Wolverine is not amused.

Here’s an example of crossing the line with copyright: On April 1, 2009, thousands of people were able to watch an online, unfinished cut of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This film is not due to open for several weeks. First of all, piracy of this sort is just plain theft. People have dedicated months if not years to realizing this film, and salaries are paid to not only Hugh Jackman but also, say, the caterer. Stealing the film reduces the economic incentive to provide work to the public.

Equally annoying is that this is not even a final cut of the film! Let’s put this in composer perspective: Imagine you have been commissioned to write a symphony to the New York Philharmonic. (It’s okay to imagine big!) Now, suppose you are listening to your MIDI mock-up of the score–and we all know how bad those can sound — and you are considering adding a section to your slow movement, and maybe cutting a large portion out of the third movement, Why? Because you think it will better serve your aesthetic intentions. Now suppose you discover your MIDI mock-up of your incomplete masterpieces suddenly hits the internet somehow. You are embarrassed because it is not your complete vision, the NY Phil is angry because they want the premiere with all its attendant excitement, etc. etc. etc.

The point: we should support the arts we like, just as much as we expect to be supported as artists. To be audiences of art carries resposnsibility.

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Quoting from the article: Zarin Mehta, the New York Philharmonic’s president and executive director, had this to say about the lone compact disc released by the NY Phil last year:

The CD is “a vanity project, if you like, for sponsors,” Mr. Mehta said in a recent phone conversation. Oh, he added, it will also be sold in stores. “But how many stores are there?”

When an orchestra sees a CD release on a major label as something negligible, you know that the classical recording industry is not in Kansas anymore.

Wow. How true!

The full column, by Anne Midgette, is here.

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