Future of Music Coalition - Policy Day 2009 - Page 5

It was actually in the Q&A that the biggest question on my mind finally was raised, by Northeastern University professor David Herlihy: “Isn’t there a point at which trying to make digital media work with the current permissions structure is counterproductive? Maybe the slate just needs to be wiped clean.”

That may be the case that the current system needs to be eliminated, rather than reformed. Create a new one where the rules regulating digital media forms aren’t cobbled together from comparisons to older medias, and the whole thing makes sense according to the usage of the media rather than technical differentiation.

Peter Jenner, president of the IMMF, the International Music Managers Forum, and former manager of The Clash had some strong opinions on the subject. His work with rights management and music access has led him to some broad conclusions on how to make the business work in the digital age. The biggest thing? Getting rid of copyright altogether, at least in its current form.

"Copyright has to be checked. Copyright cannot rely on its traditional ways in this age. It has to become a remuneration right, rather than an exclusive right. It has to be an obligation that services which make money, directly or indirectly, from distributing music have to pay some sort of moderate amount of money which reflects the value that's being added to what they doing.”

Remuneration rights would allow the distributors to pay on a per use basis, rather than having to ask permission — it would be assumed that because it’s out there it can be accessed. Most of the squabbling that’s being done in the policy discussions is about how to “chop up the money” as Jenner put it, who should get paid for what and how much. That includes the bickering over how the various medias should be defined. “Whether or not it's a download, or a stream, or a sync, or a mechanical reproduction, or a performance. That's not something that should concern any sensible third party."

For the content providers and the users, the important thing is being able to access the music they want, and the musicians should get paid, but the how much and to whom is something that is worked out between the copyright legislators, and hopefully the artists themselves.

So, how about those musicians? They haven’t been forgotten entirely, right? Take the idea of a perfect world — assuming that legislation doesn’t curtail the distribution of music through the Internet, the 'Net remains neutral, and universal access to high-speed Internet is in the foreseeable future — what will the music world look like? While battles are being waged in courtrooms and boardrooms over all of the issues of ownership and distribution, musicians are still making music, and redefining what it means to create, to share, and to “make it” in the business — creating a Free Trade Music marketplace.

Article Author: Claire Marie Blaustein

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