2. This question brings out the lawyer in me. It is not a fact that "archival" copies are allowed. Copyright law specifically allows certain kinds of archival copies of software, but not of music, movies, books or anything else. In fact, in the Texaco case, the court held that making archival copies of scientific papers was not a fair use. As for space shifting, I don't think any court has actually held that it's a fair use. And a couple have specifically ruled that it isn't. That doesn't mean that copyright owners are likely to come after you if you make a copy for your car. But the space-shifting argument tends to be abused - it was used by Napster to justify their P2P system, for example. And the court rejected it.
3. The Sam Moore dispute with AFTRA is bad news, no question about it. But it's ancient history. Today, artists are the most well-represented people on earth. They have managers and lawyers that specialize in extracting money from record companies for their clients, and they're very good at it. We just got the results of a study of contracts, and the amount of money being paid to these artists is impressive. New contracts in 2000 averaged $450,000 in advances and commitments for the first album; if the artist was successful and renegotiated his contract, the average soared to $3.7 million. You can imagine the sums being paid to the superstars. By the way, the companies have been helping out the older artists with major contributions to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation and other groups.
Question #5:
I can walk into any bookstore and peruse a book for hours before buying. I can also return that book for store credit without the bookstore accusing me of photocopying the book at home.
I generally cannot peruse the contents of a CD, and I can not return it once it has been opened. Thus, I'm treated as a criminal, and forced to buy a $16.99 raffle ticket.
Why are you hiding the contents of a CD from the consumer? Are you afraid that generally once they hear the full album (rather than just the radio hit that has been drilled into their heads) that the consumer will not buy it?
Please elaborate on why, as a consumer, I am not entitled to know what I am buying.
Thanks
Jon
Cary Sherman:
I guess you haven't been to a record store lately. A lot of them feature this really cool "wand" that you can swipe across the barcode of any CD in the bins - and you will immediately hear samples from the various tracks on that CD! It's really great.
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