Intellectual Property Dying
Well. Some of you might have read it already, but for the others I suggest reading this article on David Bowie: <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/09/arts/music/09PARE.html?todaysheadlines>
One of the more interesting comments is this:
_His deal with Sony is a short-term one while he gets his label started and watches the Internet’s effect on careers. “I don’t even know why I would want to be on a label in a few years, because I don’t think it’s going to work by labels and by distribution systems in the same way,” he said. “The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I see absolutely no point in pretending that it’s not going to happen. I’m fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing.”
“Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity,” he added. “So it’s like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left. It’s terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen.”_
The question is if he is correct. There are obviously changes, and the internet gives an artist at least the possibility to distribute his music herself. If that results to the death of copyright and so on I am just not sure. But it is an interesting thought.