Okiemockbird, O.K., I went back and re-read your posts. I see that you are not saying that copyright should not exist, but rather that it should exist as an encouragement to artists to produce works of art -- not as a way for holder's of copyrights to continue to financially milk those works of art for umpteen years. I can go along with that. Sorry I jumped to conclusions about what you were trying to say. There have been so many people on the newsgroups and elsewhere who want all music to be free that I and many others are sort of touchy on the subject. Especially offensive are the ones who say "If it is folk music, it belongs to the folk" or those who believe that we need to make as many copies as possible to make sure the old songs don't get lost. Of course, most just want something without having to pay for it.

One comment you made needs some response:
"Many of the recent developments in copyright law amount to a brutal rape of the public domain, rather than its cultivation. In light of this brutality, I feel that those who complain about the free circulation of musical recordings on the web are not entitled to any words of support from me. I don't participate in the circulation of unlicensed MP3 recordings of copyrighted music, but I won't be very quick to condemn it until those who speak so piously about artists' rights show more than a perfunctory appreciation of the public's right to a constantly growing public domain in musical and literary expression."
One thing you have to remember is that, in this forum, you are not dealing with big companies who are trying to make a mega-buck. We are small-time folk musicians trying to make a living. Most of us are thrilled when our tunes and songs are mistaken for public domain works, but we are even more thrilled to get a bit of money for them. Fifty people having pirated copies of one of my albums represents a substantial financial loss for me. Yes, I speak piously about artists' rights. This doesn't mean I am brutally raping the public domain, or that I don't deserve support from you in figuring out how to deal with the problem of piracy.

I'm also unsure about the whole concept of the public having a right to a constantly growing public domain. The government supporting the creation of a larger public domain I can go along with, but I don't think I can take it as a given that the public has a right to it. Can you expand on your reasoning here?

John