this update will have very little meaning for 98% of the people who might read it. but i’m hoping that the 2% for whom this update is intended might read it and take it to heart.
it involves….software licenses.
very exciting stuff, huh…
well, i’m in the process of installing a new pro-tools rig in my studio, and in an attempt at being ethical i’ve gone out and purchased all of the plug-in software packages that i might want to use. i’m doing this because i wanted to support the software industry, because they work hard and i felt like they deserve money for their efforts.
but here’s the problem…every software package that i’ve purchased has an authorization code or process that’s required to get the software to work. and most of these companies don’t include the code with the software. so you have to email the companies and they send you the code. or so it should be. 90% of the software codes that we’ve tried to legally get have been problematic or have involved some sort of pain in the ass problem that has meant that i haven’t been able to use the software.
so the people with whom i’m re-doing my studio and i kind of looked at each other and said, ‘the software companies are making it so difficult for us to be ethical and do the right thing that in the future we should probably just use pirated copies, cos the pirated copies don’t require codes and work easily the moment that you install them.’
so i’m writing to people who might work at software companies, specifically people who write music software.
there are a lot of musicians who want to do the right thing and pay for software.
but if you make it extremely difficult for people to actually use the software that they’ve paid for you’ll just encourage people to use pirated copies of the software that you’ve created.
that’s it. now i’m going to go write music, but without the use of a lot of software that i’ve paid for. i hope that i don’t have to use cracked versions, but i will be forced to if the legitimate versions that i’ve paid for don’t work.
the lesson (for record companies, software companies, etc) would be ‘dont penalize the people who actually want to legally support you.’
thanks,
moby