Re: [ARSCLIST] the public Domain

[Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 21/01/06, Bob Olhsson wrote:
> Tom Fine wrote:
>> do you see
>> some sort of middle
>> ground, where stuff that is now moldering in megaglomerates' vaults
>> can be released in some forum --
> 
> Not really! It's like saying an individual who has acquired a
> Rembrandt owes it to the public to give it to a museum after a certain
> time. Certainly it would be nice if they choose to do so but the
> bottom-line is that if an individual can be compelled to give up their
> Rembrandt, they are going to be a lot less inclined to buy fine art in
> the future. The next generation of artists is who will pay the price.

The original Rembrandt is unique. There is no reason why the public
should not be entitled to copy and spread digital images of it, however.

Nobody is saying that the record companies should hand over their
original studio tapes or discs to a museum. Just that after fifty years,
people should be allowed free access to copies of the recordings.

> 
> I think this commonly repeated "megaglomerate" language really clouds
> the issue which is about the right of composers and recording artists
> to set a market value on what they create. 

The problem is not the composers and artists. The problem is the middle
men who make profits from them.

> Nothing could be further
> from their best interest than limiting the property rights of those
> who would pay them for their work. I am also very disturbed by the
> growing role advertisers are playing in determining exactly what music
> we get to hear performed. Attacks on the value of an artists equity
> can only result in a greater need for subsidy and with that lower
> average quality.
> 
> I get into this whenever it comes up because nobody is really sticking
> up for the next generation of the people who create our recordings and
> music.

Their recordings will be less than fifty years old. Many artists are now
releasing their own recordings and there is no reason to make copying
these new recordings legal.
 
Regards
-- 
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx