Mises Wire

“Death of ACTA” Music Video by Dan Bull

“Death of ACTA” Music Video by Dan Bull

First, there was “Fear the Boom and Bust,” the excellent Hayek v. Keynes rap video, and Nina Paley’s catchy “Copying is not Theft” and her creative “All Creative Work Is Derivative”–now there’s the anti-IP inspired “Death of ACTA” by Dan Bull, which opposes IP and ACTA. Video below (warning: some profanity). The lyrics is obviously inspired by the scarcity-focussed pro-property rights position, not by the anti-property mentality of some “dot-communist” so-called opponents of IP. On Bull’s FaceBook page, he displays his creativity in making money off of bundled scarce and non-scarce goods:

When you buy my CD, I’ll write a unique rhyme into the artwork for you, on any topic you choose. Tell me your topic in the PayPal form. Get clicking:

http://itsdanbull.com/shop

p.s. Take my Mises Academy course on IP, starting tomorrow (Monday).

also, the lyrics to the video are pasted below.

 

Lyrics:

Prelude: Gotta thank JZ for this one…
Here’s a song about what he thought was destroying our rich musical culture
but I don’t think it’s auto-tune
It’s something much … worse …

***

Only rapper to be called a thief without stealing
Download an MP3 for free, these people hit the ceiling
I’m just a citizen that’s teaching you a lesson
for restricting my freedom of expression
How can ideas be possessions when they’re freely replicable?
Hence unapplicable property laws are reprehensible
Didn’t Jefferson express his opinion on the matter
when he said inventions shouldn’t be given a patent
What happened to that thinking, we’re stuck in a pattern
where the people with everything are keeping everything from us who haven’t
We want it back, look, fed up of adverts, left and right
begging me to buy til there’s nothing left of mine
to spend, never mind, who’s next in line to testify
that we need laws like these to protect our rights?
Medicine has never been something I’d ever deprive
especially when a life depends on it to survive
Yeah, it takes an incredible effort to develop them right
but putting wealth over health, I said it’s never been right

I’m just a citizen that’s teaching you a lesson
for restricting my freedom of expression, and I reckon
if old blues themes hadn’t been used by Led Zeppelin
we wouldn’t ever have any heavy metal then
the history of music would have never even happened
and amusingly there wouldn’t even be a Metallica
to tell us that we should hang on the gallows of law
so we wouldn’t even need to have a Gallo Report
Oh and by the way the fricking Gallo’s support
is made of signatures which have been apparently forged
This shit is sinister, and cannot be allowed to enforce
so tell your ministers and MEPs of how it’s been brought about
Although you’ll probably get a shallow retort
because the lobbyists have got a grip around all their balls
If I was boss, I’d tell them get the Hell out the door
because I’ve had enough of corrupt crooks ramming through laws

I’m just a citizen that’s teaching you a lesson
for restricting my freedom of expression
Yes, and deep packet inspection? squeeze that up your rectum
If your postman did that to you you’d be having him sectioned
arrested for meddling in your private affairs
But it’s only online, right? so why should we care?
Because digital rights should be applicable right
here in real life, and we’re not criminals, right?
So this is just why we’ll never give up the fight
to be considered innocent until we kick up and die
Giving internet providers responsibility
for the whims of their subscribers infringes privacy
Before the internet, media was a rarity
but how do you expect it to keep its value without scarcity
And that’s what scares me, seeing their cons and schemes
to stop their creaking business model being obsolete
What a robbery they pull off so obviously
Don’t give a fuck who it affects as long as it’s not me
Well I’ll keep making copies, see if they can stop me
They’ll have to confiscate my PC and take it off me
See there’s no problem with taking my property
for creating some lines of binary, blatant hypocrisy
Afraid to face the controversy relating to what we need
Making a profit off it or breaking monopolies

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