Good bye Grokster

Seven hundred and forty-three stories today, according to Google, about the demise of Grokster. Grokster was of course the best place to do the following: download porn, illegal music and movies. There are apparently other uses. Browsing through the various stories you can find quotes like this not so little gem:

"This settlement brings to a close an incredibly important chapter in the history of digital music," Recording Industry Assn. of America chairman Mitch Bainwol said. "This is a chapter that ends on a high note for the recording industry, the tech community and music fans and consumers everywhere. At the end of the day, this is about our ability to invest in new music. An online marketplace populated by legitimate services allows us to do just that."

If you have ever had the pleasure of listening to this music natzi Mitch Bainwol the above comments will be of absolutely no surprise. Let me just pull a few things out from this little piece of modern day poetry:

1. “…incredibly important chapter in the history of digital music.”

Newsflash everyone the history of digital music, although somewhat important in the digital revolution, will never stand side by side with things like European history, natural history, history of the human species, etc etc. Don’t make it out to be bigger than it is bitch!

1. “…chapter that ends on a high note.”

Hmmm…let me just Google up P2P or filesharing – ya just what I thought a million hits. If Grokster was a chapter than this is one hell of a long ass book.

1. “At the end of the day, this is about our ability to invest in new music.”

My personal favorite. God forbid music and art ever get beyond the greedy clutches of record companies and the RIAA. Record companies annihilate culture in their bid to get everyone listening to the same thing. It works. Don’t even pretend that you didn’t bob your head to that milli vanilli crap. We all did. Perfect example of the destructive power of record companies.


Do I totally disagree with where Mitch is coming from? No of course not. People work they need to get paid. Do I think Tom Cruise needs $400M per year to support his family and the scientology movement? No. While I appreciate sincerely what good actors can do very rarely do I see someone on screen I think is that much better than someone I see at a local play. Just like when I see a local rock group perform live versus U2 (great show, shitty sound). I don’t have the answers but there is some serious imbalance (which is IMHO due to our whacked out values) and I see P2P as a way of pushing back.

Rant over.