Brief Episode

The smart folks over at Ars Tecnica brought to my attention that Richard Marx, as an old-school rock star and songwriter still believes in copyright to protect the artist, but not to victimize the audience of artists.

Richard Marx Today

Remember “Paid Vacation?” It was the album with “Right Here Waiting for You” on it.  A song I loved to loathe at the time, but which when I hear now, I sigh.

Marx’s well-thought out statement:

As a longtime professional songwriter, I have always objected to the practice of illegal downloading of music. I have also always, however, been sympathetic to the average music fan, who has been consistently financially abused by the greedy actions of major labels. These labels, until recently, were responsible for the distribution of the majority of recorded music, and instead of nurturing the industry and doing their best to provide the highest quality of music to the fans, they predominantly chose to ream the consumer and fill their pockets.

So now we have a “judgment” in a case of illegal downloading, and it seems to me, especially in these extremely volatile economic times, that holding Ms. Thomas-Rasset accountable for the continuing daily actions of hundreds of thousands of people is, at best, misguided and at worst, farcical. Her accountability itself is not in question, but this show of force posing as judicial come-uppance is clearly abusive. Ms. Thomas-Rasset, I think you got a raw deal, and I’m ashamed to have my name associated with this issue.

Marx’s statement stands in strong contrast to proponents of a different view, such as Lessig, who argue that copyright isn’t doing what it was designed to do, which is promote creativity.

As a writer-composer, I lean more towards the Marx standpoint. Copyright is intended to protect the creators, and if everyone takes what is being offered for sale, that does make it tougher to make a living.  And making a living through creativity is hard enough! On the other hand, the RIAA (for the music business) and AMPTP (for American film & television) have become corporate controllers of many of the creative projects of countless artists.  They are not the artists themselves and so often are not representing the work well or the artistry of the artists with the lawsuits.

There has to be a better way for songwriters — emerging and established — to have their catalogs protected without waiving so many rights or switching to business models that may not work for niche artists or mid-level authors.

Major kudos to Marx — both for his well-considered thoughts, but also for responding in the real time web with a timely, relevant response to an important topical issue for online artists, but also for responding to the plight of someone who, after all, is a likely member of his audience. What would make it better? Adding the statement to his excellent web site.