In the brief time that I’ve been at Wesleyan I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive energy that is in the air. The student body is friendly, the campus is beautiful, and even though course selection was difficult the professors seem energetic and interesting. Unfortunately, my experience here has been slightly mired by one student (at least I think he’s a student), who has been selling bootleg tapes around campus. When I first saw his sign “tapes $8.00” at the activities fair a couple weeks ago, I felt hurt to my very soul. I really did have to hold back tears. The Grateful Dead, Phish and Bob Dylan do not let tapers into their shows so that those tapers can make a profit. These musicians want to spawn a caring and informal distribution of their music, and they have been successful. Internet sites have popped up for “traders,” and millions of tapes are traded, building up small, private collections across this country and across this world. The community of tape traders is a small island of random kindness in the rushing river of corporate greed. Fellow student, when you attempt to make money by selling bootleg tapes you are eroding this island of kindness. You are bringing your selfish form of capitalism into one of the last places I know of where generosity still exists.
My Brother, I want you to stop selling bootleg tapes for profit. I don’t want to take this to a legal level, and I’m not sure because I’m not a lawyer, but selling tapes of live performances without the band’s permission is something that sounds a little sketchy. I will talk to a lawyer, however, unless you stop selling bootleg tapes. I hope you are a good enough man to stop your practice on moral grounds, not legal ones.
When I went up to you at your booth and told you how much I was hurt by your business you responded by telling me how you’re against “mass production” or something like that. Bullshit. You’re still making money off some really great musicians’ generosity. You’re still making money off copying bootlegs that were given to you by some kind tape trader who probably couldn’t fathom the idea of selling bootlegs for profit. Some of the nicest people I’ve ever associated with were tape traders. When I first started collecting Grateful Dead bootlegs, I sent 10 blank tapes to a stranger from California who I had contacted through the Internet. A couple of weeks later I got a package with 15 recorded tapes from that stranger. That is a kind of generosity that is lacking in our society today. My friend, your business endeavor is destroying a community of tape traders which fosters this level of generosity. Brothers and Sisters, please do not buy tapes from this profit-hungry person. You are only contributing to the destruction of a beautiful thing.
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