Pay Me My Money Now

Doubtless most of you already know about the move to force internet radio stations and providers of streaming audio to pay royalties on the music they play.  Equally doubtless is many of you will be more informed on the situation than I am.  However, for the few that aren’t, I’ll try to dish out the basics and hope that I don’t screw up the facts too much.  As with any good rant, this one is partially uninformed.

As part of the explanation, I’m going to introduce the example I think best exemplifies the assinine logic behind this most recent intrusion into a free world wide web.  Take your average internet radio site… such as Live365.  This site (when I was first turned onto it) sported thousands of “stations,” programmed by people like you and me.  Station themes ran from 1770′s classical to 1970′s classic rock.  One of my personal favorites was called “Ren Radio.”  This station played tunes by musicians who primarily perform at renaissance festivals.  What you might consider a “fringe” market.  As a rennie myself, there were literally dozens of renaissance themed groups I had heard of,  but had never actually heard.  Until Ren Radio.  Thanks to this station, created by a guy who goes by RenGeek, who just happened to have a lot of CD’s on hand, I finally was able to hear artists I might NEVER otherwise hear, unless I simply buy an album blind with no idea of what the group sounds like.

The channel became very popular among rennies, and RenGeek soon had many artist sending him their music to add to his playlist.  I can’t tell you how many new artists I was turned onto, and how many CD’s I bought due to the exposure these groups got.

So now all of a sudden some bunch of jerks with the clout to screw with anyone they want to decide that all of this “free” music is violating royalty laws… such as are followed by regular radio stations.  Not only will RenGeek have to pay $500 just to operate his station, he’ll have to pay a certain amount for every ”listener served.”  That means if he plays one song, and 300 people hear that song as it plays, he owes royalties for those 300 people.  AND, these royalties are RETROACTIVE to January of 2007.  The guy would have to pay literally thousands of dollars just to continue operating.  Sad to say, he’s thrown in the towel, and now there is no Ren Radio anymore.

I think the injustice and stupidity of this is clear.  First of all, if there is a regular radio station out there anywhere that would devote even an hour to this kind of music, I’d be stunned.  The closest you can get is “The Thistle and the Shamrock” on Public Radio, and that’s a couple hours a week.  The artists who’s music is(n’t) being played won’t see a single penny of these “royalties,” and many of them will LOOSE SALES because their exposure has been severely diminished now that nobody can afford to play their music.

I totally understand that some bands suffer from file swapping and such, but that’s not what’s going on here.  This is not a file sharing program any more than recording off the radio is.  This kind of internet radio is not robbing mega-star bands of revinue.  This is little more than a greed-driven cash grab, once again with the little guy being the target.  Once again the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and in the end freedom of expression takes it in the rear once more.

I’m going to learn more about this subject, and I’ll follow up with stronger info, more evidence, a fuller understanding, and ways we can all express how silly, stupid and blockheaded this whole deal is.

Rant on!   

Harsh Words, Open Wounds

Back on the theme of ideas, and an illustration of how ideas, expressed carlessly, can be insulting and derrogatory.

As some of you know, I participate in a couple of pirate themed entertainment troupes, working renaissance faires and club shows.  Due to this, I’ve become something of a pirate hobbyist, collecting historic literature and joining a number of web forums frequented by the pirate re-enactment community.  This is due to a desire to learn more about the kind of personality I’m engaged in portraying, and wanting to create a more authentic character.  This is a noble pursuit, but by and large, it’s more about enjoyment, entertainment and having fun than it is a serious attempt to portray a detailed, authentic, accurate-in-every-detail pirate.

So, it was with great sadness I logged into a forum and checked a recent coversation regarding the History Channel’s airing of a program entitled “The True Pirates of the Caribbean.”  Needless to say, this show was met by the general pirate community with various results… some enjoyed it and some found it total crap, depending of course on the level of authenticity those individuals abide by when playing their pirate personas.  However, one comment in particular hit very close to the heart, when an individual, while discussing the relative merrits of entertainment vs. historical accuracy wondered (not an exact quote) “why ren faires don’t think they can make as much money being historically accurate as they can making shit up.”  (“Making shit up” being very much the words used by the commentator.)

Now, I have a deep respect for those who go to great lengths to be accurate, authentic and detailed in their portrayal of pirates (or any other bygone profession commonly re-created at themed events), because it takes a lot of effort.  Tons of research, personal commitment, devotion of enormous amounts of time and frankly a not insignificant amount of cashola in order to be faithful to a historic time period. I know many living history re-enactors, and think what they do is valuable and needed.  We shouldn’t loose sight of the past, and we shouldn’t let romantic idealism to over-ride harsh reality.  Kuddos to the purists.

BUT… it seems to me that those who engage in such extensive work have a tendancy to hold in contempt anyone who doesn’t live up to their high standards.  If something isn’t accurate or authentic, then it’s made up “shit.”  Maybe I’m a little too sensitive, but from my perspective, what I do in my spare time for fun and enjoyment has been derided as “shit” by the very people I turn to for knowledge and advice.  These purists even have a derogatory lable for folks like me.  They call us “farbs,” as in “far be it from correct.”  They shake their heads and roll their eyes in exasperation and behave as if we’re actively trying to destroy history, misguiding the patrons of events we work, and smearing the image of pirates.

