Something I need y’all youngins to understand growing up in the age of crypto and streaming is that digital ownership is not ownership. Digital ownership is renting.
If you have, say, House (2022) on Netflix. That new stop motion movie. You don’t own that movie. You pay to have access, to that movie, but you don’t physically own it. It isn’t yours to take with you or put in a blu ray player. You’re paying to maybe watch it.
The movie is something you can access so long as Netflix is active and you pay for access. If one of those things changes you no longer can see that movie. If the movie goes to a different streaming service it is gone. (You should buy any movie you want to see again or would be sad if it left streaming).
Same with digital video games. Silent Hills PT is a playable trailer that, because of the Kojima/Konami dispute, was pulled from PSN. You cannot download it anymore. A physical disc cannot be taken from you, it can always be put in your console and played. Having the physical game is owning it having the downloaded game is renting it.
You’re promised these things forever but you only have access to rented digital goods for as long as the site supports it. And eventually that will change. You can pop in a Mario 64 cartridge into your N64 anytime you want and play. You cannot download a digital copy of Halo 2 to an original xbox because that support has been shut down (and modern consoles don’t let you carry your entire library on your system storage). If you have a disc of Horizon Zero Dawn you can always play it. If you have a digital copy that will go away given enough time.
Same with digital card games. Magic the Gathering has had multiple online formats. When they close one to make another your entire collection is gone. They offer you the idea of collecting but it only means anything if the servers are active. Physical cards can always be used and can even be used in inventive ways like horde mode. That’s how commander/EDH got its start.
Spotify is great for music exploration but download music you like. Go to the library and check out cd’s to put on your computer or go to bandcamp and get albums DRM free. My family switched itunes email accounts in 2011 and its junked up 3 years of purchases requiring us to rebuy them.
As much as NFT bros want you to believe it digital ownership is NOT ownership. The concept of digital ownership relies on false scarcity (minting a limited number of NFT’s when more could have been made) and a few clever words to make you think the netflix library is YOUR movie library. Its really fucking convenient for big businesses who can squeeze every drop of money out of you without giving anything tangible in return.
Digital ownership is NOT ownership.
That’s a goos point. Files without DRM, or digital rights management, are files you do own. I believe gog.com has DRM free as does bandcamp.
As much as I go on the “PLEASE PAY CREATORS (ESPECIALLY INDIES) FOR THEIR WORK” bandwagon… yes, this.
I FUCKING HATE THAT I GREW UP WITH THE GOOD INTERNET I HATE THAT I REMEMBER GOOGLE SEARCHING A TERM AND FINDING OUT EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS I HATE THAT I REMEMBER WELL DESIGNED WEBSITES MADE FOR EASY VIEW AND NOT TO BOMB YOU WITH ADS I HATE THAT I REMEMBER WHEN APPS WERE TRYING TO BE THEIR BEST AND NOT TO SELL THE MOST I HATE HOW CAPITALISM AFFECTS EVERYTHING AROUND ME AND I HATE THAT I CAN SEE IT SO CLEARLY IN HOW IT AFFECTS THE INTERNET
Recently nominated for a Grammy in the Best Urban Contemporary Album, Sydney Bennett is better known as “Syd tha Kyd” - one half of the eclectic soul group The Internet. She famously came out of the closet in the pair’s debut music video for “Cocaine”.
“I decided to do it because I wish I had someone like that [an openly gay female artist] while I was coming up,” she told LA Weekly in January 2012. “People write on my Tumblr just thanking me for making the video, saying that I really inspire them, and they want to be like me. But I wasn’t always this way, this comfortable with myself, and I remember what that was like.”
Since that interview, she has followed The Internet’s debut album Purple Naked Ladies with two additional projects - Feel GoodandEgo Death. She is also known for her production work with the California hip-hop collective Odd Future.
Watch the music video for The Internet’s “Girl” below:
