David DeCristoforo
09-03-2012, 2:46 PM
There have been a number of discussions about "copying" and "authorship" and how far one can go before crossing the gray area between "influence" and downright plagiarism. Most of the time, the core of the issue has to do with respecting the artists' rights to their own ideas and product. Sometimes the issue boils down to the inherent unfairness that one might be profiting at the expense of another.
So I am wondering about the "fairness" of loaning videos that have been produced and marketed by specific artists with the intention of earning some money from their work. There are several that seem to be constantly circulating here and I see this on other sites as well. It seems to me that this is another way that artists might be denied income they could be considered "entitled" to. Obviously, neither the borrower or the lender is making money from these exchanges. But just as obviously, the author of the video is not getting paid and is, in effect, losing a sale every time the video is passed along to another.
There are libraries that loan books and videos as well as, in some cases, music in various forms, and this seems to be a generally acceptable concept. But, on the other hand, there is a constant buzz around protecting the rights of people who produce and/or provide music, movies, written works and so forth, especially on the internet.
So, thoughts on this?
So I am wondering about the "fairness" of loaning videos that have been produced and marketed by specific artists with the intention of earning some money from their work. There are several that seem to be constantly circulating here and I see this on other sites as well. It seems to me that this is another way that artists might be denied income they could be considered "entitled" to. Obviously, neither the borrower or the lender is making money from these exchanges. But just as obviously, the author of the video is not getting paid and is, in effect, losing a sale every time the video is passed along to another.
There are libraries that loan books and videos as well as, in some cases, music in various forms, and this seems to be a generally acceptable concept. But, on the other hand, there is a constant buzz around protecting the rights of people who produce and/or provide music, movies, written works and so forth, especially on the internet.
So, thoughts on this?