Sometimes I Wish I Could Throw Up Lava
"The European Union Commissioner for the Internal Market has today proposed extending the copyright term for musical recordings to 95 years. [...] ... People are living longer and 50 years of copyright protection no longer give lifetime income to artists who recorded hits in their late teens or early twenties, he said.'"
Imagine someone discovers the cure for death tomorrow. Maybe he researched chemical compounds for thirty years, maybe he just mixed a couple of cleaning agents on his kitchen and drank it. Either way, he cures death. Assume he patents this procedure and it is distributed to every human being so nobody would ever die again. He has created the greatest thing ever known by humanity. For how long he and his family will be allowed to profit from it?
Answer: Twenty years.
Meanwhile do you have any idea who gets money when you buy a re-re-mastered version of "Imagine", nearly thirty years after John Lennon died? Because I don't.
Imagine someone discovers the cure for death tomorrow. Maybe he researched chemical compounds for thirty years, maybe he just mixed a couple of cleaning agents on his kitchen and drank it. Either way, he cures death. Assume he patents this procedure and it is distributed to every human being so nobody would ever die again. He has created the greatest thing ever known by humanity. For how long he and his family will be allowed to profit from it?
Answer: Twenty years.
Meanwhile do you have any idea who gets money when you buy a re-re-mastered version of "Imagine", nearly thirty years after John Lennon died? Because I don't.
posted by Zaratustra at
12:29 PM
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4 comments
