Posted 10:19 AM by Dave Allen
Dave Weinberger on copyright arguments

http://hyperorg.com/blogger/

I lost an argument about copyright protection on the Internet the
other night. I lost the same argument a couple of weeks ago. In fact,
I lose this argument every time I have it. Most recently, to a
Washington lawyer at a semi-friendly business dinner. I said that
we've always been allowed to make copies of music and books: Yes, but,
the lawyer said, the Internet lets one copy serve thousands of people.
I said, the record companies rip off the artists who only get a buck
or two out of the 15 to 20 we pay. Yesbut, says the lawyer, that's the
contract they signed and you don't have the right to deprive them of
those few dollars. I said, photocopiers are used to violate copyright
all the time, and we're not talking about disabling them. Yesbut
digital technology gives us a way of protecting intellectual property
and we have no excuse not to use it.

We'd started arguing when the soup was served and would have made it
all the way to figuring out the tip, except around the time that we
were putting down the dessert menus, I realized what I actually
believe. (Took me long enough.) "Look," I said, "I know my argument
isn't coherent. I can't defend the things I'm saying. But, I haven't
really said what matters to me. I'm not looking for free music. I'm 51
and employed. I can buy the music I want. And I'm a writer; I'm in
favor of people getting paid for what they create. The fact is I don't
know what the law should look like . But I do know in my heart three
things.

First, the industry's gotta change. We have a recording business that
was built around its ability to solve what was once a really hard
problem - distributing music. Now any 11 year old with Internet access
can solve it. So, the current recording industry has to change or > fail.

Second, I don't think any of us know how to change it. Our current
common sense doesn't work. I mean, we protect intellectual property,
but our own government has a system for making a single copy of a book
available for free to thousands of people without the author getting a
dime. It's called the public library. But we're ok with that. We don't
yet know what we're going to be ok with on the Web. It's too early and
it's too different and we should be careful of making bad, hasty
decisions.

Third, and this is really what matters to me. The very thing the most
conservative among us have dreamt of, have died for since the founding
of this country, is now within our grasp: free markets, free speech,
worldwide. And we're blowing it because some dinosaur companies insist
on maintaining their grip on every last dollar before their industry
dies. 500 million of us can see how close it is, how the world economy
would blossom, how the human spirit would get dizzy with possibility,
and we're arguing about how we can best prevent it? We should be
talking about how we can explode the barriers.

So, I don't know how the law should change. I'm not a lawyer or
legislator. But what's at stake isn't whether some of us get music
without paying for it but the type of world we're building. We're have
the chance to move from a world based on scarcity and greed to one
built on abundance and generosity. And the effect will be evolutionary
growth ....unless we stay really stupid about it.

That's what I said. Then we had coffee. Nothing changed.

Dave Weinberger

Posted 11:05 AM by Dave Allen
Didn't see this posted. Apologies if it's a repeat....

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20020813/gtmusic
/Front/homeBN/breakingnews

POSTED AT 6:24 PM EDT Tuesday, August 13
MP3s not source of music industry woes: Study

By JACK KAPICA
Globe and Mail Update

The record industry has it wrong: Swapping music MP3s is not the cause of
the industry's woes, but it may be the cure.

That conclusion comes from Forrester Research, an emerging-technology
research firm, and flatly contradicts what the record executives are saying.

In fact, Forrester's latest study, released Tuesday, says that consumers
need a "Music Bill of Rights" to protect their right to get tunes over the
Internet.

The five major international record companies, through their trade
organization, called the Recording Industry Association of America, have
been blaming a 15-per-cent drop in record sales over the past two years on
Net-based file-swapping services, starting with Napster.

In reality, other factors led to the drop in revenue, Forrester said: the
economic recession and competition from surging video-game and DVD sales.

"There is no denying that times are tough for the music business, but not
because of downloading," Forrester's principal analyst, Josh Bernhoff, said.
"Based on surveys of 1,000 on-line consumers, we see no evidence of
decreased CD buying among frequent digital music consumers."


http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20020813/gtmusic
/Front/homeBN/breakingnews

Posted 10:46 AM by Dave Allen
August 18, 2002


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Dear Seattle music community member,

At 7 p.m. August 29 in the JBL Theater, EMP is hosting a free panel that really means a lot to me. It’s called “Where Do We Go From Here? Artists, Technology, Activism and the Industry.” Here’s why I’m so excited about it.
These past few years have been a whirlwind for all of us involved in music. New technologies have utterly changed the rules. Home recording studios grow ever more efficient, and the Internet provides new means of distribution, so that independent artists can find an audience more readily than ever before. At the same time, the consolidation of the music industry, including major record labels and commercial radio, makes the mainstream harder to enter than ever before. Music makers negotiate between extremes as they try to satisfy themselves creatively, reach people, and live healthy, satisfying lives.
How can one person comprehend the intricacies of copyright law and webcasting and the Federal Communications Commission and major label accounting practices and mechanical royalties and …. It’s very hard to absorb all we need to know to thrive in the music world. Yet if we don’t become informed, musicians and their allies risk being swept up in change, rather than mastering the possibilities it creates.
With “Where Do We Go From Here?” EMP and the Future of Music Coalition invite you to become part of an ongoing public discussion of these matters. The panel features artists and artist-rights advocates frankly discussing how they deal with the myriad upheavals in the music industry. Topics raised will include the state of radio; the wild world of the Internet; the battles in Congress over topics like radio consolidation and the work-for-hire law; musicians and health care; and artists’ relationships with the system that (we hope!) supports them, including labels and the concert industry. Many of us entered these conversations around the time that Napster made file-sharing a hot debate; so much more has transpired since then, and we all need to educate ourselves and share information.
The panel includes Jenny Toomey and Michael Bracy of the FMC, a not-for-profit think tank that examines the music industry in search of policies, technologies and business models that can benefit artists and fans. You might know Jenny from her stellar recording career with Tsunami and other ensembles, or Mike from his work with the Low Power Radio Coalition and Misra Records. Also joining in will be musicians Krist Novoselic, Dave Dederer and Dave Allen. But the audience is going to make this event work – we need people like you to share your experiences and opinions. As a group, we can share in a vision that may shape policy and the business world in significant ways.
We hope you will attend our forum. If you know nothing about these subjects, it’s a chance to learn. If you know a lot, it’s a way connect with others. Please help make EMP a home for discussion about the most important aspect of music-making – integrating it into a whole and happy life.

See you there!

Ann Powers, Susie Tennant, and Sarah Sternau