It would be more useful instead of speaking in terms of different degrees of ownership to speak specifically in terms of what is owned and what isn't. In GPL so

It would be more useful instead of speaking in terms of different degrees of ownership to speak specifically in terms of what is owned and what isn't. In GPL software, you not only own the functioning application but you own (within certain privilege restrictions) the source code, and therefore can modify that source code to produce a new, different piece of software that you also own. Compare this to your song analogy. A GPL'd song would also provide the original production project "source" - the raw studio recordings of each track, the digital audio workstation file project that compiles it all together and renders the final single stereo track. You could then modify the song by removing individual elements, changing the mix, changing the arrangement, etc, and render out a new stereo song. Very few artists actually do this, because it's a weird idea that somehow the software industry has latched onto that no other sections care much about or think is particularly important, because they haven't been bitten by this strangely worded "freedom" bug. Or the table analogy: not only do you own the table, you own the design documents, the factory floor plan, the knowledge of what saws and blades and bolt suppliers were used to assemble it. You can then use that knowledge to produce new tables with modified designs. Etc. In other words your physical goods analogy falls pretty short unless you separate it into the functional object or IP and the original, complex information that allows one to actually produce modified versions of that object or IP.