Focus on the Creator
ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) has just created and released a Bill of Rights for Songwriters and Composers. In other words, a bill of rights on creators, and whether you spell “creator” with an upper case or lower case “c” here depends in large part on how you view the role of copyright as it concerns music in these digital times we live in.
There is nothing new or startling or even controversial, really, in the bill of rights. Everything in it is merely a restatement of the law, or a clearly common sense statement. But what the release of this document does is shift the focus of the copyright debate from the view that the “big guys” are picking on the poor little average guy who just wants to listen to music, to a focus on the (C)c)reators of the music and their place in the universe. Music and songs are not natural resources just lying around for the taking. They aren’t a finite product that once you have it you can possess to the exclusion of everyone else. Music is different than most things, and therefore, the use of it - and payment for that use - must be governed by slightly different rules than those that govern use, sale and possession of, say, a hammer.
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