Digital makes it a different game now.

Gotye ‘Somebody I Used to Know’ isn’t creative commons licensed, but because of WOTE’s cover song Gotye shot to #1 on the charts. That’s how the internet works, in some reality. 80% of my income is from people purchasing my orchestra music, and they tell me they found it from torrents or other outlets. People who love my work and other’s work, understand that if we don’t make money then everything stops.

Everyone “steals”: from video converting, hotlinking pictures, mashups, torrents, sharing music, etc. The internet is a group remix of creativity, mashups, and guerilla sharing. It’s fascinating.

But even if you wanted to make the argument about “digital stealing”, then consider this: the problem isn’t THAT people steal, it’s WHY people steal…

Why do people steal groceries or items from a store? I think it’s because of the understaffed stores, horrible UI of self-checkouts, and insanely slow lines.

The problem isn’t that people don’t want to buy merchandise online, the problem is that corporations have made purchasing entertainment online so much more difficult (and a worse library selection) than getting it illegally within seconds.

(via kenyatta)