I think it's sort of like trying to start a new phone company; somebody else has all the wires already. Maybe a union-type organization would be better? Could any new organization generate the monitoring capabilities that the big guys have? I don't think it could be a government effort. All they could do would be to make the penalties for infringement so high that potential infringers might be scared off. (like it says at the beginning of rental videos; $250,000 fine for violating their copyright, but video pirating keeps going strong). I'd sure like to see an alternative to the big licencing agencies. I just don't like it when somebody thinks they have a "right" to somebody else's stuff for free. If somebody needs something from me, I'm generous, but I don't like to be taken for granted, especially if they are going to be profiting on account of my unpaid input. I love the notion that it's OK to take somebody's song because it had roots in an oral tradition. Doesn't all music have some kind of roots? So, then, a song can't ever be the product of one's own mind in a substantial way? Just when you think you've heard everything...

Chet W.