John Perry Barlow's reaction:You have no idea how sad I am about this. I fought it hammer and tong, but the drummers had inoperable bricks in their head about it.
What's worse is that they now want to remove all Dead music from the Web. They might as easily put a teaspoon of food coloring in a swimming pool and then tell the pool owner to get it back to them.
It's like finding out that your brother is a child molester. And then, worse, having everyone then assume that you're a child molester too. I've been called a hypocrite in three languages already.
How magnificently counter-productive of them. It's as if the goose who laid the golden egg had decided to commit suicide so that he could get more golden eggs.
This is just the beginning of the backlash, I promise you.
This is worse than the RIAA suing their customers. Still, the sad part is just that certain members of the dead family have no clue. Coming from a group that was always *way* ahead of the curve in terms of understanding how intellectual property actually works in the modern world just makes it all the worse. But, to keep things in perspective, this isn't gong to change anything. You will still be able to download everything the dead ever recorded (which is almost everything they ever played) for free on the internet. The only difference is that Grateful Dead Merchandising has now made themselves the enemy rather than the recipient of copious amounts of good will. So really it's their loss.
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- jim 11-29-2005 10:05 pm