Why people download copyrighted material

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Arnie

I remember the first time I heard about Napster. It was in 2001 when a friend told me about a website where I could download virtually any song I could ever want for free. I was in total awe at this concept and never thought of the ramifications.

Fast forward to 2008 Napster has been converted to a store but countless sites with this concept have sprung up in it’s place. As we all know now this is illegal. The legality seems not to matter to many people and the RIAA and MPAA are taking action. All of this information is common knowledge but no one is really discussing why so many people are downloading.

I think the first reason is obvious, It’s free. But that’s not the only reason. Another reason is availability. I recently read a report that 60% of music downloads are indie label. That means the worlds largest music retailer, Wal-Mart probably does not carry most of these artists’ music. Best Buy has a little better selection but not much. The next option is the the net. In witch you need a credit or debit card to pay for anything. How many teenagers and college students have a bank account let alone a line of credit? Not many, I’m sure. Amazon and iTunes are great sources to get non top 40 music, but not if you don’t have plastic. Small record stores have all but vanished and most major retailers will not do special orders. I know this from experience. This leaves this largest age group of music consumers with little options to get what they want. I believe this is a major factor in the popularity of peer to peer file sharing.

I can’t cay that I have a good solution for this issue. Not that I haven’t given it a lot of thought, but I think I understand it.

In closing and for the record, I do not download music illegally. As a professional DJ, I have to account for all of my music and pay royalties to ASCAP. I guess I’m lucky that it’s a tax write-off anyway.

Excellent and Affordable Tech Services

Posted on April 11, 2008 by Arnie

For me, as a professional DJ in the digital age, it is imperative that I have secure backups of all of my data. There are a number of ways of achieving this. The best way that I’ve found is with Fast-Teks. Owning my own business, I have enough to worry about. I don’t need to have tech problems on top of it. That’s where Fast-Teks comes in.

Fast-teks is your one stop shop for any computer troubleshooting solutions. For your home or business they can do it all. Everything from remotely backing up important files to setting up an entire office network, Fast-Teks does it right the first time. They even do repairs and spyware removal from your home computer. Don’t let tech headaches trouble you any longer, let Fast-Teks handle it.

Stipid things DJ’s do #3

Posted on April 9, 2008 by Arnie

One of the worst things a DJ can do is to drink on the job! In absolutely no way does being drunk on the job help your performance. As everyone knows, while you’re intoxicated a lot of bad ideas seem good at the time. It’s very bad when you’re trying to make announcements but no one can understand you because you’re speech is so slurred. The occurrence of brainfarts multiplies exponentially as well. I like to drink up just as much as anyone else, but not at work. Being a DJ is still a job, don’t be drunk on the job.

Arnie

Stupid things DJ’s do #2

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Arnie

Another common mistake that I see DJ’s make is letting their personal taste get
in the way of business. This is very bad. As a professional DJ, it’s my job to play
music that people want to hear. My personal taste in music is completly irrelevant.
When someone hires me for a job, it is to do what they want and this usually does
not include trying to expand their personal taste. I can listen to all the metal
I want in the car or at home, not while someone else is paying me to play Madonna.

Besides, there are a whole lot worse jobs out there. I know, I’ve done more than
enough of them.

’til next time,
Arnie

2 Decades in the entertainment industry pt.2

Posted on March 31, 2008 by Arnie

Here we are with my second of many installments sure to come about the business of
entertaining people. To dive right in from the start, my earliest memories are of
beating on pots and pans with wooden spoons pretending to be “The Cat-Man” Peter Criss
of KISS. As a child growing up on rock music, Kiss were the ultimate super heroes and
I wanted to be just like them. I guess I got my way, having played drums in several
rock bands as well as wearing a costume and makeup whilst claiming to be a super hero.
Just not at the same time. Maybe I’ll get into the whole super hero bit some other time
as it’s quite ridiculous.

I knew as a young child that settling for a regular 9 to 5 office job just wasn’t for
me. The next bug that bit me came when I was 6 or 7 tears old when I saw the movie
“Poltergeist”. To this day, I can’t remember being so scared. I had an old, half dead
apple tree in my back yard that looked all too much like the one that attacked the
little boy in the movie. How could something of pure fantasy illicit such a strong
emotion as fear? I’m still not sure I have a good answer for that one, but I’ve certainly
learned to recreate that feeling in others. Through the years after that, I became
increasingly fascinated with the genres of horror and scifi. I watched every horror movie
and TV show that I could find. Everything from “The Twilight Zone” and “Tales From the Darkside”
to the gore soaked classics like “Day of the Dead” and “The Thing”. My fascination evolved
quickly from fear to the art of creating monsters.

I would get my opportunity to try my hand at both soon enough. When I was in 8th
grade my school had a tradition of putting on a haunted house on Halloween to help
finance a field trip. Myself and a group of friends were charged with putting the
spookshow together. I wonder if the school district had any idea what kind of monster
they were feeding. With a big help from my dad, some cardboard, paint and a whole lot
of inspiration, we pulled it off rather well. Now 19 years later I couldn’t fathom doing
anything else during the Halloween season. Welcome to the haunted attractions business!

Lots more to come very soon……..