the day the music died

On July 15, 2007, they pulled the plug on Internet Radio. The corporations that sell you what you see and hear decided Internet Radio was depriving them and their shareholders of much needed revenue. They raised royalty rates for Internet Radio stations beyond their capacity to pay driving them off the cyber-airwaves.
No matter, many said. If it doesn't make money it's simply bad business and bad business cannot thrive. But when did art become business? It started with copyright law. Copyright law is constitutionally based.

Copyright law in the United States is part of Federal law, and is authorized by the U.S. Constitution. The power to enact copyright law is granted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, also known as the Copyright Clause, which states:

The Congress shall have Power [. . .] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

The U.S. Congress first exercised its power to enact copyright legislation with the Copyright Act of 1790. The Act secured an author the exclusive right to publish and vend "maps, charts and books" for a term of 14 years, with the right of renewal for one additional 14 year term if the author was still alive. The act did not regulate other kinds of writings, such as musical compositions or newspapers and specifically noted that it did not prohibit copying the works of foreign authors. The vast majority of writings were never registered — between 1790 and 1799, of 13,000 titles published in the United States, only 556 were registered.Copyright law has been modified many times since to encompass new technologies such as music recording and to extend the duration of protection.

Note the constitutional language: "securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

In this context, the question is who owns the rights? The artist? Not likely in today's market. Michael Jackson bought the copyright to a majority of the Beatles catalog. What influence did he have on the Beatles? None, you say? You are correct, Grasshopper (oops, that might be a copyrighted Kung Fu term!). Corporations reserve rights to the repertoire of new artists to ensure advances against a potential goldmine - U2 is an example of just such a goldmine. Goldmines are hard to come by though and many that show promise come up dry and dusty.

If tended closely, copyright becomes a goldmine for the investor while the artist and listeners starve - actually and artistically. So the investor takes more. Cutting off their nose to spite their face. And the listener uses the internet to steal what was once free or inexpensive. Is he stealing from the artist? With the exception of assholes like James Hetfield of Metallica, the artist's approach is that no, listeners are not thieves. Simply interested in the music. Interested in going to shows and if interested enough, willing to drop $20 on a shiny new CD so they can hear their new favorite artist at the highest audio quality.

I'll end my rant now, but just remember 7/15/07 as the day the music died. Buddy Holly is spinning in his grave.

Don McLean - American Pie

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I’d heard the music years before,
But the man there said the music wouldn’t play.