# Is Online "Help" A Blessing, A Curse, or Both?



## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

Today, I stopped myself from helping someone online (not here) anymore than I already had. This kind of situation has happened to me numerous times.

This person is pretty green to composing and they were asking how to make a particular type of tune. I offered them some tips, but they still weren't quite getting it. At first, I jumped at the opportunity to help this person out and I thought "Wow, I can make a demonstration for them and explaining everything an-"

then I stopped myself.

Why should I, on a public forum, take all this time to provide an in-depth tutorial explaining a concept I spent years learning? Lessons, etc.? Because it wouldn't really just be this ONE stranger I'm giving all this info to for free: It's everyone else who'd see it.

So instead, I just directed the guy to some books, online classes on the subject that I've heard are good, scores to study, and people who offer private lessons via skype and I know are good; that a teacher may get more work, an author get more sales, etc. so that the knowledge of the craft isn't just written on the walls.

At least with free YouTube tutorial videos, you have to go to _that_ person's channel, you see _their_ content, etc. I'll bet that Rick Beato has sold more Beato books than he otherwise would have by now, and I'm sure JJayBerthume has got some more skype students this way.

Because there's a difference between offering some tips, and then basically full-on tutoring. I've seen a lot of forum posts over the years that go into the territory of the latter.

I'm not sure that should be encouraged.


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Nov 26, 2018)

I know in some cultures its common for anything and everything you possibly are able to but I like to think we can help each other out without trying to pull $$$ from any orifice possible.

Society progresses forward by standing on the shoulders of one another - How slow we would travel if everyone had to discover fire for themselves.


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## Polkasound (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> Why should I, on a public forum, take all this time to provide an in-depth tutorial explaining a concept I spent years learning?



At some point in your lifetime, someone likely helped you out in a similar way. Maybe it was teaching you how to how to save money, how to build a backyard deck, or how to create lures for fly fishing. Trade secrets are a little different, obviously, but knowledge is meant to be passed on.

It also comes down to how much time you have to spare. If you can afford the time to teach this person, and you would be happy to teach him, go for it. I have no doubt he would be grateful to you for your selflessness. If you don't have the time, then steering him toward other learning materials would still be a very thoughtful gesture.

There are world-renown composers in this forum who, in their limited spare time, dispense advice to the astonishment and delight of many grateful fans. And then there's EvilDragon, a Kontakt scripting wizard who spends countless hours a day freely dispensing everything he's learned over the years to everyone from fellow advanced scripters to Kontakt newbies. Passing on knowledge is just one of those things that some people really like to do. Many of them become teachers.

When it comes to all things polka, studio recording, tennis, or whatever it is I do well, I'm always happy to pass along what I've learned. My philosophy behind why I do that is pretty simple:

I'm in my 40s. In the blink of an eye, I'll be in my 90s and on my deathbed. What will matter the most then should matter the most now. Therefore, there's no better time to help people out than the present.


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

Polkasound said:


> At some point in your lifetime, someone likely helped you out in a similar way. Maybe it was teaching you how to how to save money, how to build a backyard deck, or how to create lures for fly fishing. Trade secrets are a little different, obviously, but knowledge is meant to be passed on.
> 
> It also comes down to how much time you have to spare. If you can afford the time to teach this person, and you would be happy to teach him, go for it. I have no doubt he would be grateful to you for your selflessness. If you don't have the time, then steering him toward other learning materials would still be a very thoughtful gesture.
> 
> ...



If someone teaches you guitar, or a magic trick and then you go and just share them with everyone for free — would you say this a moral behavior that respects your teachers?


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> If someone teaches you guitar, or a magic trick and then you go and just share them with everyone for free — would you say this a moral behavior that respects your teachers?


None of that information is _owned_ by the teachers really is it? Unless you're talking specific resources.


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## Polkasound (Nov 26, 2018)

I think it's perfectly OK to share what you've learned, unless you were making a concerted effort to harm the instructor by stealing away his other students.

--

You've heard of Bob Ross, right? He was the mild-mannered, afro-sporting painter who wouldn't hurt a fly. Before he was famous, he was a student of Bill Alexander, a brash German-accented man who invented the wet-on-wet painting technique. Bill had his own TV instruction show, but when Bob went out on his own and got his own TV show, Bob's show went bigger and his name became a brand.

Bob was not in it for money. In fact, there was virtually no money in it. And he always donated his paintings. He did the TV shows just because loved teaching people how to paint. Even though Bob always revered Bill and would never have done anything to hurt him, as a result of Bob's success, Bill felt disrespected and it led to a rift between them.

