Can you have a picnic on your property?

You can't eat a melody, no matter how sweet it is.  So the question becomes this: Is there such a thing as intellectual property?

We'll look at that in coming posts, but maybe it'd be a good idea to discuss why write this blog at all?

I earn a living from writing music.  In the past the only challenge for someone like me was to get 'published.'  Once I acheived that I was paid royalty. Once I acheived that I could build up a catalog. Once I achieved that I had some income.  Once I acheived that, I could live a life kind of like everyone else.

So I did.

I did pretty well as these things go. Better than most I'd say.  Somewhere along the line things began to change. Drastically.

Recently, I visited a blog that discussed some issues of concern in the music industry.  New models of revenue.  Bold new paradigms.  I followed along for a couple of months.  I had some questions, sure, but it was interesting, until one day I posted some of my growing issues.

The thing about this blog, and the thing about the music business in general, is that somewhere along the line, maybe Napster, maybe just a general internet lawlessness, the very concept on which I had built my life, shifted from under me and left me hanging on a cliff.

Oh, I wasn't alone.  Pretty much every musician, composer, singer, mixer, producer, lyricist, every single person who had managed to carve a career in the music industry suddenly found their livilhood in jeopardy.

That wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the response on the blog when I posted my little piece wondering about royalty payments.

"Royalty payments are over," I was told.

"Get a job."

"Why should I pay you to listen to your music?"

"I don't pay a plumber every time I flush a toilet, do I?"

"Music should be free."

That, my friends, in a nutshell was what it was all about. Music should be free.

I'm going to talk about 'scarce goods ' and 'long tail economics' and new ways of doing business and all sorts of debates and rants raging across the globe on this subject, but it really comes down to this: These days, people really believe music should be free.  It goes farther than that, of course.  Novels should be free, movies should be free, ideas should be free.

I even know some high-level creatives who beleive it.  It's almost a guilt trip, especially among muscians who have alreayd made millions, but little guys like me, who rely on a bit of royalty to pay the rent, we're on the front lines of this war, the war on intellectual property.