[LAU] ASCAP Assails Free-Culture, Digital-Rights Groups

Rob lau at kudla.org
Wed Jun 30 16:57:50 UTC 2010


On Wednesday 30 June 2010 08:37 am, Dave Phillips wrote:
> I have an observation re: this thread: People who don't hold copyrights
> or patents typically don't understand the full significance of copyright
> or patent laws because they never have to. Those of us who do hold them
> regard the issue differently. 

My company and I hold plenty of copyrights.  Or do copyrights only count to 
you if they result in royalty payments?

> My advice, try making your living from
> royalties for a few years, then let me know how you feel about watching
> someone else appropriate your work. 

"My advice, try making your living selling buggies for a few years and then 
let me know how you feel about automobiles."

"My advice, try making your living as an elevator operator for a few years, 
then let me know how you feel about the new ones with all those buttons."

"My advice, try making your living as an oil refiner for a few years, and 
then let me know how you feel about windmills."

It's inevitable that people who subscribe to a business model that's still 
dominant but on its way out will rail against the forces making that 
business model unsustainable, call those advancing the opposing technology 
all kinds of names, and pretend the status quo will remain in force 
indefinitely.  But doing so doesn't make a business model any more 
sustainable in the face of change.

I pay for software, books, movies and music.  Probably more than most 
people, though not using Windows or MacOS at all pretty much limits my 
software expenses to things like Wii games.  But geez, look around you.  If 
you can't see that young people don't see digital representations of things 
as having the same value as physical objects, and that some of those young 
people are going to be lawmakers in another couple decades, you're in 
denial.  When works were tied to physical objects -- CDs, vinyl, magnetic 
tape -- it was easy to perceive the value of the whole package.  But 
typing:

cp davephillips-springof23.ogg /mnt/mp3-player/songs

doesn't instantly create value the way building a second copy of a car 
would, no matter how badly copyright proponents would like to pretend it 
does.  Even copying an LP to a tape created more value than that, back in 
the day.  

Rob


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