Back in time before technology allowed for recorded music, it was almost impossible to steal a song. The only available option was listening to the minstrels or singing the songs to yourself after they had left. It was a hell of a life for the music lovers in those days.
With the introduction of the magnetic tape, copying or “stealing” music became a piece of cake for the first time. I was a kid then, but my Uncle had a few tricks he employed to make copies of music:
Taping it off the radio: This involved waiting patiently for the song you wanted to be played on the radio, and then praying hard enough so the presenter doesn’t talk over it. It was always a fist pump and high fives when the presenter kept his voice inside him for the full length of the song. Listening to their voice over the song became annoying each time you played the song.
Taping it from another tape: He’d often do swaps with his buddies –both buy a different tape, and then tape each others using the old school double decker tape recorder– simple mechanics, give and take. A bit like the web should be – let others access your files while you access theirs. The basic economics of trade – by sharing they both had more.
Steal from the music store: Yes!! Am sure some people (don’t even think my uncle did this, I trust him!) did this. It was the only way to get a perfect record without paying a price. (that’s if you were lucky to get away with it). All the above had blurred quality.
That was all until we entered the digital age. The bad news for music sellers is, anyone can get a perfect copy of music, even from perfect strangers like The Pirates Bay, Kick Ass, YouTube, and an endless list of other sites that provide free high quality music. Some of them have been closed by copyright enforcers, but still the music hasn’t stopped. It’s a battle anyone selling recorded music will never win. In Uganda, a new song spreads as soon as it is released from studio. People share it on social media platforms like whatsapp, emails, Bluetooth and directly onto their phones from a PC.
There is already a wide range of available options to copy the music. It will even get worse in the future since technology is an organism with its own agenda. It will be difficult for police to solve since the technology that merges with out biology will surely arrive and be implemented before most industries -especially those pertaining copyright, realize the implications of such tech. This tech may enable humans have petabytes of holding capacity, that will get perfect copies of everything we see or hear. Will this be coping? How will enforcers even guess what we are holding in our extended memories?
The fact though is that all biology and technology is founded upon the concept of ‘copying’. Everything from single cell organisms, to human DNA, to manufacturing. Copying is ‘the’ feature, not a bug. The future may not hold good news for any business model built on this idea that all copies are controlled by the originator. Since technology makes copying simpler everyday, that type of business model can’t work in the coming future. It worked for a blip of time for humanity during the 20th century – it was the anomaly. If any business wants to survive in the future, it should be built around the idea where things getting copied is what you actually want.