Did Bob do anything wrong?


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

SimonCharlesHanna said:


> None of that information is _owned_ by the teachers really is it?



Teaching is a skill/service though.

Do you think it would be hypocritical of someone to both offer free tutorials AND paid lessons?


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> Teaching is a skill/service though.
> 
> Do you think it would be hypocritical of someone to both offer free tutorials AND paid lessons?


I get exactly where you're coming from (and things turning your way _would _be lucrative for us composers/teachers) but it's still charging for universal knowledge. If you're talking about something _you've _created it's a different story.


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

Polkasound said:


> I think it's perfectly OK to share what you've learned, unless you were making a concerted effort to harm the instructor by stealing away his other students.
> 
> --
> 
> ...



No, because Bob used the skills he learned to his own benefit. He literally made an empire worth 15 million in how-to books, videos and painting supplies.

So he didn't just give it away.


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## Polkasound (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> Do you think it would be hypocritical of someone to both offer free tutorials AND paid lessons?



Nope. There will always be people in need of both.


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

SimonCharlesHanna said:


> I get exactly where you're coming from (and things turning your way _would _be lucrative for us composers/teachers) but it's still charging for universal knowledge. If you're talking about something _you've _created it's a different story.



I disagree that something most people don't actually know much about, at least not in-depth, can be considered "universal knowledge". 



Polkasound said:


> Nope. There will always be people in need of both.



If knowledge is meant to be passed on, Simon says it's universal, why should there be _any_ barrier on getting it then?

How can someone be in _need_ of paying someone else to learn something if not for that information being largely esoteric?


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> I disagree that something most people don't actually know much about, at least not in-depth, can be considered "universal knowledge".


Universal is not quite the word, but I meant to imply that it's not *owned *by anyone.

If you're relative is a plumber and they fix your issue for free - is that morally wrong? Does it not count because you're related?


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## Polkasound (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> No, because Bob used the skills he learned to his own benefit. He literally made an empire worth 15 million in how-to books, videos and painting supplies.



Eventually his brand became an empire, but he was still instructing people for free over TV.


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

SimonCharlesHanna said:


> Universal is not quite the word, but I meant to imply that it's not *owned *by anyone.



Well, most things that you can go to school or private lessons and learn aren't owned by anyone.

Keep in mind, I'm not just talking financial reward — but at least getting some real benefit from sharing the knowledge.

For example, if I teach the guys in my band something they didn't know before, it benefits the whole band.

If I teach someone from another band I don't play in the same thing...well, what does that do aside from make me feel good?



Polkasound said:


> Eventually his brand became an empire, but he was still instructing people for free over TV.



Yes, but the point I'm making is that he still benefited from it in some objective way down the road directly because of it.


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> If I teach someone from another band I don't play in the same thing...well, what does that do aside from make me feel good?


That's a question perhaps only you can answer.


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

SimonCharlesHanna said:


> That's a question perhaps only you can answer.



Well my answer to that would be "Nothing. It just makes them a better band."

I don't personally see that as a truly symbiotic relationship. 

What I'm really getting at here is that, there are a lot of good teachers out there, but if the people they teach just run off and repeat what they've learned and show everyone else for nothing, well...If I was a teacher, I wouldn't want to see my students do that. I would prefer that they charge if it's private, launch their own website, or something that otherwise furthers their own career.

Like I say: There's a difference between tips and feedback, versus "Here's my whole lesson on counterpoint that you can view for free on the forums."

I hate to be that asshole who tags people, but I'd be curious to hear @mverta and other guys who actually do paid lessons thoughts on this.


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## NoamL (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> Why should I, on a public forum, take all this time to provide an in-depth tutorial explaining a concept I spent years learning? Lessons, etc.? Because it wouldn't really just be this ONE stranger I'm giving all this info to for free: It's everyone else who'd see it.



Isn't this every thing you post on the Internet? Why offer somebody a solution to a computer problem when someone 5 years from now might have the same problem, google it, and fix their computer thanks to your answer?


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

NoamL said:


> Isn't this every thing you post on the Internet? Why offer somebody a solution to a computer problem when someone 5 years from now might have the same problem, google it, and fix their computer thanks to your answer?



I don't see it as the same.

Why write orchestration books and sell them when you can just publish them online for free? If that's an option, and knowledge isn't owned, why should anyone profit from it?

Why make 4+ hour video tutorial series and sell them Mike Verta style or like Evenant when YouTube will let you upload 10 hour videos and livestreams?

