Copy Instruments, Not Music By William Hochberg Wired News
02:00 AM Jul, 07, 2006 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/intellectualproperty/0,71325-0.html?tw=wn_index_8 If the record business is suffering in the rip-and-burn revolution, musical instrument sales are raging to historic highs. So it's no surprise that famous guitar shapes and amp sounds are on their way to becoming as valuable as multiplatinum records, and the lawyers are already scrambling to get in a few licks. Fabled electric guitar inventor Les Paul turned 91 last month, even as his creation fuels the fires of infectious pubescent love like never before. From baby boomers like Bill Clinton to high school wannabes, every guitar junkie knows a Gibson Les Paul hanging off your hip is hipness itself. It's only natural, then, that Gibson Guitar would go to court to try and prevent competitor PRS Guitars from marketing a similar looking axe. In 2004, a Nashville judge agreed with the company that the look and feel of the PRS guitar violated Gibson's copyright, and ordered PRS to stop making the knockoffs. But Gibson's corner on the single cutaway guitar market was cut short when the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision (PDF) last September, finding no public confusion between the Gibson and PRS models. It didn't help that one of Gibson's own attorneys admitted during oral arguments: "You'd have to be an idiot not to know which guitar you're buying." Last month the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the matter, effectively slamming the guitar case shut for good. The Guitar Center retail chain now reports a large backlog of orders for the PRS "singlecut," preferred by some aficionados over the Gibson. The outcome is a good one for an instrument industry that thrives on the adolescent desire to sound exactly like a favorite rock idol. That urge helped drive a record $7.8 billion in instrument sales in the United States alone last year, up 6.9 percent from 2004, says Scott Robertson, spokesman for the National Association of Music Merchants, or NAMM. Worldwide sales topped $17 billion, according to a soon-to-be-released NAMM report. Leading the way is the fretted phallic symbol of American rock 'n' roll freedom, the six-string electric axe, which cranked up a 13.3 percent gain in retail value in 2005, to more than 3.3 million units sold in the United States, for $1.1 billion in sales. "What we're witnessing is a shift from passive listening to active playing," Robertson says. "Siblings are inspired by music-themed TV shows to come out and play instruments." Perhaps they want to sound like an American Idol hopeful, who, in turn, wanted to sound like their idol, who in turn.... You get the idea. Manufacturers follow a similar pattern and they aren't limited to reproducing instruments. Agoura, California, company Line 6 sells a variety of "amp modeling" gadgets, boasting knob settings like "Bohemian Rhapsody" if you want to sound like Queen's Brian May and the fuzzed out "Purple Haze" if you want to excuse yourself while you kiss the sky. Even the most famous classic amplifier sounds from the '60s and '70s, like the "blackface" Fender Deluxe Reverb or the '68 Marshall piggyback stack are accessible with a tweak of a setting. Not everyone is a fan of such electronic homage. "They claim it's more convenient having a small box than investing in the actual equipment," says Paul Flynn, co-owner of Truetone Music in Santa Monica, California. "But you can tell the difference. It's like the difference between real sex and virtual sex." Over Flynn's shoulder, a rare '59 Les Paul Standard shines from the wall of his shop, marked at $200,000. It's a sight that would make its sexy nonagenarian creator proud. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
