Scott Andrew - lo-fi acoustic pop superhero!

I made an offhand comment on a music message board about how I thought CD copy-protection schemes were pointless, and how it was like saying to your fans, “I don’t trust you.”

Apparently I offended some guy who has a business that “does” CD copy-protection. He wrote me an email saying he was stunned at how more musicians seem to be on the side of pirates these days, and that it was jerks like me (he actually used a more colorful term) that make DRM such a hard sell. I didn’t argue with him, but against my better judgment I wrote back asking if he really thought calling me a jerk was going to change my mind.

You know, as a rule, if you’re a “new media” business owner and you’re really on the side of artists, you’d do well not to send nasty emails to potential customers or leave profanity-laden comments on other people’s websites. Why on earth would I do business with you? I’m amazed at how some of these people conduct themselves in public. I mean, what’s so hard about saying “I guess we just disagree then?”

Recently, when the founder (the founder!) of a rather large digital distribution company left an f-word-riddled anti-P2P rant on a site I read, I wrote to CD Baby (who handles my own digital distribution) to ensure that my music would not be delivered to the aforementioned company. Sure, they’d only get a few pennies from selling my music, but I don’t do business with jerks, even if they’re as big as Sony, so they don’t get my pennies.

I’m getting a little tired of these new media moguls who assume all musicians are terrified of filesharing and can’t wait to line up for their craptacular service. Then, when they find out some of us have the opposite view, they freak out, sometimes in the worst way. Earth to moonbats: we don’t need you, so stop acting so surprised.