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An excellent article on the economics of
fandom v. copyright law (read to the end):
The Dead's Gamble: Free Music for
Sale
By JON PARELES, New York Times.com, December 3, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/arts/music/03pare.html?ex=1134622800&en=a5279f48cd7d7b1c&ei=5070&ei=5070&en=071e (Registration Required)
"The Dead did a quick turnabout - call it a half-step uptown toodleloo - this week. First, band representatives told the Live Music Archive, at www.archive.org, which includes countless jam-band concerts in its repository of freely downloadable music, to stop making available its trove of live Grateful Dead recordings, which have been free online for years. Grateful Dead Merchandising (www.gdstore.com) now sells downloads of the band's own concert recordings, and didn't want free competition. Fans were so furious that within days, the band was forced to relent partway. Now recordings made by audience members are back on the archive, available for download. ...It's not a complete reversal, but all the music is online again. Now, however, the Dead are going to find out how difficult half measures can be. ...The Dead are thus the latest victims of the notion that digital copying is qualitatively different from every recording technology since the invention of music notation. Yes, digital copying is fast; it's exact; it's easy. For a recording business that has realized far too late that it is selling music, not discs, digital copying has destroyed the old monopoly on pressing and distribution. "
Amalyah Keshet Chair, MCN IP SIG You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: rlancefi...@mail.wesleyan.edu To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-mcn_mcn-l-12800...@listserver.americaneagle.com |