Can’t we just have fun?  Most renaissance festivals, although containing healthy doses of historic education and accuracy, aren’t about education…they’re about entertainment.

But I’m not writing to defend renaissance festivals.  I’m writing to express the thought that these kinds of dismissive ideologies, while certainly less important to the grand scheme than religion, politics or morality, are symptomatic of the problems facing our society.  That a faction of people can be insulted, dismissed and held in contempt simply because they don’t adhere to the same values as another faction is simply revolting.  In a way it’s no different than prejudice based on race, creed and color.  It’s saying “because your values are less than mine, you are less than me.  What I do is admirable, what you do is worthless.  My activities have value… and your activities are…

…shit.”

Isn’t it silly?  A little remark on a fairly unimportant topic and suddenly a rift is created between people.  Now I ask… where does the fault lie?  In the commentator or in myself because I allowed the comment to create ill feelings towards another person who has a different point of view?  Is this person not allowed an opinion, and not allowed the right to express that opinion?  Of course he/she is.  Decorum might suggest a kinder, gentler way to do so, but all the same it serves as a reminder that in this age of communicating via pixelated points of light, we need to be more aware of what we say, how we say it and how it could potentially be received bereft of intonation and body language.  Web forums and email are notorious breeding grounds for misunderstandings of this nature, and it behooves us all to bear in mind that what you type may not be taken for what you mean.

The problem, as the solution, is with all of us.  I promise to do my part to fix it, and I hope everyone will do the same.

Be good to each other.  We deserve it.

REAL corporate piracy!

Right then… given the tone and mood of my initial post, this subject may seem less than worthy of attention… but the blog is called The Rant and The Roar… don’t expect me to follow any pattern of reasonability here.

Over the weekend I found myself subject to what must be one of the greatest examples of price-gouging that I’ve ever personally experienced, and I felt completely blindsided by it.  I was angered enough that the very recollection of the experience still leaves a sour taste in my mouth… and after a little math, I’m even more pissed off about the whole thing.

Who is my anger directed at?  You’ll never guess.  Village Inn.  Yes… Village Inn with their inviting orange sign, 24 hour breakfast menu and award winning pies. And why am I angry with Village Inn?  Was the staff rude to me?  Were the bathrooms unsanitary?  Was my egg over-hard instead of over-easy?  No.  Pleasant wait staff, clean restrooms, well-cooked meal.  No complaints there.  So what was it that focused my ire at them?

The milk.  I ordered a large milk… a LARGE milk… and recieved about half a cup (maybe 2/3 of a cup) that cost me an eye-popping $1.99

You may not think that’s much of a big deal… $1.99 for 2/3 cup of milk.  But once you start doing a little simple math, you suddenly realize that a gallon of milk at Village Inn would cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty dollars!  Even being generous and assuming that they actually poured me a full cup, that still equates to around $31.84 for a gallon of warm milk!

What is it that makes Village Inn milk so expensive?  Is it special milk?  Do the cows feed on golden grass?  Are they milked by dairy farmers with diamond studded gloves?  Or could it be that they simply count on the fact that when you order a glass of milk, you’re not going to expect it to cost you 900% more than it would at the local supermarket?  Hey, I know the prices of just about everything are going up due to increased cost of transportation and production because of the gas “crisis,” but can you imagine filling your tank with $31 per gallon super-unleaded? 

Here’s a quick comparison… this morning I stopped at the quickie-mart and picked up a pint of Nesquick Double Chocolate reduced fat milk, and it cost me $1.69… and that was for DOUBLE CHOCOLATE!!  Double the chocolate!!  Twice as much chocolate as the standard chocolate… and it was less than HALF the price of a glass of Village Inn plain white milk… including the cost of the plastic bottle, the tamper-proof foil seal, the label printing, transportation and the CHOCOLATE! 

So again I ask… why is Village Inn ripping me off?  You might be surprised to learn that price-gouging on milk is a national problem… that the retailers of milk are charging more and more while the dairy farmers are charging less and less.  I’m not going to start listing off a barrage of statistics and study results, but google “average price of milk” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  There have even been law suits brought against milk retailers who have violated Milk Laws (yes… milk laws… they exist) in various states for charging (*gasp*) $0.40 more per gallon than the indicated market value.  According to my math, a cup of milk at the supermarket would run you around twenty cents, and at Village Inn you pay 9 times that amount, an over-charge of at least $1.50

I’d say Village Inn is walking a damn thin line… somebody should report them to the authorities.  We should demand restitution!  Imagine that in the last 5 years Village Inn sold 40 million glasses of milk, and that for each of those they overcharged that $1.50

They would owe us milk-drinkers at least $60 mil.  Who knew a glass of milk could be so lucrative? 

As for me… well, Village Inn will have to do without my buisness from now on.  Huge blow to their assets, I’m sure, as I frequent Village Inn about as much as the local crematorium.  In fact, in order to spend that $30 on milk it would take me about three years.  All the same, I won’t be victimized like this again… from now on I make sure I know how much I’m paying for a glass of milk before I order the milk. 

