I keep coming back to one question. Is there a good reason to have copyright last longer than the author of the work?
How much does the author get from traditional methods anyways. Cents per copy sold. In this situation only a few can be profitable. Which is why there is only a few bands on the radio at one given time. It would cost too much to have a diverse selection of music. Superstars are cheap. I would argue it is also the reason that popular music is bland and simple.
I recently read Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton Christensen. In the book, I was exposed to Christensen’s ideas on what he calls, disruptive innovation. Which boils down to letting go of the old way of doing things when a new path becomes available that serves people better. This is disruptive to the existing systems, which in turn they fight. This idea matches up to point 2 on A Remixer’s Manifesto: The past always tried to control the future.
However, technology giveth, technology taketh away. Digital technology makes copying information easy. Shouldn’t our legal systems match up to modern technology and ability? Shouldn’t we be able to get past the whole litigation instead of change cycle we are currently in.
