5 Apr
2005
5 Apr
'05
3:17 p.m.
Michal Seta wrote:
I think the question to ask is: did Bach own his music?
What was the attitude towards music ownership in the Baroque era,
anyways? I am not quite sure, although recently I started looking at
these issues, but all I know is that a very common practice in those
days was to copy other composers' scores in order to learn the craft,
quote other composers, use similar compositional techniques/vocabulary
as the masters, quote folk song, plainsong, etc.
It has been proven that many of the compositions that were attributed
to Bach, are not his, in fact. The famous Anna Magdalen Notebook
contains pieces that are now known to be not of his but simply
included in the collection which served as an 'instructional' book for
keyboard playing.
Also, for over 20 years Bach 'composed' weekly music for the church he
was employed by. Not all of his music survived but it is also known
that he has 'recycled' his own music for that purpose.
Did Bach actually pondered the idea of ownership of his own music?
I doubt it, since he make his pupils copy his scores.
I think "ownership" is a bit of a side issue; I don't think it's
unreasonable, though, for a writer to think of the work she wrote as
being in some way "hers", although we may legitimately discuss what
rights that bond of authorship brings with it.(Worth googling for Kant
on copyright, by the way).
That said, what matters is how (and whether) musicians and other
creative producers get paid.
Bach was employed as a musician: he enjoyed the patronage of the Church
and of various feudal rulers. The question we have to face up to is
whether it will be possible to earn a living as a professional musician
when all music is freely shared.
Today's equivalents of the feudal rulers who sponsored Bach are the
giant shoe and soft-drink corporations. I have a nightmare vision of a
world where all professional music is sponsored and controlled by giant
corporations, with the rest produced by amateurs in their time away from
working as wage-slaves for the said giant corporations.
Unfortunately I don't have an answer. I can tell you for free that the
answer is not conventional DRM, nor does it involve suing your best
customers. If anyone is willing to commission me, as a professional
copyright consultant, I will write a suitably expensive report
explaining the above lack-of-answer in considerable detail, using the
proceeds to fund my record-buying habit.
Now, though, back to coding my jukebox software - (I may even get round
to releasing a GPL'd alpha soon...)
--
Edward Barrow
Copyright Consultant
edward(a)copyweb.co.uk
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