I highly advise you do the same.

To hell with it!

Y’know, I’ve got blogs here and blogs there, and they’re all pretty much for practical purposes… keeping friends up to date, reporting what’s new with various activities I’m involved with, sharing links and jokes and other various stuff.  In all of these endeavors, I’ve always said that I’ll stay clear of controversy.  I promised never to discuss politics, religon, ethics or any other topic that’s inflamatory or (quite honestly) hot button.

But y’know something?  Day by day this world just seems to be getting closer to that big sucking sound that signals the whole shebang is ready to swirl down the crapper into oblivion.  Even one of the most brilliant minds on planet Earth, the amazing Steven Hawking, has posed the question of whether or not (and how) the human race can possibly sustain itself for another 100 years.

100 years!  Think on that… the most illuminated and far sighted man in the world is saying he isn’t sure that my great-grand children won’t be witness to the end of human existance.  That our situation is so out of control that we may well exterminate ourselves in a geological instant.  That the last several thousand years worth of evolution and enlightenment could quite conceivably self-destruct long before we’ve come close to reaching the ultimate potential we could be possible of.

And why?  Look around you.  Watch the evening news.  Read a newspaper.  Talk to a friend.  It’s ideas… ideas that are ripping our world to shreds.  The entire planet is witness to the most hideous onslaught of war since the 1940′s.  Look at a map of the world highlighting armed conflicts going on RIGHT NOW, and you’ll be shocked at the results.  And what are we fighting over?

Ideas.  Religous ideas.  Political ideas.  Ecconomic ideas.  Ethnic ideas.  Moral ideas.  Nothing more than differing perceptions of the world, and a strange concept that the only way to deal with these differences is to kill each other.  To ban each other.  To sanction each other.  To rape each other.  To oppress, confine, denegrate, insult, do away with and disavow.  Nothing is safe from it… it pervades every moment of our lives. 

Even the greatest sporting event in the universe, (that we know of), the World Cup, isn’t immune from it’s effects.  Witness the tragedy (and I consider it a tragedy when anyone touted for his greatness falls from grace for a petty moment of bad judgement) of Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt into Italy’s Marco Materazzi.  Rumors are flying about the ethnic content, real or imagined, of Materazzi’s comments that prompted the incident.  Did Materazzi call Zidane’s mother a terrorist whore?  We may never know for sure, but it shows you how deep the disease has dug in, because whether it’s true or not, it’s what people are thinking is true. 

Need I mention that what people think is true is far more likely to guide their actions than what is actually true?   Need I say that when people believe something to be true they will cease their search for the truth(if they ever began one in the first place)?  Need I say that this belief is unshakingly abided by, and that in many (most) cases the actual truth will be categorically denied, ignored, poo-poo’d and purposefully obscured?  Can you think of a hot button topic where this is not the case?

Oh, not that France and Italy are about to go to war over a head-butt in a football match, (fine… soccer match) but I wouldn’t be surprised if at this very moment, somewhere in the world, some poor person is nursing the wounds recieved from a mob of angry Zidane or Materazzi supporters.  I have no facts to back this up, but I believe it… and so just try to convince me otherwise.

How do we determine the root cause of all of this?  What is it in the human composition that compels us to hate each other for the most triffling reasons? Is it a biological imperative that drives us to kill that which does not conform to our prefered genetic map?  Is it the influence of Satan and his minons that snare us unsuspectingly and steers us towards chaos?  Is it a flaw in our design (evolved or otherwise) that continually causes us to choose the very worst course of action available? 

And whatever the disease is, how do we go about disecting it?  How do we cut this cancer out of our collective psyche?  Where is the cure, and how do we start the process of metabolizing it?  Does anyone have an answer?

I’m not sure that I do.  So what will this blog do in such a regard?  It surely won’t be the solution, as I am still relatively convinced that one person can not make a difference in this world.  Not on the scale that I’m talking about.  One person can certainly help give us some guidance, some sort of pathway to follow, some damn decent advice… but the differences will only be made when we start working towards them together.

So, this space will be devoted to myself ranting on about that which pisses me off from time to time.  Subjects will be wildly inconsistant, my logic will more likely than not be influenced more by emotion than … err… logic, and it’s quite possible that I may not have all the facts (or truth) in my corner all the time.  Readers are more than welcome to comment and point out where I’m way off base… but do realize that it will never be my intention to insult, belittle, demonize or in any other way knowingly cause hurt to any subject of my rants.  I’m not in this to simply join the increasing brigades of bloggers who have sharp tounges and cynical wit used simply to bash the opposition.  I think that’s a major part of the problem, quite honestly.  I’m not saying that I’ll never make an inflamatory proclomation or that I’ll simply ride the fence.  And, I hereby reserve the right to ignore all the pseudo-promises I just made earlier in this paragraph.  I fully invoke my constitutional right to make an ass of myself.

Right… end rant number one… general rant.  What I’ll talk about next time will entirely rely on what stupidity catches my eye most in the next couple of days.  Until then…

BE GOOD TO EACH OTHER… DAMMIT!!