Commercialism and the Demo Scene ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ September 3, 1995 COMMERCIALISM, (n) Emphasis on ready mass saleability rather than on quality, taste, etc. Where is a good place to put this little text file? Under the ROOT directory, under the demos/tp94 directory or under the /demos/asm95 directory? I'm going to place it under the /demos/asm95 directory because Assembly is where commercialism started. WAY BACK WHEN I've been involved in viewing/making demos since the late eighties when I computed with my Commodore 128. Demos are and have always been amazing productions--never gaining much notoriety outside the so called "scene." I have always felt demos should be pushed mainstream--to a point--so these amazing coders, artist, and musicians could become known on a larger scale. I sent out a few press releases in 1993, got a few magazines and people interest but nothing much came of all the articles and what have you. Perhaps, I though, demos don't belong within the mainstream culture. So long as demos kept to their "freeware" roots... ...AND THEN CAME ASSEMBLY 94 Bigger prizes, more money, more people, better parties, better organization...RIGHT? Were moving on to bigger and better things...RIGHT? Some are finally gaining the notoriety they deserve; but to what end. There is always a price to pay for success. Commercialism and the Party CD's are hear to stay. Well, at least this will keep the $$ in the hands of a few. Yes, what did happen to the freeware concept in the demo scene I once knew. NO MORE ESCAPE to FREEDOM then perhaps JAIL? With violating others requests...the Assembly '95 organizers will be after me (See E-mail below). No, I don't think anyone will be upset...except those who don't get a copy. Do however expect this to be the last CDROM I produce--at least for the demo scene and dealing with demos. My thoughts are many on the issue of commercialism: When ESCAPE started commercialism was almost non existent. With the conclusion of this CD commercialism is omnipresent. It is not necessarily a bad thing but it does limit the already limited distribution of demos through "exclusive rights." A lot of people within the "demo scene" have the talent to become big time programmers/musicians/artists and the commercialism is good for these people. I highly applaud this as these people deserve to be discovered--and publicity/commercialism does help. Taking the products of a "scene" that has been built on a "free" concept and limiting distribution seems to contradict what the demo scene is about. Of course there are deeper issues--like shareware companies using these demos to make a quick buck--which one can argue. All I can say is lets keep it free...and if a few people make a couple bucks, so be it. You did the demo for fun right? Well, maybe notoriety and a few bucks at a demo compo motivated you as well. KEEPING THE PEACE Because the Assembly organizers own the "rights" to many of the demos released at The Party'94 and Assembly'95 you will NOT find many of the better demos/intros/gfx/etc from these competitions on this CD ROM. I wish it did not have to be this way (read E-mail below) but ASM organizers stand firm in their decision. A few productions may have slipped in and for that do I apologize. To those who worship the almighty dollar I dedicate the INSIDE FOLD of this CD's insert. The slightly visable dollar sign and jail corridor do go together quite nicly...don't you think? No one, dmw@gate.net E-MAIL WITH AN ASSEMBLY ORGANIZER I've only included a little bit of our E-mail conversation. But here is Markus's response to my letter and my response to his. All spelling errors, and mistakes have been left intact. From: Markus Kantonen Subject: Re: The path of... To: dmw@gate.net Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 00:39:33 +0300 (EET DST) Hi, This is Markus 'Moku' Kantonen of ASSEMBLY Organizing replying... > > So I will do so and probably only this once so please do respond > if you have any comments/complaints/suggestions regarding this subject. > Okay? Apathy...there is no room for it... > Sorry, for not answering before, but we are very busy right now working on ASSEMBLY '95. > Freedom CD is currently in the works and information on it is provided > below. I do my best without going to extreems and pulling allnighters > to contact many demo groups and such about permissions to include > their productions. I did the same for ESCAPE. I'm not out here > to compete nor make money...just enough to pay for any unexpected > problems and some of my time/effort. My intentions is to not piss > anyone off or create any bad feelings toward me or the CD's I > produce. Thus the reason for this letter. > As it doesn't seem to be any competition situation between you and us, there still is something as our price seems to very high compared to yours. (we have quite a few people to pay for...) > I noticed your "exclusive" policy on some demos--including the ASM95 > stuff to come out and TP94 among a few other recent parties. So long > as I get