Interview about Copyrights on The Illusion of More

September 14, 2012 - Leave a comment...

Earlier this week I was interviewed by David Newhoff from The Illusion of More about copyrights, file sharing, intellectual property, and the broader ramifications of being a dick. As David said:

Matthew’s strategy for forging a career in the age of file-sharing, torrents, and remixes is to do all he can to introduce his listeners to the man and the work behind the music. Critical of both the traditional music industry and thoughtless file sharers, Matthew’s song The Last Pirate is what caught my attention and led me to ask him for this interview.

Now you can hear this interview in all its glory, rambling, and terrible jokes over at The Illusion of More

And of course you can hear The Last Pirate right here at Matthew Ebel dot com.

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  • W Ebel

    It’s all about 1) Art, and 2) Money! And it’s a balancing act for artists. They have to eat and pay their bills. But they also have to (… as in HAVE TO to stay human) create. Both require certain behaviors from fans and supporters. Cash being one of them. Recognition being the other.

    Go Matt!

  • DeVille

    Best line in the interview: those only willing to download your music for free – swiping it really – are NOT FANS. I could not agree more. Some artists seem to see things less clearly and like the fact that their music is simply getting “out there.” These folks are either hopeless amateurs or are the types who, when their house gets robbed of all its contents, feel good because the robber in effect has complimented their good taste.

    Curious website link. I’m all for intellectual property protection for songwriters and musicians. I am so often discouraged by the blatant ripoffs that are totally commonplace. Extraordinarily talented musicians are dropping out of the “business” as a result of the pie shrinking so drastically – I bet you know more than a few of these casualties. That said, I don’t see how this website that is a comprehensive condemnation of the Internet – from crowdsourcing dictionaries to child porn to 3D printing of guns to the general erosion of Culture-with-a-capital-C – is going to help the cause of intellectual property protection for artists. Artists’ rights will not be advanced if their issue is conflated with arguments that the Internet is bad per se – or at least bad on an endless litany of fronts that has nothing to do with artists rights. Arguing against the Internet in this way is a dead loser, and artists are far better off not wrapping themselves – or letting themselves be wrapped! – in that retrograde, counterproductive, impractical blanket.