From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!cmcl2!lanl-a!unm-ivax!nmtvax!greg
Newsgroups: net.music
Title: Re: tape tax
Article-I.D.: nmtvax.192
Posted: Thu Feb 17 08:50:56 1983
Received: Tue Feb 22 08:14:26 1983

    There was a recent note by Carl Blesch in net.audio in which he seemed to
be against a tax on blank audio tape (the collected tax monies would presumably
be distributed among music companies and artists to reimburse them for losses
sustained when people copied a record or commercial tape instead of buying the
original).  The tax actually seems only fair to me.  These people (artists
and companies) are in the music business.  That's how they make their living.
It's unreasonable to expect them to keep calm when there are, say, two million
copies of their work floating around, but they only got paid for one million
of those copies.  Someone who copies an album instead of buying it is, in
effect, stealing something which was meant to be bought.
    Although there are a number of side issues (which I'm sure I'll hear about
after this), certainly the artists deserve to get *something* when a copy is
made of their work, but nothing is paid (to them) for it.

greg