JDS-107

[Insanimania]

Some of the albums were inconsistent. Noticed that since One More Day.

And I definitely  wanna know the artist behind Say No More.

[Steve]

I'm not sure what to do with the mop albums now. STILL can't find "Lie Awake"s lyrics on Google, and I've been searching this whole time. Ever since 2008, I've been like "Man, I wish there was an artist that did just this." and this was a beacon of hope for that, but... Nothing. A disappointment on a disappointment.

[Insanimania]

Well, maybe she really did make Sense is Dead.

I liked it better than One More Day, anyway.

[Bacon]

No... I don't believe it... this can't be... oh man...

[PATRICKRL]

I'm not sure what to do with the mop albums now. STILL can't find "Lie Awake"s lyrics on Google, and I've been searching this whole time. Ever since 2008, I've been like "Man, I wish there was an artist that did just this." and this was a beacon of hope for that, but... Nothing. A disappointment on a disappointment.

http://www.watzatsong.com/EN/

[Insanimania]

Whatever the case, she's still a friend to me.

Plus, I've known about this for almost a year and I still don't really care. I just thought it was a couple of songs, though.

[Bacon]

I just want to know what on earth is going on. It would lessen the blow if I knew it was only a few songs.

[Mac]

that's fine and all, but... Man. So much more comes with being an artist than making music.

Yeah, but I'd say most, if not all of that is contained within the mind of the artist. You couldn't know how authentic this album might be to her, or if she wanted the album to serve a higher purpose— of being the soundtrack to an imaginary video game. If you copied some songs, or even all of them, you're not removing from anybody else. By way of thinking to mix things together, you can make a superior project, and that should always be the higher purpose: to make something that was, in your opinion, better, even if you didn't do "all of it." Ideas are an infinite marketplace and we should strive to find pure freedom in ideas, speech, communication, and expression.

For instance, we have this movement away from anonymity on the internet. We have this tether to identity that is growing, and tightening. Sites like YouTube now require that you enter your cell phone number in order to register. Sites are beginning to link browsing histories and the market in trading credit card and supermarket purchasing information will grow and grow. You may ask why this is being done. Why spend billions of dollars to track people? The answer is simple: marketing. Tracking of this sort can save companies billions of dollars per year, far more than it will cost.

But the higher cost is freedom. Why would it matter to personal freedom if I bring up Google and see that I'm running out of peanut butter? Person tracking and identification has social implications. People adjust their behavior because they know they are being watched. Just the same, in creation, the creative flow of an individual can be stopped in its tracks because the artist is following a more (pronounced: moray) of originality. You might almost feel as if you are being watched. You feel an obligation to watch yourself. Most everyone tries to adhere to social norms, and in this time and place, we have mores that place originality, genius, and artistry in a special circle, while mere plagiarism and copying insinuate a lack of skill or strong sense of authenticity of an artist, regardless of which this is true.

The problem with this more is that it limits who you can be and what you can make. If you are the sum of your experiences, aren't you the sum of the information available to you? And if that information is restricted culturally, by uniqueness, or originality, or copyright, or price, the free flow of information is stopped, and culture's evolution is restrained. Not every idea has to have a nametag and a pricetag on it.

In fact, if you ask me, none should.

[Bacon]

So this is right because it's her interpretation of stealing music?

[Mac]

So this is right because it's her interpretation of stealing music?

When you say "interpretation" and "stealing" in the same sentence, it sounds contradictory. What do you really mean, or are you just trying to make me look contradictory, when I said nothing of the sort?

An interpretation is obviously not stealing, unless you just mean stealing and copying is the same thing. Then yes, it's stealing, and yes, it is morally justifiable.

[Steve]

That's a good post, Mac. I think what I mean to say is that I thought I was talking to someone that worked on the same creative processes I do. Coming up with a musical idea, making it come to life, and sharing ones pure emotion.

Sure, a compilation of tracks can be something that someone felt, and there comes with that the feeling of "what if they think less of me if this sucks?". If it does indeed "suck", then you can take some solace in the fact that what they were hearing was the creative process of someone else, and then you just found and compiled.

You can't claim that a compilation of songs you like comes close to the effort required to make your own material with the same emotional level.

[Bacon]

So this is right because it's her interpretation of stealing music?

When you say "interpretation" and "stealing" in the same sentence, it sounds contradictory. What do you really mean, or are you just trying to make me look contradictory, when I said nothing of the sort?

An interpretation is obviously not stealing, unless you just mean stealing and copying is the same thing. Then yes, it's stealing, and yes, it is morally justifiable.

I'm not trying to play any word games here, I'm exhausted. You'll probably end up confounding me anyways. But... how can I word this... what she did was morally correct because it was her artistic vision, and it doesn't matter that that artistic vision included other people's works?

[Mac]

A wise reply, Steve; I agree.

You can't claim that a compilation of songs you like comes close to the effort required to make your own material with the same emotional level.

Dude, it's hard enough for me to get that first piano cover album finished. Whenever I do that, I'll be proud of the songs that I finished, and they'll be on your website free for download.

[Mac]

So this is right because it's her interpretation of stealing music?

When you say "interpretation" and "stealing" in the same sentence, it sounds contradictory. What do you really mean, or are you just trying to make me look contradictory, when I said nothing of the sort?

An interpretation is obviously not stealing, unless you just mean stealing and copying is the same thing. Then yes, it's stealing, and yes, it is morally justifiable.

I'm not trying to play any word games here, I'm exhausted. You'll probably end up confounding me anyways. But... how can I word this... what she did was morally correct because it was her artistic vision, and it doesn't matter that that artistic vision included other people's works?

Dude! Spot-on, hi-five, you win the gold-plated cucumber. That's exactly what I think.

[Steve]

That is your own material, to less of an extent.
Copy/paste isn't hard. You aren't doing copy/paste.

[Mac]

May I add though, to Bacon's reply.

An important part of what I was saying, the first sentence, I think, was that we don't know what her artistic vision was. We don't even know if the .mop is really a female! We couldn't possibly know what some artist was thinking in their head when they did some song, or film, or novel, or poem, or essay, or toothpick, calculator, living space, or social system!

Maybe she didn't have an "artistic vision" at all, and just threw together some songs she liked that she thought were of similar style! We can't know, our minds are all to some great degree, anonymous to each other. We are in some way, doomed to walk the Earth alone.

[Insanimania]

"the .mop"

Oh god why am I laughing

[Mac]

I picture mop as more like the one of the left side, how 'bout you guys?

[Insanimania]

Far left.

[Steve]

It was always the old-school one (left).

I was always hoping it would collaborate with Swiffer, but all they ever did were some ads.