permission were applicable (request, i-net provided, and such) > would it be okay to include some of these productions on the FREEDOM > CD. I do not expect or need a YES/NO black/white answer. We can > discuss aspects of this in further detail ifyou wish. ANd I believe > we should--especially if you give an ABSOLUTE NO...cause then you will > need to work with me so I can make the proper demos are removed from > the CD. However, I hope this is not the case and we can work something > out. I am not here to "steal" just to provide a service to others--an > archive if you will. and limited at that. About demo/intro/music/graphics exclusives, I have to say that we have really a problem if we give out the rights just anyone to publish the demos in CD ROMs even in small quantities and here are few explanations why: 1. Who ever is the distributor of The Party 4 CD will not like the idea that just anyone can have a similar or even better CD in market, this makes our negotiating point very difficult. 2. We give royalties for every CD pressed we have given permission for, even then if we have given the permission only for you. 3. Our CDs should also be mainly marketed to the scene. This is something that our ASSEMBLY CD distributor forgot with their pricing, so if you have similar kind of product, nobody in the scene would be buying from us if you have the lower price. 4. We use these CD productions to finance ASSEMBLY and what would scene be without it...:) We see also our own series of demo cd's as a collection and hopefully in the future we will be able to cover all democompetitions. Also we try to kick our distributors to understand that the price cannot be higher than 30-40 USD (even during this period of very cheap dollar and even with ASSEMBLY '95 double CD). > > Alas, here is the FREEDOM CD information. Please read fully before > coming to any conclusions. > > thank you for your time.... > -dan wright- I can provide you, however, any information you need that you won't produce "illegal" CD ROM by accident, because after we have written down the contract with the distributor, we won't be dealing at all with this legal business. It is not in anyones interest that anyone from the scene gets trouble. Anyway, I'm very interested to continue with the conversation and we should find a way to co-operate, not compete. Regards, Markus 'Moku' Kantonen ASSEMBLY Organizing Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 20:52:04 -0400 From: dmw@gate.net To: moku@avalon.icon.fi CC: dmw@gate.net In-reply-to: <199506012139.AAA03411@avalon.icon.fi> (message from Markus Kantonen on Fri, 2 Jun 1995 00:39:33 +0300 (EET DST)) Subject: Re: The path of... This is Markus 'Moku' Kantonen of ASSEMBLY Organizing replying... Hellow Markus...Thanks for taking the time to reply. Wish I would have gotten a reply when I produced the ESCAPE CD. :( But that is water under the bridge and only a few remain. I can understand about time. I have a little help with Freedom (other people doing art, helping with permission, MC3, etc) plus I work 40hrs per week and drive 10hrs per week to get to work. As it doesn't seem to be any competition situation between you and us, there still is something as our price seems to very high compared to yours. (we have quite a few people to pay for...) Remember that my price does not reflect profit, royalities, or etc and there are limited people helping. I do it as a hobby and just hope to recoop my cost. The worst thing I would want to happen is to be stuck with a bunch of CD's. I'm actually surprised ESCAPE sold as well as it did and hope FREEDOM (at about 700-800 CD's) does as well. We see also our own series of demo cd's as a collection and hopefully in the future we will be able to cover all democompetitions. Also we try to kick our distributors to understand that the price cannot be higher than 30-40 USD (even during this period of very cheap dollar and even with ASSEMBLY '95 double CD). I'm curious. You say "we also have our own series of demo CD's..." Do you or any of your members happen to have ESCAPE? Anyone or anyone you know for that matter? I can provide you, however, any information you need that you won't produce "illegal" CD ROM by accident, because after we have written down the contract with the distributor, we won't be dealing at all with this legal business. It is not in anyones interest that anyone from the scene gets trouble. Yes, that would be very helpful. I have already been reminded not to include CYBOMAN2 and it would be quite helpful if you would informe me of what NOT to include--i.e. anyone that signed an exclusive agreement is what I consider something I ought NOT to include. Remember, Freedom is a small demo CD (<100 megs will be demos) but I don't mind knocking a few off--frees up more space for music :) I also plan on including some of the ASM95 demos/intros...but once again I will do my best not to include any Exclusive stuff. Stay in touch and provide a list when you can. The CD only contains demos from OCT 94 - AUG 95 (a few older but thats less than 10). out, -dan