Beethoven's Warehouse and μTorrent, an analogy.

 (Listen to a Beethoven music of your choice while reading this)

  Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a German composer and a pianist. He is a known crucial figure in the transition of classical to romantic era (from strict rhythm and church based to more emotional and mood elevating) in western art music. He is considered as one of the greatest European composers who ever lived.

He is quoted as saying:

"There ought to be but one large art warehouse in the world, to which the artist could carry his art-works, and from which he could carry away whatever he needed. As it is, one must be half a tradesman."

He talks about a single warehouse where artists from any part of the world can contribute and, at the same time, take back whatever they require. Most possibly, "half a tradesman" means that the transaction will be in a barter system basis.

Naturally, he was worried of fragmenting all musical scores, that ever existed, to private hands and losing them. There were no systematic collection and archival of musical scores in his times other than a few churches and libraries.

From my observations, it wasn't until 204 years later when Ludvig Stregeus (another Ludvig???)  had his first public release of μTorrent beta 1.1 in 2005 followed by its purchase by BitTorrent in 2006. It went on to become the second most popular BitTorrent client around the world.

Most of us know what a p2p file sharing system is where one person downloads and at the same time uploads the same file/portion of the file (seeding) in a preferable 1:1 ratio. Sounds familiar now? Yes! Half a tradesman basis, in a single warehouse (software), around the world! Do you think that the two Ludwigs same basic idea a mere coincidence? Well, I don't know!

Fast Forward, many Torrent sites have invited bad rap for encouraging piracy, including almost all of Beethoven's work. They are considered an invaluable treasure of western classical music. His 9th symphony was composed when he was completely deaf and it was selected as the anthem of European union.

Political egos aside, Beethoven never really wanted to monetise his music. He could have been a millionaire by today's standards if he ever wanted to, yet he preferred a life of solitude, living in lodges with his piano and along with love failure, alcoholism, drug abuse, diseases etc. 

"One clashes with stupidity of all kinds. And then how much money must be spent in advance! The way in which artists are treated is really scandalous. I am compelled to give a third of my receipts to the manager of the theatre and a fifth to the hospitals. Devil take them! As long as these abuses exist, I shall always ask whether music is or is not an art that may be freely exercised. Believe me, there is nothing to be done for artists in times like these." 

He considered music as divine and so his own. He wanted his music to be "seen" by everyone. That holds true for all real musicians and artists.

If Beethoven was alive today, he would have been really happy seeing his "warehouse" working in full steam and less bothered by the onslaught of piracy going on; or at least smiling in his grave

You're welcome!





 

Unknown

Author & Editor

Enjoy reading and be open to the things that world has to offer.