by Vlad G Pohnert » Wed Nov 16, 2005 11:16 pm
As expected, this news has brought about quite a bit of reactions here…
One thing we should keep in mind in the discussions that there are principles, beliefs and opinions and then there is the law. It’s nowhere said the law is always right and can’t be wrong, but it’s what governs our society and what we live by. Take for example a speeding ticket, you may not agree with the posted speed limit, but if you break it you end up paying a fine. You may always argue and fight it and sometimes that may work, but in the end the only way to change the law it self to meet what you belief should be correct. However, it should be noted that if a law protects your personal interests, it's funny how suddenly it's a good Law!
Hence, there are two sides to this, so just because one side thinks it’s wrong, the other does not. Now there is nothing wrong with fighting laws, but it normally means sacrifice patience, strategy, money and a lot of time. It’s not something easy and you must commit to it if you want to see it to the end, and even then you may not get what you want. Just ask those who have all of the above how long it takes…?
Also, in general, a lot say the Avatar industry here are a lot of nice people and the Music industry is evil. How can you even compare the two, the music industry is an institution that has been around for a long time and sells to their products to the main stream public who buy in the billions… Avatar is still a fragile market mainly fueled by fans. It’s not main stream and relies on fans for support. Does anyone really think it would be any different if Avatar goes full mainstream and makes them billions? They would use the same laws as the record industry against tinny group such as us who the majority of consumers don’t even know exists…?
Finally, Phade has done a great job in dealing with this issue. He has done it very politely making sure to deal with the parties in a professional manor. They have nothing against this site; they are just exercising their choice on their property. It should also occur to us that they to have a just as much of a right to choose to say yes or no to us using their property. Even as a band, is it really wrong of them to say to a group they would not rather have their music used by them without permission?
The bottom line is, it happened, Phade dealt with it and all is not lost… May I suggest we use our collective thoughts to come up with strategies to improve our odds of this not happening again rather than rash action and doom and gloom…
Vlad