back-words... kindness for a criminal...

Sunday, April 15, 2007
kindness for a criminal...
ok, honestly, whos guilty of file sharing? anyone? i know i have, and it hasnt always been as acceptable (or legal) as i would have liked. the idea of file sharing is actually something i support as long as its approved of by everything it personally affects. its a great way to promote. its also a great way to get in trouble.
recently i offered a variety of shares by one of my favorite artists. btw, im also guilty of not keeping up to date on things... i knew two of the labels that featured several shares were defunct but i wasnt aware of any other information. sometimes non-commercial edm doesnt get stocked well, if at all, which leads me to believe just because something is not available to me means that it is also not available to the public- not always true! to make this even more difficult, not only do i try to collect edm, but i especially make an effort to collect older edm from the 90s when most of it was at its best. my heart will always belong to that era. most of the music i collect are oop's. a lot of label have gone belly up. it becomes hard to keep track of whats what sometimes, esp when you have an extensive collection such as mine. ignorance is not an excuse, however it was the only excuse i had to offer. i wasnt even trying to stick it to the man, because in non-commercial edm, there really is no man to stick anything to. those who run things are as ordinary as the rest of us. i was only sharing something rare that i love.
today, i exchanged emails with the artist whose works i was sharing. as you can imagine he wasnt pleased and he had every right to let me know. in fact, he probably had an excellent case to send my ass to jail. not only did he not take legal action against me, but he even forgave me and made a joke over the matter. relief doesnt even begin to describe what i feel, but even more so is the heightened level of respect i have for this man. he couldve busted me into a million bits and instead he chose to hear me out and assumably believe what i had to say. not that it made things right, but i admitted i was ignorant and had made a mistake that i try really hard not to make. i also took action of stopping my shares and publicly recommending others do the same. i think perhaps that was some small act of amends that could be viewed as acceptable. this takes a big person to let something go of this nature.
i already respected this artist for his creative integrity. i have seen him perform live. i have collected his music. i have videos which feature interviews with him. i have always had a genuine interest in this artist and now today i also respect the caliber of his character. in a world where ppl are ready to file lawsuits at the drop of a hat, he offered me the benefit of the doubt and forgave me. that takes a mighty big person to do that.
i cannot begin to express my gratitude...