Is the purchase of physical media actually license? Clearly there are restrictions to what you can do with it (duplication, public performance, and so forth),

Is the purchase of physical media actually license? Clearly there are restrictions to what you can do with it (duplication, public performance, and so forth), but those restrictions are defined by copyright law. The notable exception is software, but it could be argued that licenses were a product of the need to duplicate software (e.g. install it to a hard drive). That said, modern software licenses do go far beyond that. Then again, I may be misinterpreting the meaning of license. I have always views them as modifications to the rights granted by copyright law.