An addendum of pure opinion by Marshall Guthrie
[/COLOR]As I concluded this piece, I was conflicted.
My mother is an artist. She raised two kids on multiple jobs, and when she worked on her art, she struggled. She poured all her creativity into it, and bore the conflict of staying true to her vision versus making changes that sell to an audience - marketability. Maybe she wouldn’t tell you it was so, but as I grew up watching her create for over 30 years to feed us...I can tell you that it’s true.
On more than one occasion, she has had her art misappropriated. I’ll go one step further: it was stolen. Stolen by a much larger entity who was familiar with her work. Changed, yes, but the guts, the heavy-lifting...that was still her vision. There, with someone else’s name on it next to the price tag, and not so much as a “thank you.”
At the same time, I love and respect Daft Punk. Their samples include everyone from Sister Sledge and Barry White to ELO. They, in turn, were sampled by Kanye, the Black Eyed Peas, and Girl Talk. When we turn on that Denon or Simaudio Moon amp, we’re listening to appropriation that may or may not include compensation. Got something great? Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, trash it, change it, mail upgrade it.
So, where do my loyalties lie? With the artist that raised me in my home, or the artists that raised me in my headphones?
I would like to believe that Daft Punk’s early sample work was a celebration of the music that they loved, whether or not they attributed and compensated those artists. On the other hand, I can all but guarantee that the misappropriation of my mother’s art was a crass money grab by an entity that couldn’t be as successful or creative as she was, and knew that they were in the clear because she couldn’t afford to take money out of the pantry to seek legal recourse.
I have to be real here: after hearing Simaudio’s perspective...I’m more inclined to put them in the latter camp than the former. They claim they worked hard to elevate Denon’s work (and Audyssey, HDMI, Dolby, DTS, etc.), but in the end, they freely admit that they couldn’t do it without Denon. And was it a celebration, or a money grab? Perhaps both, but, in my heart, I think a lot more of the latter.
I’m sorry Simaudio. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, but if you had openly celebrated and collaborated on Denon’s work from the beginning, these revelations wouldn’t still bring a bitter taste 5 years after your product’s release. Perhaps Denon’s accomplishments are born less in creativity than your own, and due only to their huge R&D budget, but that doesn’t make it right. You should have properly attributed Denon’s work openly, and you owe Denon the apology that my mother will never get.
