How often is it that one website, on one day, manages to get us all worked up in three different ways? We like to think this is a relatively rare occurence — we’re really fine with self-delusion. It protects us from the stresses of modern life.
So today, at Wired, we have a) an article catching us up with Jeff Tweedy (seems to be doing much better); b) a discussion of copyright issues, specifically those about giving work away for free while attaining commercial success of sorts; and, c) a piece about the mysterious “numbers stations” on shortwave radio. For your reading convenience, the first two are helpfully located in the same article. The numbers stations, in the second article, will be familiar to Wilco fans — they’re part of the same family that brought “yankee hotel foxtrot” in our consciousness (and also sparked an album title of the same name).
How cool is it that three seemingly unrelated topics came together so nicely? Tweedy has several thoughts on sharing his art; we liked this one the best (and appreciate his comments on releasing YHF into the wild– when it appeared all hope was lost, we downloaded a copy; when it was finally released, we purchased another).
W[ired] N[ews]: What if the efforts to stop unauthorized music file sharing are successful? How would that change culture?
[Jeff] Tweedy: If they succeed, it will damage the culture and industry they say they’re trying to save.
What if there was a movement to shut down libraries because book publishers and authors were up in arms over the idea that people are reading books for free? It would send a message that books are only for the elite who can afford them.
Stop trying to treat music like it’s a tennis shoe, something to be branded. If the music industry wants to save money, they should take a look at some of their six-figure executive expense accounts. All those lawsuits can’t be cheap, either.
