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cory doctorow
And it’s not just the indies who benefit: the existence of suc-
cessful independent artists creates fantastic leverage for artists
who negotiate with the majors. More and more, the big media
companies’ “like it or leave it” bargaining stance is being under-
mined by the possibility that the next big star will shrug, turn on
her heel, and make her fortune without the big companies’ help.
This has humbled the bigs, making their deals better and more
artist-friendly.
Bargaining leverage is just for starters. The greatest threat
that art faces is suppression. Historically, artists have struggled
just to make themselves heard, just to safeguard the right to ex-
press themselves. Censorship is history’s greatest enemy of art.
A limited-liability Web is a Web where anyone can post anything
and reach
everyone.
What’s more, this privilege isn’t limited to artists. All manner
of communication, from the personal introspection in public
“diaries” to social chatter on MySpace and Facebook, are now pos-
sible. Some artists have taken the bizarre stance that this “trivial”
matter is unimportant and thus a poor excuse for allowing hosted
services to exist in the first place. This is pretty arrogant: a society
where only artists are allowed to impart “important” messages
and where the rest of us are supposed to shut up about our loves,
hopes, aspirations, jokes, family, and wants is hardly a democratic
paradise.
Artists are in the free expression business, and technology
that helps free expression helps artists. When lowering the cost
of copyright enforcement raises the cost of free speech, every
artist has a duty to speak out. Our ability to make our art is in-
extricably linked with the billions of Internet users who use the
network to talk about their lives.
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