No, you didn't miss something Cecil. It's a difference between
considering copyrights and patents as property, which can be traded,
sold, leased, assigned, rented, or otherwise treated like any other
property, and considering them a somehow philosophically belonging to
their creators and to no one else's. Under U.S. law they are
property, period, end of statement. But some people get upset when
they are actually TREATED as property.
I also have to point out the confusion that comes from using the term
"the artist's rights." Who is "the artist" in that statement? One
usually assumes that it means the recording artist, whose name is
always prominently known, who very well may not be (and in the past
never was!) the actual composer, lyricist, or songwriter. The
composer's rights are protected by law, but the same law allows them
to be sold or assigned. The recording artist's rights are protected
ONLY by contract, and may range from 100% to zero according to how
that contract is written. That's where the clever lawyers come in.
And their job is to know and understand the law and to manipulate it
to their clients' advantage, as it has been since the 15th century!!
John
At 10:23 AM -0400 7/10/10, Cecil Rigby wrote:
I'm not trying to pick a fight here, just understand----
WHY, exactly, is it offensive in any degree that anyone can (having
enough money and a willing seller) become a holder of copyrights?
The individual artist's rights are NOT abridged just because someone
may buy their publisher's library. The new owner is still bound by
the original contractual agreements. That the artists weren't astute
enough when the contracts were signed, or that the industry may've
taken advantage of them, are different issues altogether.
Or did I miss something?
-Cecil Rigby
----- Original Message ----- From: "Nigel Hanley" <i...@nigelhanley.com>
[snip]
That Paul McCartney could own Buddy Holly's music, and more
offensively, Michael Jackson could buy the Beatles' library shows
the dichotomy between the artist's rights and the so-called
copyright holder's rights.
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John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:john.how...@vt.edu)
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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