What if there were no copyright in music?
Copyright in music has allowed songwriters and musicians to make a living for decades. But would they now be better off without it?
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As we saw from this recent article and YouTube video, the fashion industry seems to prosper without the protection of copyright. At the same time, the music industry, with all its copyright protections, continues to founder.
So can the music industry take a few hints from fashion? Or are the two industries so very different that the same rules simply don't apply? Here are some points, not necessarily in any order of importance...
Firstly, there is a fundamental difference between an original garment and a knock-off copy. Since the original is made in the designer's own workshop (or by a licensed manufacturer), the buyer can be confident of the quality of the materials and workmanship. The copy might look the same, but it won't necessarily feel the same, have the same level of detail or be as robust.
Contrast that with a CD. A knock-off copy of a CD can be exactly the same as the original. The only slight defect might be an almost invisible degradation in the quality of the artwork. And a copy of a digital download can be identical in every respect to the original.
So if an original CD from an artist's label costs $10, and a (legal) knock-off $3, who would pay the extra $7 for something that is hardly any better. And why pay the Apple Store's price for a download when you can have a legal alternative for pennies?
I think we can see therefore that both physical and downloaded music products need protection, otherwise their creators won't get paid for their work.
But that isn't the only issue...
Forget knock-off copies, now let's think of a superstar fashion designer and someone newly out of fashion school.
The superstar designer spends six months creating a new range and shows it on the runway. The newbie designer sees the show and likes the combination of cut and color, but isn't so struck with the detailing.
So they go back to their workroom and make near-identical copies, but with different details. They have stock manufactured to a high level of quality and put it on sale.
In the fashion industry in the USA, this is entirely legal.
Imagine if this applied to music...
You could hear a new song and if you liked the hook you could immediately incorporate into a song of your own, you could make CDs or make your song available for download.
If the rules of the fashion industry applied, this would be perfectly legal.
I'll leave it to the comments section to explain why this would a bad thing.
I'm more interested in speculating whether it would be a good thing...
Suppose you are a songwriter and you have just reached the level of ability to write a hit song. So you write a song and it becomes a hit. Legal safeguards protect your income from physical sales and downloads.
But then someone else comes along and makes a new recording of your song and say that they wrote it - equivalent to a knock-off fashion designer putting their own label in a garment they have merely copied.
You as the original writer of the song get nothing for the copy version.
But you did get paid for your own release. And since you were first you got the lion's share of the money. There will be few 'long tail' returns, but you have been paid. If you want to earn some more money, you'll have to write another song. Hey, you're a songwriter - isn't that what you do?
So genuine songwriters get a bit less, copyists get a few slim pickings. Is that a big deal?
But there could be another advantage in treating music in a similar way to fashion...
The way things stand at the moment, if you write a song and release it, you put yourself at risk.
There area only twelve notes in an octave so how can you be sure that no part of your song infringes someone else's pre-existing copyright?
What you can be sure of is that if your song becomes a hit 'copyright trolls' will be analyzing it in fine detail to see if there is a note sequence, even momentarily or in the background, that they can say they own already.
If they find anything promising, they will threaten legal action. Since in law it is generally the rule that the big guy beats the little guy, you'll have to cave. You might lose ALL of your money. It has happened.
And how fair is that?
Remember that there are only twelve notes in an octave and it is becoming exponentially more difficult not to repeat a sequence that someone else has previously used. In fact it may be impossible already.
Releasing music from copyright could be the best thing that happened to musicians, and music.
OK, there is no guarantee that this is going to be the best solution, but music copyright is in a bad way at the moment. Bad for music and musicians, good for lawyers. It's bad for corporations too, except they have had their heads in the sand for the last ten years so they don't realize.
If we don't talk about the options, things will only get worse. McCartney, Bono and Elton John made their money years ago. How are you going to make yours?
Publication date Monday May 31, 2010
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Discussion on this article's topic...
Wednesday June 16, 2010
Tuesday June 01, 2010
Tuesday June 01, 2010
Tuesday June 01, 2010
Tuesday June 01, 2010
Yes, there are only 12 notes in Western music but even with those, see how different J.S. Bach and bebop jazz is. There is a whole lot more to be done with those 12 notes. Just yesterday, I heard a dance tune in a store that didn't even use any of the 12 for the most part, only familiar sounding clangs and blurgs. Yay, I don't even need to buy this CD, I'll just dance to my dishwasher directly. I wonder if Kenmore will sue the author for copyright infringement. :-)
Monday May 31, 2010
That's the big problem here David. Let's say you're a non-entity in the music business (like me for instance), and a producer who's closely connected with a major label notices some brilliant track you've created on your My Space page, so decides to 'borrow it', after which it becomes a major hit. You get nothing; the major label and the thieving producer make some money and get the recognition.
Would they be good enough to reveal the source of 'their' music? I doubt it. There's no honour or chivalry in this business (not that I've noticed anyway). In fact, that goes for most businesses, if not all.
'But you did get paid for your own release.' Fair enough - BUT what if the track was only on your My Space page and nowhere else, i.e. hadn't been released? This is the situation with countless artists all over the world.
Monday May 31, 2010
Monday May 31, 2010
I know only 2..3 colleauges who have huge library of 1000 CDs or 1000 cassettes at home, while my other mutual friends and colleauge's music library is limited TO 40..60 CDs/cassettes. They dont buy no often than 2..3 CDs/cassettes in a year, just listening radio. The time when they bought music was in a teenager age only. And those who have vinyls they dont buy music anymore.
Monday May 31, 2010
About that "only 12 notes" Actually we use only 7 of them to make a scale, and still a way to go... we have still other parameters many other parameters also what can make difference in exact same notes.
In the nature there are over 25000 diseases in the world, but only 7 causes.
What next? That "there is no possibilities to make a new song becouse I have only piano at home" ?!
About that "big guy will always beat a small guy"... well, if that small guy was really first, and big guy made a copy, what happens then...? (I point to that Timbaland case who copied an module from demoscene music).
Monday May 31, 2010
Monday May 31, 2010
Actually, copyright law itself is not that complex. The structure behind it is. Collecting societies, music publishers and record companies, who knows what they are doing? Imagine, you’re a small artist who wants to be famous. Sign here, sign here and sign here. Before you know it you don’t have any rights left, including income from gigs and merchandising. It used to be evident that we wanted to reward the creativity of people. Nowadays, it’s not that obvious anymore. My idea is that we should not discuss copyright law, but how to protect the performing, reproduction and any other rights of the music authors. Luckily I’m not the only one who is worried. It can’t be any coincidence that the Featured Artists Coalition was founded. They want the artists to have more control of their music and a much fairer share of the profits it generates in the digital age. But there is also another way. The internet is a promising marketing environment, fit for individual management of copyright and the delivery of rights on demand to users. In these circumstances the music authors are in full control of their rights. And is that not what it used to be all about? Giving the advantages of being creative to such persons? I hope the authors will be more and more aware of the fact that they have a strong legal position.
Website for D.I.Y music copyright: http://www.villamusicrights.com
Monday May 31, 2010
Monday May 31, 2010
About the copyright infringement issue. Well, I don't know how it works in the US, but as far as I know in the UK to prove that someone copied or stealed your work you have to prove that you wrote the song first and that the "thief" had access to your work. Not very easy to do.
Monday May 31, 2010
Monday May 31, 2010
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