Taking an overview on the internet, I came across one of my compositions on a very famous score sharing site. Later, I realized there were severa cases like that. These scores got there by the hands of my own followers.
This fact, so common, hides a promiscuous and obscure reality that is misappropriation. The strangest thing is that the person who provides the material without proper authorization does not gain anything from it. The site, on the other hand, wins - and wins a lot. That is, the subject deliberately transfers the artist's earnings to the accounts of rich and, morally, very suspicious companies.
And why does that happen?
It's a tradition. In the musical world, there is a petty common practice of "copying to save". It even seems law: decades ago, K7 tapes appeared, photocopies (Xerox), CDs... They are products created to make life easier, but that were clandestinely used for unauthorized copies. Today, we have the MP3 and the PDF itself leading this practice.
Adjusting the focus of this text to the music, I realize that, in addition to copying, the person still shares for free. It seems that the insignificance of the soul of this person of low esteem finds ent in the feeling of usefulness and belonging when sharing other people's works at no cost. These people find their spaces in the caress of the supposed recognition.
Some squander the counter sense of buying and then giving it for free, as if they were doing a good deed. In fact, it's the opposite.
Most autonomous professions follow a logical path. A doctor studies, trains, makes a residency, specializes, works in a hospital and sets up a private clinic to make a living. Engineers, lawyers and psychologists, among other professionals, take a very similar path. Keeping the characteristics of each case, if they comply with all the steps, they do not even need to be brilliant. Everything happens like making a script or a cake recipe.
In the art world, this is very different. The artist has to reinvent himself at all times, creating paths in the "sand", where the first wave is in charge of erasing the footprints.
The musician who wakes up to this reality, soon realizes that the predictions for his own livelihood in old age are not at all encouraging. One of the possibilities for the glimpse of a quieter life is to create materials of interest to his target audience.
The production of didactic and artistic written or recorded material, has proven to be a good alternative, especially nowadays, with digital distribution. All the dedication to improving knowledge and performance can and has been a useful source for the new generations, who benefit from the knowledge of their predecessor, effectively transmitted by modern technology.
The strangest thing about all this comes now:
Why does this material have to be distributed free of charge?
Why does someone buy a material to almost immediately donate to friends, students and even to platforms, who usually make a lot of money from it?
Why is this abuse, with hints of hatred, practiced fairly against those we admire and paved the road we want to follow?
The most frightening thing is that the great villains of this practice are exactly the teachers, the musicians and the lovers of art. They don't even realize that they have committed a crime, in addition to harming their colleagues and idols.
In the past, there was the old argument that scores were difficult to find and that they were expensive. Today, there is no more of that excuse. Many artists sell their products directly to the consumer, without the participation of a middleman (storman, distributor, publisher, etc.) for very symbolic prices that, under no circumstances, pays for the immense work dedicated to the realization of this material. Even so, the "baby" goes there and gives a light touch in the first domino in the row, knocks everything down and still finds it funny.
Once, I did the following poll with friends and students:
– Do you buy your child's school supplies, or do you make a copy of his little friend's books?
The answer was unanimous: they prefer to buy, of course. If a little boy arrives at school full of photocopies, he may even be bullied, and his father will be embarrassed. Actually it should be a shame. But in music that's not what happens. If you buy a score or a method, think about "helping" colleagues by sharing everything for free. In addition to not feeling ashamed, they are proud.
Therefore, dear colleagues, students, friends and music lovers, stop perpetuating this practice. Pay the fair value for the material that enriches your soul and knowledge. Do not abuse your idols and references, because this attitude is like going to mass to calm the soul, but do not miss the chance to steal the pot of money from the crown.
One day, those who are lucky enough to reach an older age, will understand the feeling of having their work treated as something disposable, which is given by their own hands to the recycler - who will still want to sell you back what you already payed for. Believe me: this account will come and you will remember this text.
Copy and share maybe is just out of envy, a kind of hatred proper to those who have no talent. In my opinion, this is the only plausible justification.