Again, speaking as a complete outsider who is fascinated by this discussion - I have one question of Geoff.   If I am reading your story correctly, James Byrne was paid by a pint of beer for recording an album for Allen Feldman. Was he promised anything more? Did he sign a contract?

I was at a crafts fair once and met a found a woman who made beautiful embroidered hand towels. She was selling it for $3.   I asked her how much time it took to produce and she said a couple of hours. When I asked her why she was selling something for only $3 when her materials combined with labor spent were so much greater, she replied "who would pay more than $3 for a hand towel?".

As much as I hate exploitation, the individual has to shoulder some of the blame if they make a decision to give away their material. Perhaps they do not know what the market will bear, but often it might be that we have higher expectations then what it is actually worth.