Factory on Copying

News Flash: Arguments for and against the copying of music are not new, and do not start and end with the Internet era, despite the folks on both sides arguing that the Internet Changed Everything. (Memo to self - immediately disregard anyone who ever claims that something Changed Everything.)

Here's a Factory Communications press release, circa 1988, very much written in the late Tony Wilson's voice (it would appear) with the proper sentiment:

"The dangers of copying will only be fought off by a continuing attention to the fetishism of the artefact: the desire of the fan to possess not just a piece of music but a piece of the artist, by the purchase of the official item. Concentration on design, packaging, and the artist's role in this set of product imagery will inevitably render copying a minor irritation."

The copying at issue back then was DAT, a worthy medium that was rendered completely useless by the record industry's insistence that Something Had To Be Done To Prevent Copying.

Almost twenty years have passed, but the Clue Phone's still ringing. You'd think someone in the record industry would have picked it up by now.