(A friend asked readers for blog subjects, here’s my response. I know I’ve ranted on this before, but I can’t be bothered to search my own archive at the moment. Oh, there it is.)
When I buy a CD, what am I actually buying? Apparently, some very limited usage rights, and a shiny plastic shell – but not only are my rights not made clear on a disclaimer on the disc, I’m not sure anyone really agrees on what these rights are. I’m not allowed to use it in any way that might conceivably make me money – at a concert, over the radio, whatever; I can’t play it in my restaurant or aerobics studio without paying the RIAA (or whoever). Fine. They’d really rather I didn’t play it on my computer, make mp3s out of it, make backup copies for my own use, make my own mixes, sell the CD to a used CD store, or buy one from that store – but either technology or pesky constitutional issues still allow some of these in some form. If the disk gets scratched – I can’t get a replacement for a discount. If I accidentally double-buy one I already own – too bad so sad for me unless the record store takes returns. If my house burns down – thousands of dollars of CDs up in smoke. If I “own” the record, and I want a CD or to download it from a music service, I have to repay full price. And even so – almost no money from my purchase actually ever gets to the artist who created it.
I would like to be able to purchase a media-independent licence for music – with reasonable, specific rights defined by some Creative Commons style document. These rights should include rights to cover/included artwork contained with the media. And for which a large portion of the licence fees go to the artist and producer of the music. I could then “show” this licence anytime I want a copy of the music/materials on some form of media – and pay the media distributors a reasonable price for that service.