The title of the legendary Bob Dylan’s song fits really well to the idea I want to expose.
Dylan says in his song that “you’d better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone”. After watching a couple of times the documentary Good copy bad copy (2007, directed by three Danish guys: Andreas Johnsen, Ralf Christensen and Henrik Moltke), the main idea I can extract is that Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), among a lot of similar associations, is wrong.
According with what Dan Glickman, MPAA’s chief lobbyist, says in the documentary, they won’t change their mind, they will fight piracy in the same old way that brought them to be, nowadays, losing the battle. They don’t think they have to change. From my point of view, they’re not swimming, and they’re sinking like a stone.
I think that MPAA is wrong because, as we can see in the movie, there’s a lot of ways to face piracy, or even to make some profit of it. I’m not saying that the Brazilian Tecno Brega or the Nigerian cinema business structures would be applicable to Hollywood or to the big musical markets. I don’t think so. But are good examples that, if they were creative and open-minded, they could find a better way to fight against piracy. That idea is also suggested by Olivier Chastan, of the reggae label VP Records, in the film.
Bob Dylan also sings “come senators, congressmen, please heed the call, don’t stand at the doorway, don’t block up the hall”. That also fits well to this case, cause would be really useful a change in the copyright policies of a lot of countries around the world (in Spain, for example, we need it, cause we’ve got an association that is really similar to the MPAA, la Sociedad General de Autores [SGAE] that is also quite useless by now), but, at least, is necessary a redefinition of the copyright limits, that must be updated according to nowadays technological circumstances.
All these associations can’t expect to control the world of piracy, because this is not possible nowadays. They, with the police and the old laws, can help to catch some important pirates. But if you just catch an enemy every once in a while you’re about to lose the war. In my opinion, they have to change the strategy.
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Times are a changin! Strategies need to be changed!! Agreed.
I’m agree with you. They have to change their strategy, because it’s obvious that the way they are facing the problem doesn’t work.
Same, I agree, like that you reflect with Bob dylans song.
Great way to interpret Bob Dylan to moderna issues. The government must work with the times not against it.