
When I was active on Myspace (I am not anymore), “Fly me to the moon” (Frank Sinatra) was deleted from my profile.
So who deleted the song? The answer is simple: greed and ignorance.
Greed that does not understand that this world has changed. Ignorance that thinks that, if the music is available for free, people are not going to buy the CD.
A] some will say :
you are rich enough to afford having your texts here for free.
It is true that I am rich (as were Frank Sinatra, and his heirs), but this is not the point. The point is that we want to first and foremost SHARE something. If you go to most of the pages, what will you see? Fantastic pictures, great blogs, amazing photos. For free. My texts are for free here. And you can reproduce them anywhere provided that you name the author.
B] The industry will say:
artists cannot survive without being paid.
But the industry is thinking on the opposite direction of our reality today. I follow Hilal on Twitter (even if she tweets once a year…). Hilal is from Turkey, but lives in Russia (and she is the main character in ALEPH). She first read a pirate edition of “The Alchemist”. Hilal download the text, read it, decided to buy the book. Up to today, I have over 12.000.000 hard copies sold in Russia, and counting.
C] I also decided to create “The Pirate Coelho”, an non-official fan page that allows people to download the full texts in different languages. I am selling more books now than ever. (Where is it? Well, not difficult to find…)
D] How did all these social communities start?
At first it was just wanting to chat with another person. But chatting isn’t enough – we have to share the music, the book or the film that we love. When there was no law against it, this information was exchanged freely. Finally, when the entertainment industry caught on, the repression began.
E] Art is not an orange.
If you buy an orange and eat it, you have to buy another one, and then it makes sense that oranges should not be given for free, because the consumer consumes the product. Art is about beauty. Music is about beauty. If I visit a page and I like the music, I am sure I will buy the CD, because I want to know more about the work of the artist.
F] A woman went to a market and saw two jars.
She asked the vendor for the price:: “ten coins”, he answered.
The woman was surprised: “but one of these jars has been painted by an artist!”
The vendor replied: ” I am selling jars. Beauty has no price.”
{ 211 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
My first post! :)
Pensei que vc fosse brasileiro!!!
Cheguei aqui e não vi a expressão do meu país, em ternmos literários.
Que triste!!!
It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you some interesting things or suggestions. Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read more things about it!
I agree , and we must fight “ignorance and greed ” because they make us miserable, they stole beauty and hope from our days
Hi Paolo!
I’d like to tell you that your position works – the first your book I met was The Alchymist as a pirated audiobook. It attracted my attention so much so I currently have four of your books, all bought of course. It’s my reward to author and a fee for private exclusive access to those texts no matter if some device have got enough energy or not ;-)
Thanks; and please – continue writing, I’m a hungry reader ;-)
Would love my poetry and art to inspire theft.
But alas you can not steal a gift.
ich,hoffe alles wird gut mit dem herzen und mit dem verstand
was tun wir mit den wahnsinigen in der schweitz,die den urknall nach machen möchten,bitte hilf mir,was tun?
This is it!!!
I have given your texts as exams to my students,and i have seen them asking one after the other about you,your blog,your books,your facebook.Beauty emerges like the city that cant be hidden on a mountain.but theres one problem Paulo ,tell me how many times do i have to buy your books and then send them away as presents?i have no answer…may be as long as i live…God bless u.
I agree , and we must fight “ignorance and greed ” because they make us miserable, they stole beauty and hope from our days
Lady gaga sells more online than other artists. The reason why is that she is connected to all her fans via twitter and facebook and she treats them as her friends. And you don’t steel from a friend. You buy because you appriciate what she does.
Yes I totally agree. We always download books or Music. We don’t like we delete. We like we will definitely buy the song or book and share our likes with friends and family. Sometime we buy the books and give them for birthdays or Christmas.
:)
great thoughts..its right beauty can’t be sold..
lieber paulo,ich werde nie aufhören zu lieben,ich bin immer wieder gefallen,aber ich habe mit der hilfe der lie be,der zeit undvieler menschen,der natur,der tiere und gott gelernt immer wieder aufzustehen,vielen dank und ich hoffe das wier uns irgend wann begenen
great perspective :) as always :)
And that’s what makes special paulo :)
God bless your witts:)
I admire the way u look at things and therefore the way u see things and the fact that u share all of it and try to open people’s eyes and hearts :)
Wish I could meet u in person one day..who knows??maybe I will :)I believe it is somehow possible :)
One last thing to mention : whoever gets the chance to read your stuff (either pirate or original ) is lucky :)
← Previous Comments
{ 7 trackbacks }