I regularly record Acousticfrom TV5 Monde on my DVR, and I just finished watching this week’s program with Rachid Taha. I’m a big fan of Taha and on the episode he sang some songs from a new album called Bonjour. They weren’t the best songs he ever recorded, but I liked them and I want the CD. I have all Taha’s records, and I want this one, too.
So I set out looking for it. The first place I looked was iTunes. I’m always ambivalent about albums on iTunes, though I buy most of my music there. I like the instant gratification. I can also find stuff that’s hard to find in stores. As record stores disappear, its not easy to find anything but the biggest hits in retailers like BestBuy, Barnes&Noble or Borders. On the other hand, I like having all that information the downloads don’t provide but that usually comes in a CD: names of composers and lyricists, producers and members of the band, information about where and when something was recorded, anecdotes from the sessions, photographs and all that stuff you usually find in the liner notes that accompany a CD. But it wasn’t in iTunes, anyway.
So then I went to Amazon. It is available there as an import, for the low price of $32.98.   Now I like Rachid Taha and I’d like to have a complete collection of his CDs, but $34 for a CD is a bit much.
I thought I’d be clever and go to the Amazon UK and Amazon FR sites to download the album there where it’s reasonably priced.  But when I clicked the link to buy, I was prevented from doing so by a message that said geographic restrictions are in place. Because I am in the US, I am not allowed to buy.
I searched a little more though, and I can download this CD, in dozens of place, all for free and all pirated. I won’t do it, not because I respect the rights of Universal Records France, but because I respect the rights of artists like Rachid Taha. I have no idea what kind of contract Taha has with his label, but I respect him as an artist.
It is not unusual that artists on major labels have exploitative deals that net them pennies per album. Still, pennies add up and, more importantly, record sales mean they can keep making records in decent conditions, with decent production values and topnotch talent.  So while I might consider pirating a CD if I liked more of the music by million selling pop stars like Madonna or Carrie Underwood, I’d never do it to a lesser known artist whose talent I truly admire.
I could have gotten around the geographic restrictions on the Amazon UK site with proxy servers or other means, but I prefer to hold onto my righteous anger and post this note. The internet is a global network and banking instruments work everywhere, especially online. So why impede the careers of talented artists by limiting downloads to one country?  Artists of global appeal cannot take full advantage of the WORLD wide web, simply because record companies want to control distribution.
Ironically, it seems so contradictory to their interests.  People will get the music by their favorite artists.  Paying $10 for a download is easy and fairly cheap.  Most people would choose that option.  But if that option is blocked, there are other ways.  I can get Bonjour through AmazonUK by logging on through a proxy server in Europe, but I am going to go that far, why bother?  It’s on dozens of illegal download sites.  All I need it BitTorrent.  In fact, maybe I should and send a $10 check to Rachid Taha!

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