3 ms·

I am a big fan of making copyright sane again. But i had a thought. If most of humanity's contemporary culture is put into public domain, won't it saturate the

I am a big fan of making copyright sane again. But i had a thought. If most of humanity's contemporary culture is put into public domain, won't it saturate the paid market? Why buy CD's if you have hundreds of thousands of quality music/movies/books and so on? It actually might be detrimental to higher forms of art, as i would wager that only mass pop would sell thanks to trends and such. Just a thought i had.

yew 13y ago
There are already hundreds of thousands (millions, really) of quality works in the public domain. From a pop-cultural perspective the difference between twenty-year-old music and fifty- or hundred-year-old music isn't large. Too, many 'abandoned works' that are effectively available for free with the author's permission are even newer. People read old books (which is a very good thing!) but most haven't stopped buying new media because of it.
- emp_zealoth 13y ago
  Well, the problem is discoverability, from personal experience. I listen to rock mostly and I really doubt there is much public domain quality rock music out there. Imagine almost entirety of rock being forced into public domain. Why would I buy anything in that situation? Most of my music collection would be in public domain by now. Imagine all the quality study materials being in public domain. I would love it, but after a while it might crash the market completely. At least for non-cutting edge fields like advanced but still reasonable math or physics or mechanics. I haven't really looked through all the available stuff, but most of it seems of little 'worth' to me. Old and hardly relevant to my interests. It might be cool to read 1912 book on aircraft propulsion, but it's just a odd thing to kill time with. 1999 (date chosen with regard to studies mentioned in some other comment thread) air propulsion book is mostly up to date, at least for studying. I'd late here and my rambling might be a bit inconsistent. I'm not really arguing for either side, but I do find overbearing IP a nuisance. Just trying to cast a different light on the issue.
KC8ZKF 13y ago
Higher art has trends and such. Consider the trend for period instruments and alternative tunings in music. For example, the new Decca studio recording of Bellini's Norma. http://ceciliabartolionline.com/norma/ http://ceciliabartolionline.com/norma/
Zigurd 13y ago
The market for recorded music is a novelty, even compared to modern copyright laws. 99.99% of musicians have a day job. If it disappeared tomorrow it would be a blip in the history of culture. There is zero evidence that today's copyright terms have a positive effect on culture.
- emp_zealoth 13y ago
  I'm sorry, but blowing such thinking a bit out of proportion one could go as far as saying that intelligent life on Earth is a blip in the history of our planet, and is just a blip even on geological scale. What does it mean? Sadly the copyright is abused badly (even "good-guy" Amazon self publish takes away 70% of money spent on one's book (that's the number I arrived at when I was looking through the rules). It's hard to say if it doesn't have positive effect of culture, since before it's introduction art was funded mostly by state/exceptionally wealthy establishments.
  - Zigurd 13y ago
    Are we talking about human culture, or geology? What I'm getting at is that superficial modes of commerce are fleeting and culture isn't. Culture is as old as human nature. Newspapers and their hold on the local ad market were swept away in a few years. But writing hasn't died. Why should anyone pervert the concept of owning and controlling a computer just to prevent the RIAA model of a recording industry and the Hollywood model of movies from dying? That's a bit like laws to preserve 6 lane roads and big box stores because they should be a permanent part of the landscape.
    - emp_zealoth 13y ago
      I was talking about human presence on Earth in general. But newspapers are still exactly the same as they were, stuffed with ads. They might not have dominance, but haven't really changed. And I didn't say anything about keeping RIAA or locked down systems. I don't own a game console and never will. I find Android too locked down for my tastes, if that explains anything. It's true that selfish efforts to fight back changes are pathetic and must be stopped, but abolishing patents/copyright completely would just cause massive depression. I don't like how companies are abusing it through breaking your own stuff so you buy new stuff or replacement parts, but that's their business model. The underlying issue is that the corporate culture requires such behaviour, how else wouod you pay an army of managers and the board-horde?

yew 13y ago

There are already hundreds of thousands (millions, really) of quality works in the public domain. From a pop-cultural perspective the difference between twenty-year-old music and fifty- or hundred-year-old music isn't large. Too, many 'abandoned works' that are effectively available for free with the author's permission are even newer. People read old books (which is a very good thing!) but most haven't stopped buying new media because of it.

emp_zealoth 13y ago
Well, the problem is discoverability, from personal experience. I listen to rock mostly and I really doubt there is much public domain quality rock music out there. Imagine almost entirety of rock being forced into public domain. Why would I buy anything in that situation? Most of my music collection would be in public domain by now. Imagine all the quality study materials being in public domain. I would love it, but after a while it might crash the market completely. At least for non-cutting edge fields like advanced but still reasonable math or physics or mechanics. I haven't really looked through all the available stuff, but most of it seems of little 'worth' to me. Old and hardly relevant to my interests. It might be cool to read 1912 book on aircraft propulsion, but it's just a odd thing to kill time with. 1999 (date chosen with regard to studies mentioned in some other comment thread) air propulsion book is mostly up to date, at least for studying. I'd late here and my rambling might be a bit inconsistent. I'm not really arguing for either side, but I do find overbearing IP a nuisance. Just trying to cast a different light on the issue.

KC8ZKF 13y ago

Higher art has trends and such. Consider the trend for period instruments and alternative tunings in music. For example, the new Decca studio recording of Bellini's Norma. http://ceciliabartolionline.com/norma/ http://ceciliabartolionline.com/norma/

Zigurd 13y ago

The market for recorded music is a novelty, even compared to modern copyright laws. 99.99% of musicians have a day job. If it disappeared tomorrow it would be a blip in the history of culture. There is zero evidence that today's copyright terms have a positive effect on culture.

emp_zealoth 13y ago
I'm sorry, but blowing such thinking a bit out of proportion one could go as far as saying that intelligent life on Earth is a blip in the history of our planet, and is just a blip even on geological scale. What does it mean? Sadly the copyright is abused badly (even "good-guy" Amazon self publish takes away 70% of money spent on one's book (that's the number I arrived at when I was looking through the rules). It's hard to say if it doesn't have positive effect of culture, since before it's introduction art was funded mostly by state/exceptionally wealthy establishments.
- Zigurd 13y ago
  Are we talking about human culture, or geology? What I'm getting at is that superficial modes of commerce are fleeting and culture isn't. Culture is as old as human nature. Newspapers and their hold on the local ad market were swept away in a few years. But writing hasn't died. Why should anyone pervert the concept of owning and controlling a computer just to prevent the RIAA model of a recording industry and the Hollywood model of movies from dying? That's a bit like laws to preserve 6 lane roads and big box stores because they should be a permanent part of the landscape.
  - emp_zealoth 13y ago
    I was talking about human presence on Earth in general. But newspapers are still exactly the same as they were, stuffed with ads. They might not have dominance, but haven't really changed. And I didn't say anything about keeping RIAA or locked down systems. I don't own a game console and never will. I find Android too locked down for my tastes, if that explains anything. It's true that selfish efforts to fight back changes are pathetic and must be stopped, but abolishing patents/copyright completely would just cause massive depression. I don't like how companies are abusing it through breaking your own stuff so you buy new stuff or replacement parts, but that's their business model. The underlying issue is that the corporate culture requires such behaviour, how else wouod you pay an army of managers and the board-horde?