The Internet Scam

How much does twitter owe you?

And T-Bone Burnett on the same issue:

If somebody had come down from Silicon Valley 30 years ago and said "I've got this new technology, and you're gonna be able to see all around the world, transfer your stuff all over the world, you're gonna be able to send things, you'll be able to see your friends, you'll be able to hear music -- all you have to do is give up your privacy and your royalties," everybody would have said, "Get the f--- out of town! Right now! Get out of here!" Instead, these guys came down with their shtick, and everybody went "Well, how can we make money from this great new technology?" "Oh, you're not gonna make money from it. Everything's gonna be free. Just give us the intellectual property we can send around in our pipes, everybody will subscribe, and then we'll be rich. Not you, though." [Laughs.] "Don't ask us what we're doing with the money. Just make the stuff and send it to us for free." That's how much of a straight-up con it's been. People in Hollywood, we should go up there with pitchforks and torches to Silicon Valley now. Unfortunately, that's [how sophisticated] our response would be -- pitchforks and torches.

Hat tip, Andy.

Hey.  He's right.  I'm sure every middle manager at Apple and Twitter is now a millionaire while Cat Power is broke.

This is cannibalism.  At least the Hollywood studios, stingy and corrupt as they are, pay the actors and filmmakers residuals and royalties.  These internet people take what other people make, turn it into a cheap digital copy, and take $1 and give the creators 5 cents.  Who put in the work to make this stuff?  The struggling musician who worked 10 years to hone their craft or or the kid who took 3 engineering classes at Stanford and knows how make a small sized digital file?