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Chinese knock-off basses

#224
bholder said:
Music is always free when you make it yourself. :) Music made by others should be paid for unless the artists decide to give it away for free.
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It depends how society is structured. If things were run by a religion that meant that musicians played in city centres, and you could choose, if observant, to give them alms or not, then music for free might be an option.
 
#232
bholder said:
Music is always free when you make it yourself. :) Music made by others should be paid for unless the artists decide to give it away for free.
Click to expand...

Perhaps now, and I have no real philosophical disagreement with now. But if this principle had been rigorously applied across the decades, the landscape of music today would be quite different. Back in the day when a car's back seat was as large as a room in a Microtel (and softness of springs was a big deal), most neighborhoods (in my town at any rate) had a community center, every weekend most of those community centers held a sock hop: high school garage bands playing hits off top 40 am radio. Nobody paid licensing royalties to ASCAP, BMI, or SECUS. If they had to, nobody could have afforded it and there would have been no sock hops and no bands and a lot fewer pickers than are on the landscape now.
And ASCAP, BMI, and SECUS did not care; this "free music" was alright by them. They made their money off licensing fees paid by the nightclubs (and at the time I am speaking of, the Bossier Strip had a looooot of clubs).

Now, the licensing agencies have gotten predatory and are going after even the tiniest venues with a vengeance. The upshot of this is that nobody in my current area can afford to host live music -- not when they have to pay fees to ASCAP *AND* BMI *AND* SECUS. And the venues that did had to stop under threat of litigation from the licensing agencies. I know; I've spoken with the venue owners. No venues mean no bands; and no bands means no upcoming generations of pickers. Cui bono?

The old way was not perfect, but minimal harm was done. The present way is even less perfect and does much harm. There ought to be a media via that would satisfy the most important needs of all parties concerned.
 
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#233
Coal.
In pre-industrial Yorkshire you would dig your own. For free.
Later, when the mills or the pits claimed your waking hours, and you had no time to dig your coal, there would be a man with a horse and cart coming along the street - selling coal.
Welcome to the future.

Lancashire pubs, where I learned and played folk songs, are no longer an environment which supports this culture.
Music, like the water that falls from the sky, has to be paid for.
But the telly is for free -- so that we know what to think.

Compare the two -
Television stifles conversation, communication, -- sealing each in their delineated bubble.
A good jam unites the players and audience and people benefit from a shared experience.
This is not to be encouraged. Obviously.

I don't think dull people move to Spain - I've not met any yet.
I have met a lot of musicians, and joined a tentative jazz combo as tenor sax.
If I can get it together with the new double bass which should arrive next week, there will be people looking for a bassist.
The local flamenco singer often walks up the canyon through my garden, and sometimes, if he feels like it, he sings.
He doesn't charge.
Any bar welcomes a bit of a sing-song, spot of jazz, flash of Flamenco, (which sounds to me like the music of childbirth).
We are still at the stage of evolution where, though you can park wherever you like with impunity, so can everyone else -- so you act with consideration and so does everyone else.
In short, to a great extent, we are treated like grown-ups.
 
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#234
Agni said:
Would a grizzly playing banjo have the right to bear alms?
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Don't you mean arms bears?

Back to the present topic, musician has been a profession the world over for centuries. Like any other job, one deserves to be compensated for their work, and those who want something of value should be prepared to pay a fair value for it.
 
#235
-Asdfgh- said:
Time's not helpful if you are cold and hungry all the time. So I'll take some time, some food, shelter, and some basses, please. Oh, and love, a good pet, maybe some nice clothes. And internet. And a car would be handy. And...
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I noticed that basses come right after food and shelter but way ahead of love, pets, clothes, internet and a car...
Just saying. :)

I love it when someone has their priorities in order!
 
#236
Agni said:
Coal.
In pre-industrial Yorkshire you would dig your own. For free.
Later, when the mills or the pits claimed your waking hours, and you had no time to dig your coal, there would be a man with a horse and cart coming along the street - selling coal.
Welcome to the future.

Lancashire pubs, where I learned and played folk songs, are no longer an environment which supports this culture.
Music, like the water that falls from the sky, has to be paid for.
But the telly is for free -- so that we know what to think.

Compare the two -
Television stifles conversation, communication, -- sealing each in their delineated bubble.
A good jam unites the players and audience and people benefit from a shared experience.
This is not to be encouraged. Obviously.

I don't think dull people move to Spain - I've not met any yet.
I have met a lot of musicians, and joined a tentative jazz combo as tenor sax.
If I can get it together with the new double bass which should arrive next week, there will be people looking for a bassist.
The local flamenco singer often walks up the canyon through my garden, and sometimes, if he feels like it, he sings.
He doesn't charge.
Any bar welcomes a bit of a sing-song, spot of jazz, flash of Flamenco, (which sounds to me like the music of childbirth).
We are still at the stage of evolution where, though you can park wherever you like with impunity, so can everyone else -- so you act with consideration and so does everyone else.
In short, to a great extent, we are treated like grown-ups.
Click to expand...

You started off well, talking about Yorkshire, but it went down hill in the second paragraph.
 
#239
Pete Langford said:
What does anyone know about the chinese knock-off basses? I was told about the D.H. Gates web site and checked it out. They look great and are amazingly cheap.
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My friend is a very respected jazzer in my town, he s talked about getting a couple. He knows their quality is substan but plans to take to a luthier for set up. I say do the same....go for it before the “Trump tarrifs” kick in
 

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