It's gross to say that making a living by creating art that people love is an "aberration." It's not like recorded music is unpopular--it's more popular than ever. But for some reason, now people are bad for expecting to make money creating it?
To be clear, there is still scarcity: new music you like is scarce. That is universally true; new music doesn't just appear, it has to be made, and until it is made, you can't get it. That is the definition of scarcity: "the state of being in short supply."
Music in general is not scarce, but some music is more popular than others. Shouldn't a normally functioning economy account for that?
New recorded music from Daft Punk is in short supply; it is scarce. Are the members of Daft Punk an "aberration" (definition: an unwelcome deviation from normal) for wanting to be compensated for reducing that scarcity?
How is that different from a new video game being released? For all of human history, we've been making and playing games. Is it an "aberration" for people who make video games to want to get compensated for reducing the scarcity of new games?
If we want to play the "doing it for love" game, then let's be clear that you, and anyone else, is welcome to make music for free, play it for free, record and release it for free. There is nothing stopping people from doing it for "the love"; in fact it is easier than ever to make music for free.
But it is IMO abusive to then say, well doing it for free is the only acceptable norm, just because they like to do it. I like to work with computers, but guess what: I also get paid do it. I bet you do too! Why is that normal for you and me, but an aberration for musicians?
Usually when people talk about "scarcity being gone" they mean that digital files can be copied and distributed with almost no marginal cost. Well guess what: so can financial instruments. Should we stop charging for Apple stock just because Apple can create new stock at the click of a button?
Why do supposedly digitally-savvy folks get so hung up on the fact that music comes on digital files? Lots of things come on digital files, like your direct deposit salary payments. Does that mean money is not scarce anymore?
To be clear, there is still scarcity: new music you like is scarce. That is universally true; new music doesn't just appear, it has to be made, and until it is made, you can't get it. That is the definition of scarcity: "the state of being in short supply."
Music in general is not scarce, but some music is more popular than others. Shouldn't a normally functioning economy account for that?
New recorded music from Daft Punk is in short supply; it is scarce. Are the members of Daft Punk an "aberration" (definition: an unwelcome deviation from normal) for wanting to be compensated for reducing that scarcity?
How is that different from a new video game being released? For all of human history, we've been making and playing games. Is it an "aberration" for people who make video games to want to get compensated for reducing the scarcity of new games?
If we want to play the "doing it for love" game, then let's be clear that you, and anyone else, is welcome to make music for free, play it for free, record and release it for free. There is nothing stopping people from doing it for "the love"; in fact it is easier than ever to make music for free.
But it is IMO abusive to then say, well doing it for free is the only acceptable norm, just because they like to do it. I like to work with computers, but guess what: I also get paid do it. I bet you do too! Why is that normal for you and me, but an aberration for musicians?
Usually when people talk about "scarcity being gone" they mean that digital files can be copied and distributed with almost no marginal cost. Well guess what: so can financial instruments. Should we stop charging for Apple stock just because Apple can create new stock at the click of a button?
Why do supposedly digitally-savvy folks get so hung up on the fact that music comes on digital files? Lots of things come on digital files, like your direct deposit salary payments. Does that mean money is not scarce anymore?