing what the classical music labels are not doing, getting the music out there.

Now, go and visit a site whose music I enjoy listening to. Magnatune.com allows you to listen, for free, to music from many bands and people, including many styles of music. If you like it you can buy it (50% of the cost goes directly to the musician), and best of all, you can choose the cost. No you won't find your latest and greatest look-how-cool-I-am rock stars there, but maybe you'll find something you like that you would have never heard otherwise.
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