Nicholas Yasillo wrote:
>MPE stands for "Music Protected by Encryption" and was developed by
>Destiny Media Technologies, another of the growing list of software
>developers who are riding the digital audio/video rights management wave.
>It may work well from a technology standpoint, but it's just another
>tool of the music industry to control and dictate the way consumers
>can use and apply music which they've purchased and legitimately own.
Regarding Nick's comment, indeed "big brother" is both watching and
listening to what we do. It is problematic. The statistics on CD sales
indicate a 20% decline, however, there is a marked rise in online sales.
As we move more towards a less "object" based information environment
(no objects like books and CDs) where replication has replaced duplication,
it seems like the business side of music is trying to find its way.
However I believe it tries to force the old "object" based thinking on
to the new "object" less environment...for me, the frequency of the use
of the term "digital object" (an expression that I find to be an oxymoron)
illustrates the difficulty society is having in dealing without objects.
However, for me, there is a greater problem, namely, the US copyrights.
As one who would like to issue historic recordings legally the current
US laws are most frustrating. There are so many broadcast performances
I have that I would love to make available, yet the US copyrights keep
just about everything locked up until 2067. For those who might be
interested, there are several studies worth reading. The most significant
being Tim Brooks' writing on the state of reissues of recordings of
historical value,
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub133/pub133.pdf
and the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/583/91/pbr06_gowers_report_755.pdf
In short, the US laws mean you have to order your Naxos historic reissues
from Europe, and much of our recorded history will be kept from those
would like to hear it. Also of concern to archives, is that much of our
recorded history is being lost.
Interestingly the Gowers report demonstrates that a 50 year limit on
copyrights is good for the economy.
Without going into the ins and outs, pros and cons, it is the US copyright
laws that keep you from hearing fine transfers of significant recordings
of historic performances of music both from commercial and broadcast
sources. If the US had the same copyrights as most of the rest of the
world I could issue things like a set of Koussevitzky doing the Shostakovich
Symphonies 1,5,6,8 and 9, or a set of him doing American Symphonies in
live performances, Bernstein doing Mahler with the Boston Symphony back
in 1949, etc. To issue these legally in the US, I would have to wait
until 2067...assuming there is no term extension. Unfortunately I will
be dead by 2067 and so will most of you reading this posting. Somehow
it doesn't see right to me that the US laws keep us from hearing and
preserving our own music history.
Karl
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