Against Intellectual Monopoly

modifying wonderful old music because all the wonderful old music
is under copyright at least until the twenty-second century. If we were to
abolish copyright today, we are confident that the most important effect
would be a vast increase in the quantity and quality of music available.
    Examples of individual creativity abound. An astounding example of
the impact of copyright law on individual creativity is the story of the
documentary Tarnation.
    Tarnation, a powerful autobiographical documentary by director Jonathan Caouette, has been one of the surprise hits of the Cannes Film Festival - despite costing just $218 (£124) to make. After Tarnation screened for the second time in
Cannes, Caouette - its director, editor and main character - stood up.... A Texan
child whose mother was in shock therapy, Caouette, 31, was abused in foster care and saw his mother's condition worsen as a result of her "treatment." He began
filming himself and his family aged 11, and created movie fantasies as an escape.
For Tarnation, he has spliced his home movie footage together to create a moving
and uncomfortable self-portrait. And using a home computer with basic editing
software, Caouette did it all for a fraction of the price of a Hollywood blockbuster
like Troy.... As for the budget, which has attracted as much attention as the subject
matter, Caouette said he had added up how much he spent on video tapes - plus a
set of angel wings - over the years. But the total spent will rise to about $400,000
(£230,000), he said, once rights for music and video clips he used to illustrate a
mood or era have been paid for.10

    Yes, you read this right. If he did not have to pay the copyright royalties for the
short clips he used, Caouette's movie would have cost a thousand times
less.
    This brings us to what the RIAA and the debate over "intellectual property" is all about. It is not about the right to the fruits of one's own labor.
It is not about the incentive to create, innovate, or improve. It is about the
"right" to preserve an existing way of doing business. In this, we agree with
Robert Heinlein's fictitious judge:
    There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that
because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number
of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing
such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary
to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law.
Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that
the clock of history be stopped, or turned back."
    The business model that copyright has created not only is inefficient and
unjust but is also corrupt. Naturally, every industry has its scandals, and
competitive firms are not necessarily run by angels. The fact is, though, that
monopoly power breeds bad habits, and nowhere more than in the music
industry has corruption become essential and endemic. You have probably
heard of "payola," a contraction of the words "pay" and "Pianola." It refers
to the traditional payment of cash or gifts in exchange for airplay of music
selections on the radio. The first payola case to be brought to court dates
back to May 1960, when disc jockey Alan Freed was indicted for accepting
$2,500 to play some tunes; he was fined and released. Forty-five years later,
it is no longer a matter of small-time radio disc jockeys and symbolic fines.
On July 26, 2005, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (then the elected
governor of New York State) indicted Sony BMG for bribing radio stations
on a large and systematic scale to play the tunes Sony BMG wants to promote. Sony BMG, apparently, has agreed to pay a $10 million settlement. How
does corporate monopolist payola work? Here is a description, posted on
the Web quite a while before Spitzer's indictment of Sony BMG:

    There are ways around the laws. The newest one it to make a song an ad. Here is
an example. The D.J. announces something like "Here is Avril Lavigne's Don't Tell
Me, presented by Arista Records." That announcement makes the paid-for song an
advertisement, and technically not a violation of any laws against payola. During
just one week in May, WQZQ FM in Nashville played that song 109 times. On a
single Sunday, WQZQ played that song 18 times, with as few as 11 minutes between
airings of it. Garett Michaels,