The fact that it's an option to just give it away, but at least some teachers don't (I would actually say most don't) shows to me that teaching someone a _craft_ has value beyond emotion


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## Polkasound (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> Yes, but the point I'm making is that he still benefited from in some objective way down directly because of it.



Yes, and that would also be true if he never made a dime.

Let's say a guitar instructor charged $10 to teach a student how to play a G chord. That student then taught a friend how to play the same chord for $5. That friend then taught another friend how to play it for $1. That friend then taught another friend how to play it for ten cents. At what point do you take issue with this process? When the fee falls below one cent?




Chr!s said:


> If I was a teacher, I wouldn't want to see my students do that.



If I had students who could afford to teach for free and used their spare time to do so, I'd be very proud of them. Likewise, if I had students who went on to become succesful paid instructors, I'd be very proud of them, too.


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

Polkasound said:


> Let's say a guitar instructor charged $10 to teach a student how to play a G chord. That student then taught a friend how to play the same chord for $5. That friend then taught another friend how to play it for $1. That friend then taught another friend how to play it for ten cents. At what point do you take issue with this process? When the fee falls below one cent?



I don't take issue with that process because those are actually your friends that you're likely jamming with. It benefits you both.


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## Polkasound (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> Why write orchestration books and sell them when you can just publish them online for free? If that's an option, and knowledge isn't owned, why should anyone profit from it?



Because you can. There's nothing wrong with selling your knowledge and expertise. There's also nothing wrong with offering it for free. It's a personal choice.


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

Polkasound said:


> Because you can. There's nothing wrong with selling your knowledge and expertise. There's also nothing wrong with offering it for free. It's a personal choice.



True, it is a personal choice

but so is doing soundtrack scores for free. No one is stopping you, it may be your only option, and the musicians who profit will still continue to do so, but does that mean we should _condone_ musicians working for free?


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## Chr!s (Nov 26, 2018)

Once again, I've probably chose a poor title in saying "help" as that can be really small scale or really large. I'm talking large scale though.


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## Polkasound (Nov 26, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> but does that mean we should _condone_ musicians working for free?



Regarding musicians who score movies for free, you can probably apply that scenario to every profession on the planet. Accounting, automobile servicing, antiques appraising, accordion tutoring, etc... there's always going to be a retired person or a highly ambitious young person somewhere who's willing to take on jobs for no charge for one reason or another. It doesn't do any favors to working people who are competing for those jobs, but in my opinion, the only time it becomes immoral is when a free music maker undercuts and steals a specific scoring job away from a specific composer. If a free music maker is simply offering their services for free and a director picks them out of the blue, then all's fair. Not ideal, but fair.

When it comes to offering free lessons on the internet, it may have a cumulative affect the livelihood of instructors to some degree, but that doesn't make it wrong. The internet has changed life as we know it. Condoning people who post free music tutorials is like condoning Wikipedia for what they've done to door-to-door Encyclopedia salesmen, or Spotify for what they did to CD manufacturing plants, or Amazon for what they did to K-Mart. This is merely the evolution of information and commerce.

Getting back to your original post...

Whether you want to help this person for free is not something I see as right or wrong. I only see it as whether it's right or wrong for you, and only you can decide that for your own reasons. All the knowledge you've acquired over the years, no matter how you acquired it, has become 100% _yours_, so you are free to write and sell books, teach classes, hold seminars... or freely pass it on to that guy from your first post.


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## Desire Inspires (Nov 27, 2018)

Help yourself first and foremost.


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## mverta (Dec 14, 2018)

Balance.
I charge some clients a lot so I can afford to give some other things away for free. 

Given two people - one who asks me to give them something, and one who is doing everything they can to do it themselves, but needs help, I'll give it to the one who's already trying their damnedest. 

Lion don't hunt, lion don't eat. This is nature and I'm with nature, so I don't mind the need to hunt for money and get it. But with that sense of balance in place, if I'm full, I'll give a struggling lion some of mine. This is what makes us better than lions, or less so, depending on your point of view.

People say I'm generous; if so, it's because I make sure I have what I need. It's easy to be generous then. We get to define "need" however we wish. I learned a long time ago that what I truly "need," I can get. I am glad it isn't a helipad or a fleet of luxury cars, because that would be harder and no fun.

If you're a generally selfish person looking to improve your giving, then do some more helping and giving, I guess. If you don't feel like it, you probably don't have what you need, yet. So stay on that.


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