I suppose it depends on how you define honesty. I'm known for keeping my word. I generally call them as I see them, and I have little regard for corporate America. I have nothing against making an honest profit, but I have seen all to clearly who coporations and big business exploit and degrade artists. I won't give a name, but I have a friend who receives no royalties from her records she worked on in the 80s. Her work has been issued, reissued, remastered, compiled etc etc. Corporations make big dollars on artistic works and often pay the artist very little by having them sign deceptive contracts and using creative accounting. She wholeheartedly approves the bootlegging of her own works.
I have bought Fleetwood Mac's Rumours on LP, 8 Track, cassette, CD, DVD audio, and the double CD. Warner Reprise executives were concerned recently that people are "stealing from them" by "ripping MP3s of their CDs for their IPods." Mick and Co. made their fortune from that record and the Warner Reprise fatcats are still milking it. Now they want to tell me that I can't use my own CD in any way I wish? It's this kind of greed that leads people to rip them off.
On the whole, I abhor bootlegging movies. I buy them very rarely, and I ALWAYS buy the professonal DVD when it comes out. I've probably bought 3 in the last 5 years. Star Trek was the last one. I have the DVD of the film. I think Hollywood will survive if I ONLY watch it 3 times, drag a group of 5 to it, see it in the 2nd run theater, and buy the DVD.
Ask around fandom about me. I think you will hear that I'm generous and my word is good. The name is Joe Escobar. If you want to label me dishonest, I can live with that. The opinion of a stranger means little to me when I have the good opinions of friends I've made over the last 30 years. Post whatever you want in answer to this, I've said all that I plan to say about this. If you want to discuss a campaign to save the Web Series, that's a different story.
