By suing college students for file swapping, the recording industry is trying to maintain its domination of music production, a Johnson & Wales audience is told.

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, April 16, 2004

BY RICK MASSIMO
Journal Pop Music Writer

The title of yesterday's panel discussion at Johnson & Wales was "Pirates of the Web: The Ethics of Downloading," but the panelists were in basic agreement that downloading music from the Internet is anything but piracy.

In recent months, the Recording Industry Association of America, on behalf of the "Big Five" record labels, has launched wide-ranging prosecutions of thousands of downloaders across the country, accusing them of violating copyright law. All three panelists yesterday agreed that the laws, said to protect artists, do little more than feed corporations. One panelist called the prosecutions an attempt to maintain "complete control of an expanding marketplace" and another said they created "a culture of fear."

The panelists included Umberto Crenca, the artistic director of AS220, the unjuried art space in Providence, a painter and a musician with The Panic Band; Jonathan Frankel, a lawyer based in Washington; and Jim Marks, a Web designer and musician based in Boston.

Crenca opened the discussion by displaying two signs, reading "Lawyer-Free Zone" and "Free Mickey." His opening statement was "mostly stolen," he said, from the book Free Culture, by Lawrence Lessig.

Crenca traced the development of copyright law, and the lengthening lifespan of copyrights. The first copyrights, he said, were enacted in 1710 and lasted 14 years. In 1831, U.S. copyrights were for 42 years; in 1909, 56; today they last the life of the copyright holder plus 70 years.

Crenca noted that the Walt Disney character of Mickey Mouse was created in 1928 for the short film Steamboat Willie, which was based on a Buster Keaton character named Steamboat Bill. While Disney paid nothing for the character he "stole" from, Crenca said, every time the Disney copyright on Mickey Mouse has been about to expire, copyright laws have been lengthened.

"It's time to free Mickey," Crenca said. ". . . Intellect is not property."

Marks contested the record-industry position that every song downloaded is a CD sale lost. He gave his own example, saying that when he was an active file sharer, he was familiar with trends in new music and bought 5 to 10 CDs a month. After the recent industry crackdown on file sharers, he said, he stopped downloading. Now he's out of the loop, he says, and buys only about 10 CDs a year.

"This is what the RIAA doesn't get," Marks said. He said the record industry's production of new music has slumped exactly as much as record sales.

The Internet and file-sharing services, Marks said, are "the best thing to happen to independent music." He said it was time to overthrow the industry model, in which record companies "act as a bank" that finances new releases (always getting their money back from the artists once sales start rolling in). Marks' band, Scissorkiss, made three CDs, and never made enough from sales to cover the pressing costs, he said. Now the band's music is available for free on its Web site.

Frankel opened by saying that he agreed with much of what Crenca had said. "The system has to change. Downloading is here; it isn't going away."

He sympathized with music fans, saying he doesn't like "buying a CD with 12 songs on it, and I hate 10 [of them]." But he warned the crowd of about 200, mostly students, that "for the time being, the law exists."

He said he represents telecommunications companies, Internet service providers and educational institutions which provide Internet access. He explained that all these entities can be held liable for copyright-law violations caused by file sharing, and that the costs of those liabilities increase the costs of Internet access at schools such as Johnson & Wales. "If I were in college now, I'm sure I would file share," he said. "But the consequences are harsh."

After their statements, the panelists exchanged views and took questions from the moderator and the audience. At one point, Marks said, "I'm disappointed we're not going to argue more."

Crenca jumped on Frankel's warning and turned it into a call for civil disobedience. With universities' purchasing power, he said, they could demand that Internet service providers pressure Congress to change copyright laws.

Marks said that in an age of corporate conglomeration, Sony, which runs a record label trying to stop the downloading of music, also makes computers that make downloading possible, and CD burners that facilitate copying.

Marks and Crenca, the two artists on the panel, fielded questions on the impact of downloading on the economic prospects for their art.

Crenca said that the concept of art for free doesn't bother him as an artist. "I've had three or four paintings stolen, and I've got boxes of CDs that I can't get rid of." While the thefts were hurtful experiences because the paintings were possessions, Crenca said, "culture thrives on this sort of sharing. . . . There is nothing original in the world."

"I wish more of my music was downloaded," Marks said.

Frankel asked Marks and Crenca what they would do if they were signed to record labels, and downloading was cutting into their sales.

Marks began by repeating that he "absolutely rejected" the notion that downloading leads to a reduction in record sales, saying that people download music to check it out, then buy it. "If [people] like it, they'll pay for it."

Marks and Crenca also attacked the notion that copyright law exists to protect artists.

"The population that the RIAA is claiming to protect is minuscule," Crenca said, likening it to the number of athletes who sign multimillion-dollar contracts.

Marks referred to Puff Daddy's 1998 hit, "I'll Be Missing You," which took from The Police's "Every Breath You Take." "I think it's bizarre that an artist can take a Police song and put new lyrics on it and win a Grammy, and I put a two-second Star Wars sample on one of my songs and I can't afford to get it pressed" because of the copyright fees.

He also said the standard record contract pays artists roughly 20 cents on each CD sold. He told the audience to look at recording artists who sell millions of records, but are still making commercials and movies when, theoretically, they shouldn't need the money.

"These people don't have the things they tell you they have. And the recording industry isn't protecting these people; they're using them," he said.

Marks said he knew many musicians who still have to keep day jobs, but managed to tour Europe with their bands, thanks to the exposure they'd gotten over the Internet.

And he said there was no reason artists couldn't navigate the music business by themselves, with a little legal help and some savvy.

"We've perpetuated this idea that artists can't protect themselves," he said.